TEACHING ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE FOR MULTILINGUAL LEARNERS IN HIGHER EDUCATION: THE SOUTH SUDANESE CONTEXT

Abstract

As a new country, South Sudan faces many unique challenges and the establishment of English as a shared language of instruction is one of the main challenges. South Sudan is a multilingual and multiethnic nation, and English is often not even the second language of many residents, but sometimes the third. With South Sudan’s independence from Sudan in 2011, English was designated the medium of instruction and national language. The sudden change of English as the medium of instruction has affected the educational system of South Sudan. It led to a very low level of English proficiency for both students and teachers alike. Because of this low proficiency level, this paper focuses on the effective methods of English instruction for higher education students who speak more than one language in South Sudan universities. In particular, it looks at how to help multilingual students with low proficiency contexts for whom English may be a second or third language.