Nhlanhla Mpofu is an Associate Professor in Second Language Teacher Education within the Department of Curriculum Studies at Stellenbosch University. In addition to her role as a professor, she currently serves as the Chair of the Department of Curriculum Studies. She is also a Visiting Professor at the University of Antwerp in Belgium. She is a Y-rated NRF researcher, South African Academy of Young Science (SAYAS) member, Fulbright Alumna, COIL alumna, and Margaret McNamara Education Alumna. Nhlanhla is a member of the South African Council on Higher Education Accreditation Committee. Her first research foci works to (i) problematize our understanding of English as a Language of Instruction (ELI) in multilingual contexts; (ii) develop new language teaching methodologies that draw from culturally sustaining pedagogy and informed by disciplinary linguistic requirements, and (iii) re-orienting second language education research in multilingual education systems. To achieve the aim of her first research strand, Nhlanhla, leads a research project, ” Exploring the preparation and experiences of teachers using English across the curriculum: An interdisciplinary approach”. Her orientation to research is drawn from asset-based pedagogies that seek to dismantle the hegemonic stances of deficit models that have traditionally been privileged in language learning and teaching.
