The Contribution of Multilingual Public Signage to Societal Education, Case of Kibungo Town, Rwanda

This study explores the contribution of multilingual public signage to societal education in Kibungo Town, Rwanda, through linguistic landscape theory. In particular, the study analyses how languages exhibited in public signage contribute to informal learning, language awareness, and access to information outside formal educational institutions. Adopting a descriptive qualitative and quantitative case study design, data were collected from 110 public signboards selected from commercial, administrative, religious, educational, project-based, and other public spaces in Kibungo.

The results indicate that English is the most used language in public signage, followed by Kinyarwanda and French, with some signs showing bilingual and multilingual language practices. English appears mainly in administrative and educational signs due to its official status in Rwandan language policy, while Kinyarwanda facilitates accessibility and social inclusion in commercial and community communications. Furthermore, the study shows that multilingual signage serves as an important resource for societal education, promoting literacy, language awareness, and public access to information. The paper concludes that linguistic landscapes are not only tools of communication, but also crucial spaces of societal education and multilingual engagement in contemporary Rwanda.