SAALT Newsletter: December Edition

Festive Tongues, Future Visions: SAALT’s Year-End Reflections

Here is a Holiday Ode to the Linguists of the Rainbow Tongues 🎄📚

To all the linguists on the southern tip,

Still marking scripts at the last minute,

With coffee cold and Wi-Fi slow,

And Turnitin yelling “Similarity: WHOA”…

May your holidays be code-switched and bright,

With “Molo!”, “Dumela!”, “Sawubona!” all night.

May “Howzit?” dance with “Avuxeni” in the air,

As isiXhosa clicks sparkle everywhere.

You’ve battled PIRLS reports and gloomy stats,

Explained to people that kids aren’t lazy, “the problem – it is systemic gaps”.

You’ve said, “No, English-only is not the way,”

At every faculty meeting, come what may.

You’ve argued that isiZulu deserves bold type,

That Sepedi readers must match the hype.

You’ve whispered, “Translanguaging is not a crime,”

And code-switched in class… all of the time.

You’ve fixed LoLT confusion in CAPS and in practice,

Turned mixed-language classrooms into multilingual magic.

You’ve said, “Yes, mother tongue matters, research is clear,”

While someone replied, “But what about ‘global careers’?” 🙃

So this festive season, may your inbox rest,

May all “Urgent!!!” emails quietly be suppressed.

May reviewers say “Accept!” in their very first round,

And NRF ratings miraculously abound.

May Santa bring corpora neatly annotated,

And ethics approval fast-tracked and back-dated.

May your references export in APA without tears,

And Zotero behave for the first time in years.

As the braai fire crackles in December sun,

And kids shout in 11 languages, all having fun,

Hear the continent’s chorus from Cape to Kilimanjaro:

“African languages are not ‘add-ons’, they’re the whole concerto!”

So here’s to YOU—word weavers, policy shapers,

Curriculum tinkerers and textbook re-makers.

May your holidays be joyful, your hearts feel light,

In isiZulu, Afrikaans, Tshivenda—all tongues shining bright.

Happy Holidays, multilingual crew,

“Ke a leboha, siyabonga, thank you, dankie” for all you do.

And may 2026 (in every language known)

Be the year African languages fully claim the throne. 🌟

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Season’s Gratitude and Looking Ahead

A Heartfelt Thank You to Our Language Community

As we approach the end of the year, we want to express our heartfelt gratitude to each of you for your tireless dedication and contributions to language teaching and learning, both in South Africa and globally. May the festive season bring you serenity, happiness and a rejuvenating break to prepare for the new year. We look forward to a fruitful 2026 filled with collaborative endeavors, ongoing learning and mutual growth.

Here are the Christmas wishes from the SAALT Exco….

SAALT Journal

Special Conference Edition

Conference delegates are warmly invited to submit full-length articles based on their presentations for consideration in the upcoming special edition of the Journal for Language Teaching, titled From Chalkboards to Chatbots. This edition will feature innovative scholarship and reflective practice that emerged from the conference, with a particular emphasis on language teaching, learning, and digital transformation in diverse educational contexts. We aim to curate a collection that reflects the depth, diversity, and momentum of the conversations sparked at the event.

Submissions must be received by Friday, 27 February 2026.

Submission guidelines and formatting requirements will be shared via the SAALT website and mailing list. We look forward to showcasing the voices and visions that are shaping the future of language education.

If you have missed the latest issue of the journal, visit https://www.journals.ac.za/jlt/index to read the articles published in this volume.

SAALT Call for paper

SAALT Conference 2026

Keep your eyes and ears open – The call for papers will be communicated soon!

Next year, our conference will take place in Kimberley in collaboration with Sol Plaatjie University.

Special Interest Groups

To join the SAALT SIG Community you can scan the QR code below, or click on the WhatsApp link for the specific SIG you are interested in.

