Schooling Superdiversity: Linguistic features as linguistic resources in two Manenberg classrooms in the Western Cape

Abstract

This study is a working paper which addresses the need for the accommodation of linguistic diversity and mixed linguistic repertoires in the classroom context, due to the rise and changes in migration patterns, as a result of globalization. More specifically, it focuses on linguistic diversity and mixed linguistic repertoires amongst pupils in post- apartheid South African classrooms and investigates how the borrowing of linguistic features by teachers and learners can be used as linguistic resources in the classroom context. By investigating how an informal variety of speech, the borrowing of features across languages, can be utilized as linguistic resource in the classroom context, this paper proposes a move away from formal classroom discourse, to more informal varieties brought to the classroom by learners. Even though scholars such as Woolard (1994) and Ritzau (2014) have highlighted how the ideologies present in institutional settings, perceive the borrowing of linguistic features as an indication of ‘less than full linguistic capabilities’ (Woolard, 1994:63), various other studies have emphasized the increase in mobility is characterized by an unbelievable rise in the category of migrants, not only with regards to nationality, ethnicity and language, but also in terms of their reasons for emigrating, routes used during relocation, entry into the labour and housing markets of the host societies and so forth.