(Graphic: John McCann/M&G)
South Africa is celebrated as a rainbow nation, rich in linguistic and cultural diversity, with 12 official languages reflecting its complex heritage.
Despite this multilingual reality, English — a language spoken by the minority of the country’s population, which means the majority of students enter university level having studied English as a first additional language — remains the dominant language of teaching and learning in education institutions (from the intermediate phase in primary school to tertiary level).
While these first additional language (FAL) learners may have passed English in high school, they often arrive at university without the level of language proficiency required for academic success. Many struggle with reading dense texts, drafting coherent essays and expressing themselves fluently during discussions. This language gap raises serious concerns about fairness, access and meaningful participation in higher education.
The challenges faced by English FAL learners at university have their roots in the structure and implementation of the basic education system. The Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) distinguishes between two language levels — home language and first additional language.
Learners at the home language level are expected to develop both interpersonal communication and cognitive academic skills that support learning across the curriculum, with strong emphasis placed on listening, speaking, reading and writing.
This level also aims to develop learners’ “literary, aesthetic and imaginative skills”, enabling them to engage creatively and critically with the world around them.
In contrast, the FAL level assumes no prior exposure to English — a fair assumption — and initially focuses on basic interpersonal communication. Over time, the emphasis shifts to developing the ability to think and reason in English, equipping learners with the cognitive academic language skills needed to study subjects such as science and accounting through English.
In practice, these goals are rarely achieved.
Although CAPS specifies that learners should also “engage more with literary texts and begin to develop aesthetic and imaginative ability in their additional language”, this is typically limited to surface-level question-and-answer tasks. The focus is not on fostering deep analytical or interpretive skills, but rather on whether learners can simply understand the language used in the text.
This problem is further compounded by overcrowded classrooms, limited teacher training and a curriculum delivery model that prioritises exam preparation over meaningful language development.
As a result, many learners progress through school without ever fully mastering the foundational skills needed to succeed in an English-medium academic environment.
When students who studied English as a first additional language join university courses that need advanced language skills, such as English literature, history, law or any field that requires critical analysis, they frequently find themselves at a significant disadvantage. These courses challenge students to read dense academic books, analyse sophisticated arguments and write well-structured responses that exhibit critical thinking.
Many FAL learners struggle not with the topic itself, but with articulating their understanding coherently and academically in English. They may thus perform poorly, not because they are not smart or perceptive, but because they are unable to express themselves fully in writing, which frequently results in frustration, a loss of confidence, and in certain situations, the dropping of classes in which they could succeed if they had better language support.
The difficulties faced by English FAL learners at university are not just theoretical — they are lived, daily realities. I know this firsthand. When I began my first year of university, I found myself overwhelmed by the demands of academic writing, especially during the Covid-19 lockdown when all communication was online.
After receiving disappointing results for my essays, I emailed my lecturers for feedback. The common response was that my content was strong, but my essay structure was lacking. I was never guided on what that structure should look like because of the level of English I studied in high school.
I did not know how to develop an academic argument or what it meant to “integrate” my research into my writing, not just simply quote it. These were not skills I had been taught in high school, and without clear support, I was left to figure it out alone.
This is an experience that many other students have. Research by Bertus van Rooy and Susan Coetzee-Van Rooy found that implicit academic literacy demands at university such as structuring arguments and incorporating source material are difficult for English FAL students to meet. Academic writing is not only a
skill; it is a language in and of itself, something that colleges frequently forget.
In an environment where success depends on argument, clarity and source integration, students are expected to pick up this language overnight without any explicit instruction.
According to academic Chrissie Boughey, the presumption that students are prepared for academic discourse when they come to university leads to the marginalisation of people who do not speak this “language” well. Without early and deliberate intervention, these students continue to perform below expectations, not because they lack potential but rather because of unbridled systemic disparities.
While universities can be more supportive to students who struggle with academic literacy, the department of basic education is the one responsible for equipping learners with sufficient language skills. The university curriculum is standardised and assumes a level of academic readiness; it is not the root problem, which is the school system that differentiates the language instruction through these home language and FAL levels.
This differentiated model naturally recognises that some learners begin school with no prior exposure to the English language, therefore it is the primary and secondary school levels where language skills must be strengthened early and consistently.
The development of cognitive academic language proficiency, which includes explicit instruction in essay writing, argument development, source integration and critical engagement with texts must be prioritised in the revised FAL curriculum, moving beyond basic comprehension and interpersonal communication.
Teachers must be trained to teach these skills in the FAL framework, and assessment models must reflect this change in emphasis. According to Van Rooy and Coetzee-Van Rooy, a significant factor in the language difficulties that students encounter at the tertiary level is the discrepancy between language policy and classroom reality. FAL students will continue to falter without deliberate, curriculum-wide adjustments — not because they are incapable, but rather because they were never sufficiently prepared.
Although universities may still help these students more — providing writing centres (which most universities offer), language specialists and more lucid feedback — they should not be expected to solve an issue that ought to have been dealt with far sooner. Providing students with the appropriate resources at the appropriate time is essential to achieving true educational equity.
Sithembile Magwaza is an English teacher and inclusive language education advocate.
