English-medium instruction in higher education in South Africa

South Africa is a unique country with a rich multilingual history, marked by the vigorous spread and adoption of English in the country’s education system, particularly in the post-primary school sectors (Wildsmith-Cromarty & Balfour, 2019). It is distinguished from other Southern African countries, including former Anglophone colonies as Botswana, Eswatini (Swaziland), Lesotho, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, as well as Lusophone Angola and Mozambique. These other Southern African nations have had their own experiences with English-medium education, as noted by previous research on this topic (Kamwangamalu, 2013). In this chapter, however, we will not be discussing EMI in all these societies, but will instead focus on South Africa, which undoubtedly has the most well-developed system of EMI higher education in the region. The use of African languages and English in South Africa’s higher education institutions has garnered a fair amount of attention in recent years, as language policies and practices continue to evolve according to the socio-demographic changes occurring in the country since the first democratic elections were held in 1994 (Van der Walt & Hibbert, 2014). Not only this, the deep and ongoing history of multilingualism and the prominence of English in the education system holds the potential for a unique expression of EMI in the South African higher education context. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a state-of-the-art report on the status and description of English as a medium of instruction (EMI), with a focus on South African higher education. The chapter begins with a brief overview of EMI-related concepts and terms in the South African context, followed by a discussion of the sociolinguistic dynamics of society, and related language policies. We then provide a case study of EMI and its implementation at a leading university in the country, that is North-West University. The chapter will conclude with a discussion of the challenges, opportunities, and future prospects of EMI in South African higher education.