Africazine:
The digitisation of South Africa’s language teaching journal marks a significant step in preserving educational resources.
The South African Centre for Digital Language Resources (SADiLaR) has funded the digitisation of the Journal for Language Teaching editions published between 1977 and 2000. This initiative aims to enhance accessibility to nearly five decades of language teaching scholarship, which has remained largely in printed format.
Digitisation Efforts for Language Teaching Resources
The project began after researchers noted that editions of the journal published before 2001 had never been digitised. This realization came during a study on the journal’s research themes and collaborations, published in 2024. The collaboration between the Journal for Language Teaching, the South African Association for Language Teaching (SAALT), Sabinet, and SADiLaR has been crucial in moving this project forward.
With financial backing from SADiLaR, the first phase of the project successfully digitised the available printed editions dating back to 1977. Copies were supplied by the University of the Free State, ensuring that the digitisation process began with a solid foundation of resources.
South Africa: Key figures on Journal Digitisation
- Printed editions published between 1977 and 2000
- First phase completed in early 2026
Future Steps in Language Resource Accessibility
- Completion of the second phase of digitisation
- Indexing and online hosting of the complete archive
- Enhanced access for researchers and educators
The digitisation initiative ensures that South Africa's educational heritage remains accessible for future generations.
