What if what I want to say is not enough for what I have to say?" Expanding Meaning-Making Opportunities by Using Adinkra Symbols and Yoruba Proverbs

As University literacy professors of West African descent, we utilise our trans-linguistic mix of practices for meaning-making opportunities, especially as we sometimes face situations where English words are insufficient in conveying our intended meaning. This paper, grounded in African-centred theory and semiotics theory, presents the use of Adinkra symbols and Yoruba proverbs to facilitate instruction, dialogic exchanges, and provide feedback. This widens the angles of literacy, centres our Africanness and broadens our students' literacy worldview. Having grown up and being steeped in these other linguistic repertoires as we are, we found that utilising a trans-linguistic mix of praxis using Adinkra symbols and Yoruba proverbs helps us to (1) articulately and accurately express ourselves when it comes to dialogic interaction and feedback, (2) build on meaning-making practices and broaden discussion in dialogic exchanges, (3) provide our students with another linguistic worldview that goes beyond the Eurocentric meaning-making experience and language use, and to (4) serve to illuminate our cultural practices while simultaneously documenting our linguistic heritage for historical preservation.