Academic Writing

During our conference this year, we discussed opportunities for the coming year. We shared ideas on how we can collaborate and promote best practices among members who are interested in academic writing. One of the initiatives we would like to launch is to build an online bibliography of publications on academic writing. If there are members who are willing to participate and would like to share their research with us, please send an email to info@saalt.org.za.

You are also welcome to join the Academic Writing WhatsApp Group simply by clicking here.

Assessment and Testing

The past few months have been quite exciting for our Assessment and Testing SIG. We have successfully delivered three webinars as part of the series Assess smart with Albert. We would like to thank Prof. Albert Weideman for availing himself of these webinars. These webinars are available on our website at https://saalt.org.za/webinars/. This SIG also forms part of the Network of Expertise for Language Assessment (NExLA). For more information, visit: https://nexla.org.za/

You are also welcome to join the SAALT Assessment and Testing WhatsApp Group simply by clicking here.

African Languages: Teaching the African Way

The Special Interest Group (SIG) on African Languages: Teaching the African Way is dedicated to advancing the teaching and learning of African languages in ways that affirm their cultural, linguistic, and pedagogical richness. The SIG provides a collaborative platform for educators, researchers, and practitioners to share innovative methodologies, grounded in African worldviews, that respond to the realities of multilingual classrooms. By promoting African languages as both subjects and mediums of instruction, the group seeks to strengthen literacy, preserve cultural heritage, and contribute to educational transformation in South Africa.

We are therefore inviting you to join this group to advance our African language education.

To join our WhatsApp group click here

Addressing Diverse Multilingual Classroom Realities

Through our Special Interest Group (SIG) on Addressing Diverse Multilingual Classroom Realities, we aim to create a community of practice among the lecturers, teachers, departmental officials and members of NGOs who celebrate our language diversity in South Africa and who view language as a resource and a responsibility. We would like to collaborate on projects to celebrate the wealth of our language repertoires and find innovative ways in which to develop and support all the languages in South Africa and to share research and best practices on how languages can be harnessed to promote learning

To join our WhatsApp group click here

Advancements in Technology: Language Teaching and Assessment

The Advancements in Technology: Language Teaching and Assessment Special Interest Group (SIG) is one of the exciting SAALT SIGs through which we aim to foster a forward-thinking community of practice—one that embraces innovation, critical dialogue, and collaborative exploration of digital tools in language education. Educators, researchers, and practitioners are welcome to join our WhatsApp community (click here), where updates, announcements, and entry points into our broader shared resource and collaboration space will be shared. For more information, please contact mariska nel at mariska.nel@nwu.ac.za.

Membership Fees for 2025/2026

Important notice: At our AGM held during the SAALT Conference 2025 on 30 July 2025 it was decided that SAALT will change its membership dates from 1 January to 31 December 2025 to 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026. Please note if you have paid your membership fees after 1 July 2025 your membership will be active until 30 June 2026.

Becoming a SAALT member offers valuable opportunities for professional growth, networking, and collaboration within the language teaching community. Members gain access to an online profile and a directory of expertise, where they can connect with colleagues who have indicated their willingness to serve as journal article reviewers, external examiners, moderators, and more. This creates a dynamic platform for building partnerships and sharing knowledge. In addition, members enjoy exclusive benefits, including a 20% discount on page fees when publishing in the Journal for Language Teaching (JLT). By joining SAALT, you become part of a vibrant network dedicated to advancing language education and research across South Africa and beyond.

We would like to remind everyone to renew their SAALT Membership for 2025/2026. More information is available on our website at https://saalt.org.za/become-a-member/. From this page, you will be able to navigate to our membership levels. The following options are available:

After you have made your selection on the following page https://saalt.org.za/membership-levels/ you can choose one of two options.

Option 1:
Subscribe and pay via our secure online payment portal, Payfast. The subscribe and pay option allows you to access your online profile immediately.
Option 2:
Request an invoice and pay via EFT or submit your invoice to your institution. If you choose this option, please remember to submit your proof of payment to the upload link that is sent to you via email after you have subscribed. As soon as your payment has been verified (please allow 2 weeks for this process), you will be able to access your online profile.