Embedding ubuntu principles into dialectic argumentation and academic writing

Abstract

The purpose of this analysis is to highlight first-year science students’ understandings and experiences of ubuntu epistemology in an argumentation-focused academic writing module called LST 110. The data acquisition methods of the study include administration of a short-answer questionnaire which surveyed students’ perspectives of a newly implemented curriculum. In addition, students’ reflective journal entries on translanguaging were analysed critically to assess their experiences of mastering argumentative concepts in a multilingual environment. Analysis of the narratives of most of the participants in this study indicates that their understanding and appreciation of ubuntu as practised through translanguaging increased. Some students also described ubuntu as an enabling principle for academic argumentation and teamwork across cultural borders. This analysis concludes by advocating the African epistemology of ubuntu, in its multitude of regional manifestations, as an effective, pedagogical tool for advancing dialectic arguments in multilingual science classrooms and academic writing.