Multilingualism from the meso-level: a universities initiative in South Africa

Globally, multilingualism has become a subject of interest in academic, social and political spheres. In addition, there is consensus among academics as well as politicians regarding the transformation of the linguistic landscape across the world. The common consent is based on the fact that multilingualism has become a norm, especially in the Global North countries that had been declared monolingual societies due to various political considerations. Research has shown that most countries that have been promoting a monolingual ideology have accepted the multilingual state of affairs in most communities and effort is being made to promote multilingualism. However, multilingualism as a concept is understood differently in different parts of the world. Therefore, multilingualism from the Global South perspective should be viewed differently from the Global North perspective. The study was qualitative, therefore, for data collection, a focus group discussion was conducted with four medical students who took the two modules during their first year at a selected South African university. These participants were willing to participate in the research. The results show that languages cannot be separated as standalone entities and should be considered individually. Besides, students use their already existing language practices in order for them to acquire the target languages, a remarkable quality of multilingualism where students can tap into their existing language practices in order to enhance their learning