In the past two years, higher education institutions (HEI) have been inundated with students’ demands for a decolonised education. Their voice led to the resuscitation of debates on a transformed curriculum. Amongst others, the language question is an issue at the centre of these debates. What students were questioning was the hegemony of English, the slow pace in which universities implement multilingual policies, and lack of clarity on the positioning of African languages as languages of learning and teaching. In this paper, we argue that if higher education aims to address marginalised and new knowledge through a decolonised curriculum, fundamental questions are worth being asked. In particular the questions we are asking and responding to are: “How does student voice become a force for social change?” “How can student voice enable HEIs to deal with the issue of language?” We suggest and support the view that the issue of language should be recognised as a social justice issue, that student voice can enlighten curriculum designers and society on the dangers of reproducing inequalities through the hegemony of English, and that graduate attributes, as an essential notion, should recognise multilingualism as a core skill that students should acquire.

中文翻译：

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学生之声：南非高等教育中的语言和批判教学法的观点

在过去的两年中，高等教育机构（HEI）被学生对非殖民化教育的需求所淹没。他们的声音促使人们对课程改革进行了辩论。除其他外，语言问题是这些辩论的中心问题。学生们所质疑的是英语霸权，大学实施多语言政策的步伐缓慢，以及对非洲语言作为学与教语言的定位不够明确。在本文中，我们认为，如果高等教育旨在通过非殖民化课程解决边缘化和新知识，那么就应该提出一些基本问题。特别是我们要询问和回答的问题是：“学生的声音如何成为推动社会变革的力量？” “学生语音如何使HEI应对语言问题？” 我们建议并支持以下观点：语言问题应被视为社会正义问题，学生的声音可以启发课程设计者和社会，了解英语霸权造成不平等的危险，而毕业生的属性则是基本概念，应将多语制视为学生应掌握的一项核心技能。