The conference, under the theme: Foreign Language Teaching Mobility: Towards Globalisation, created a platform for stakeholders from far and wide to share their research and pedagogies to broaden and diversify the teaching of foreign languages and cultures in the quest for promotion of global mobility.
The UKZN organising committee comprised Dean and Head of the School of Arts Professor Nobuhle Hlongwa, and Dr Lolie Makhubu-Badenhorst, Dr Gugu Mazibuko and Dr Phindile Dlamini.
The keynote address was given by Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Head of the College of Humanities Professor Nhlanhla Mkhize who spoke on African Universities, African Languages and the Transdisciplinary Method: A Decoloniality Project.
Mkhize examined the role of languages in society, colonialism, education and gender that he believes is intricately woven in indigenous knowledge systems and highlighted the importance of knowing one’s history especially the fundamental principles of Ubuntu in order to ground the education system on the African continent.
‘We need to reclaim our legacy, imbue it with new meaning and return to the foundations of research and knowledge that is interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary and multidisciplinary,’ argued Mkhize.
He said language was central in decolonising the curriculum and announced that the College would soon re-introduce Kiswahili and Arabic studies as part of the reclamation project.
Other UKZN academics and students who presented at the conference were:
- Professor Heike Tappe – Why Linguistic Macrostructures Matter
- Professor Langa Khumalo – Terminology Development for the Intellectualisation of African Languages
- Dr Lolie Makhubu-Badenhorst, Dr Gugu Mazibuko – Towards Maintaining User-Friendliness in the Compilation of the Mandarin-English-isiZulu Trilingual Dictionary
- Dr Philip Awezaye – Making Peace with Foreign Languages in Africa: A Case of Appropriation as a Healing Path in Zamenga Batukezanga’s Literary Work
- Dr Roshni Gokool – Embracing Technology in the Teaching of isiZulu as a Foreign Language
- Dr Tholani Hlongwa – The Integration of Culture in Foreign Language Teaching
- Dr Tholakele Ngcobo – Cultural Awareness in Second Language
- Ms Sindiswa Ndamane – Foreign Language Teaching Mobility: Towards Globalisation
- Ms Olpha Selepe – Teaching a Foreign Language through Music
- Ms Tholakele Zungu – The Compilation of English-isiZulu Bilingual Electronic Dictionaries for Specialised Fields for the Intellectualization of isiZulu
- Mr Ntobeko Shozi – Towards Conversation Across Differences: The Role of Cosmopolitanism
- Mr Sineliso Thabede – Embracing Foreign Languages in isiZulu Novels: The Role of Code-Switching
