Resumen de The case of isiZulu for non-mother tongue speakers at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa – Is the compulsory language module promoting social cohesion?
Shamila Naidoo, Roshni Gokool, Hloniphani Ndebele
The Minister of Higher Education, Blade Nzimande's, call on the 5th of April 2011 for South African universities to implement a policy which saw all university graduates exiting with a credit in an African language was the catalyst for the University of KwaZulu-Natal's decision to implement a compulsory isiZulu module for all non-mother tongue speakers of the language. One of the goals motivating the University of KwaZulu-Natal decision was the promotion of the buzzword ‘social cohesion’. This article reports on the findings of a survey conducted with a sample of 350 learners who completed the Basic IsiZulu Language Studies (ZULN101) module in 2015 at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The survey sought to assess the extent to which the goal of promoting social cohesion is being achieved. The findings confirm the existence of a complex and ambivalent linguistic landscape in South Africa; one in which learners acknowledge the benefits of an ability to communicate in an African language but also show limited inclination towards acquiring competence in the language; thereby, decelerating the promotion of social cohesion, per se.
