Dominant Language Constellations in Multilingual Repertoires: Implications for Language-in-Education Policy and Practices in South Africa

There is evidence in South Africa that multilingual language-in-education policies are not realised in practice. Researchers offer comprehensive lists of reasons for the observed policy failure. International and national researchers identify a lack of congruence between language-in-education policies and the natural language practices of learners as a contributing factor in the perceived policy disaster. The central argument of this article is that an understanding of the nature of the dominant language constellations in the multilingual repertoires of South African urban learners can advance thinking about improved language-in-education policies and practices. The main findings are that different constellations of languages are active in different domains for the participants of the study. For example, reading contributed to the learning of Southern Sotho and English for the participants in the study. These findings should be used more actively to develop Southern Sotho-English language-in-education policies and practices in this context.