Misconceptions, Misalignments, and Mismatches: Theory, Praxis, Policies, and Models of Language, Languaging, and Multilingualism in a Neoliberal Education

There are mismatches between ontologies of language and languaging, on the one hand, and language policy or language teaching, on the other. South Africa has a proliferation of policies in both the Department of Basic Education and the Department of Higher Education and Training, with limited implementation and desired outcome, in other words, a misalignment of policies with curriculum. In addition, institutions tend to follow a populist and simplistic misdiagnosis of problems, and misconceptualisation of language and multilingualism and therefore perpetuate the mismatches of policies and implementation. Consequently, these policies have failed to achieve equity and social justice in higher education. In our view, this is a context where ideologically, language policy is influenced by a love for both monolingualism and multilingualism by institutions and government. Language sciences, such as sociolinguistics and the entire field of applied linguistics and linguistics were meant to focus on monolingualism. Language dialects and official languages are contested in post-apartheid South Africa against the historical unequal apartheid legacies of universities, which influenced them based on racialised laws and desegregation. The paper is underpinned by three questions:"Whatis a language?" "What ontologies/theories and models of language, languaging, and multilingualism inform multilingual policies in education?" and "How can Southern ontologies of language, languaging, and multilingualism promote equity, justice, change, and transformation?" In answering these questions, we draw on the coloniality and decoloniality of language and communication, and explore what it could mean to decolonise language and communication in a university context, despite the abiding and enduring existence of the project of capitalist neoliberal principles and policies governing higher education. For instance, the intersection of translanguaging, neoliberalism, and decolonisation seen in the historically diverse institutions of higher learning in South Africa militates against social justice and equity. Therefore, this paper argues for ontological models of language, languaging, and multilingualism for justice, transformation, and equity.