Ubuntu Translanguaging as a Decolonizing Pedagogical Framework: Reimagining Multilingual Literacy Education for SDG 4

This article advances Ubuntu translanguaging as a decolonizing pedagogical framework for multilingual literacy education, aligned with Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4). Drawing on Ubuntu philosophy and translanguaging theory, it conceptualizes Ubuntu translanguaging as a relational, asset-based framework that challenges linguistic hierarchies and affirms learners’ full linguistic resources. Grounded in Ghanaian educational contexts, the framework responds to deficit narratives that overlook the community-rooted pedagogies multilingual teachers already use, and shows how multilingual pedagogies strengthen comprehension, affirm identity, and expand equitable participation in education. Three questions guide the article: how Ubuntu translanguaging challenges colonial language hierarchies in curricula and policy, how it operationalizes SDG 4’s commitments to inclusion and equity, and how it can inform Global South–North research partnerships built on mutual growth. By centering indigenous epistemologies and positioning teachers as co-researchers and co-creators of knowledge, the framework offers a reciprocal model for achieving SDG 4.