North-West University (NWU) staff gathered online on 29 October 2025 to explore how multilingual practices can strengthen learning and promote inclusivity. The webinar, facilitated by Professor Rosemary Wildsmith-Cromarty from the Language Directorate, focused on practical steps educators can take to incorporate multilingual approaches in teaching and learning environments.
During the session, Professor Wildsmith-Cromarty demonstrated examples of multilingual teaching strategies and emphasised that multilingualism is intended as a tool for academic access and inclusion from which all students can learn and benefit.
“We promote inclusion and access, which leads to student success,” she said. “We nurture an environment where multilingualism is not seen as a problem, but as a resource and a responsibility to facilitate cognitive development, epistemic access, social cohesion and respect for all languages.”
Professor Wildsmith-Cromarty highlighted examples drawn from NWU faculties integrating multiple languages through slides, voice-overs and bilingual explanatory texts. She shared a School of Accounting project that uses English text with Sesotho and Setswana voice-overs to support student understanding.
“The feedback from the students was very positive,” she explained. “This is something that you can actually do. They used informal versions of Setswana or Sesotho, and students responded well.”
Using legal studies as a case example, she illustrated how complex concepts like “trial advocacy” can be broken down into simpler English first, before being translated into Setswana, Sesotho or isiZulu.
“How do we translate terms that do not exist in other languages?” she asked. She followed this up by explaining that identification of terms and translations should also come from the students. “It is in the discussion across languages that true learning occurs.”
She encouraged staff to work collaboratively, use linguistic resources available at the university, and engage students in translation and meaning-making activities.
“You can dive into AI and see what comes up but verify the results and bring students into the process,” she said. “Crossing into other languages and cultural spaces builds deeper understanding.” The Language Directorate is always there for translation and interpreting services and for general support.
The webinar reaffirmed the commitment of the NWU to supporting a functionally multilingual institution aligned with its language policy.
Professor Wildsmith-Cromarty concluded by reminding participants that multilingual pedagogy remains a continuous journey: “It has been a work in progress for the past five years, but every step brings us closer to inclusive academic practices.”
Professor Rosemary Wildsmith-Cromarty shares practical strategies for integrating multiple languages in NWU classrooms.
