Linguistic complexities of immigrant learners in South African schools: Language policy enablers and constraints for school principals

Abstract

South Africa became a preferred country for asylum seekers and immigrants after the democratic breakthrough. When they arrive in South Africa, they encounter numerous challenges. These include linguistic exclusion, xenophobia, stigmatisation, and social and economic exclusion. Their children are not exempted from these setbacks. The purpose of this article is to conceptually explore policy enablers and constraints for school principals regarding the linguistic challenges that immigrant children encounter. The existing Language-in-Education Policy does not effectively address the linguistic needs of immigrant learners. This study employed a qualitative research approach with theory synthesis as the design. We purposively identified and selected articles that were aligned to our research purpose. Out of 186 articles that we identified, 87 articles were selected based on their relevance to the study. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. The results indicate that, despite policy provisions, the languages of immigrant learners are being neither recognised nor utilised in the classroom as a resource that can mitigate their linguistic realities in an education context. The recommendations emerging from the discussion of the findings suggest that, in giving expression to a policy provision for multilingualism, a linguistic heterogenous approach which incorporates the linguistic repertoires of immigrant learners should be adopted in schools to enhance recognition, inclusiveness and academic success for these learners.