This paper contributes to the sparse literature on parents' views on language-in-education policy in Southern Africa. The children of the parents interviewed in this study participated in a bilingual learning intervention in their Grade 4 science class in Cape Town, South Africa. Bilingual isiXhosa/English learning materials were introduced in 2023 by a team of researchers, including the science teacher. The parents' overwhelmingly positive comments are analysed using inductive thematic analysis. The results revealed that parents believed the bilingual programme connected school and home (co-)learning and language practices and fostered curiosity and confidence. No parents reported concerns about the loss of English proficiency or about the undesirability of mixed language use. Viewed through the lens of decolonial theory, the findings demonstrate the interruption of the coloniality of language and the foregrounding of ubuntu multilingualism (Makalela, L. 2018. "Community Elders' Narrative Accounts of Ubuntu Translanguaging: Learning and Teaching in African Education." International Review of Education 64 (6): 823-843), which was enabled by the bilingual programme. Parents strongly supported the departure from a monolingual approach and highlighted the possibilities of a decolonial 'otherwise' in language and learning. Re-linking with the practices of polyglotism and community-based learning enabled both parents and children to be positioned as 'knowers' and the gap between home and school to be reduced. Eli phepha longeza ulwazi kuncwadi olunqongopheleyo olumalunga neembono zabazali ngomgaqonkqubo wolwimi kwezemfundo eMzantsi Afrika. Abantwana babazali ekuqhutywe udliwanondlebe nabo kolu phandolwazi bathabatha inxaxheba kwinkqubo yongenelelo yokufunda ngalwimimbini kwiklasi yabo yesayensi yeBanga lesi4 eKapa, eMzantsi Afrika. Incwadana yokufunda elwimimbini, enesiXhosa nesiNgesi, yaziswa ngo2023 liqela labaphandilwazi notitshala wesayensi. Uninzi lwabazali lwayixhasa kakhulu le nkqubo, kwaye iimpendulo zabo zahlalutywa kusetyenziswa indlela yokuhlalutya idatha ngokwemixholo ephumayo, ithematic analysis. Iziphumo ziveze ukuba abazali bakholelwa ukuba inkqubo yalwimimbini ithungelanisa indlela yokufunda neendlela zokusebenzisa ulwimi zasekhaya nezesikolo, kwaye idala umdla kunye nokuzithemba ebantwaneni. Akukho mzali ukhankanye inkxalabo malunga nokuphulukana nobuchule bolwimi lwesiNgesi okanye ukuba gwenxa kolwimi oluxubeneyo. Xa zivelelwa ngenkalo yethiyori yogutyulobukoloniyali, idecolonial theory, ezi ziphumo zibonakalisa ukuphazanyiswa kobukoloniyali bolwimi, kwaye zibeka phambili ubulwimininzi obusekelwe kubuntu, i-ubuntu multilingualism (Makalela, L. 2018. "Community Elders' Narrative Accounts of Ubuntu Translanguaging: Learning and Teaching in African Education." International Review of Education 64 (6): 823-843) efezekiswe yile nkqubo yokufunda ngalwimimbini. Abazali baxhase ngamandla ukushenxiswa kweenkqubo zokufundisa ezixhomekeke kulwimi olunye ze bagqamisa into enokwenziwa lugutyulobukoloniyali 'olulolunye' kwezolwimi nezemfundo. Ukubuyela kwiindlela zokusebenzisa iilwimi ezininzi nendlela yokufunda esekelwe kwiindlela zoluntu kukhokelele ekubeni abazali nabantwana babonwe njengabantu 'abaziyo' ze umsantsa phakathi kwekhaya nesikolo ucutheke.
This interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) case study examines the language ideologies and practices of a Chinese immigrant mother raising a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) in Canada. Drawing on family language policy and translanguaging frameworks, the study investigates how ideological beliefs, management decisions, and enacted practices interact. The analysis reveals that the dual diagnoses profoundly ruptured the mother's pro-bilingual ideology, resulting in a medicalized finite capacity belief and a survivalist English-only management strategy. Consequently, this shift generated a maternal language paradox wherein the mother sacrificed interactional quality by performing in a language of self-confessed inadequacy. However, her actual practices evidenced pragmatic fluidity: an intuitive, task-contingent translanguaging that utilised Mandarin, gestures, and culturally salient multimodal resources to scaffold meaning. These findings challenge deficit narratives, introduce the concept of pragmatic fluidity to translanguaging theory, and hold critical implications for culturally responsive practice with linguistically diverse families navigating complex communication needs.
