Unisa takes first steps towards multilingual teaching

Unisa took its first steps towards multilingual teaching on 28 July 2009 when it hosted a workshop on the intricacies associated with the development of multilingual terminology lists for study guides. The workshop was facilitated by Dr Mariėtta Alberts, the Director of Terminology Development at the Pan South African Language Board (PANSALB).

The workshop formed part of an initiative coordinated by the Directorate: Curriculum and Learning Development (DCLD) to establish a website and blog to publish academic, professional and subject-related terminology in Northern Sotho, Zulu and Afrikaans. The intended outcomes of the project are to improve student success rate, embed the terminology in indigenous languages, establish a central, standardised, electronic, multilingual database of academic terms in African languages; expand existing spell checkers and enrich future strategic communication. The intention is to eventually use the terminology in mouse-over applications in digital study material.

A dual approach will be followed where all South African institutions of higher education will be requested to publish existing Northern Sotho, Zulu and Afrikaans terms relating to subject disciplines on the Terminology Blog. Unisa academics will also be requested to harvest terminology from their English study guides and present it to Unisa Language Services for transferral into the target languages. The quality of the project will be assured by consulting existing multilingual dictionaries and terminology lists before developing new terms and by presenting newly developed terms to the various South African language bodies for critical consideration.