Democratising Access and Success: IsiZulu Terminology Development and Bilingual Instruction in Psychology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal

Document Abstract / Summary Overview

Abstract African universities continue to rely on foreign languages, primarily English, for teaching and learning purposes. In this paper it is argued that the use of foreign languages in South Africa impedes African learners’ access to the curriculum, whose mother tongue is neither English nor Afrikaans. Informed by the socio-cultural, hermeneutic, and constructivist schools of thought, the process that was followed by the authors to translate psychology terms into isiZulu is described. The challenges and lessons learnt during this process are shared. The paper concludes with the recommendation that, in disciplines such as psychology, which are based on values, translation should be undertaken hand-in-hand with the scholarly development of indigenous psychologies.