DOI: 10.4018/JCIT.2020040101 Journal of Cases on Information Technology Volume 22 • Issue 2 • April-June 2020 Copyright © 2020, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. 1 A Framework to Guide ICT Solution for Language Barrier in South African Healthcare Phathutshedzo Makovhololo, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa Tiko Iyamu, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa ABSTRACT In recent years, healthcare service providers have increasingly employed mobile systems in delivering services. However, the nature of the diversities in tribes and languages within many developing countries enhance the difficulty of delivering or receiving the services which are provided by many healthcare organisations. This is so because the English language is the primary medium of communication, although many healthcare recipients are not conversant in English as they cannot speak English fluently or understand it coherently. The objective of the study was to understand the impact which language barrier have on healthcare services. The interpretivist approach was employed. The case study approach was applied. Qualitative data were collected using semi-structured technique. The analysis of the data was guided by two theories, actor network theory and diffusion of innovation. From the findings, a framework was developed, which is intended to guide a solution that can be provided to address the barrier in the South African healthcare environment. KeywoRdS Information Technology, Language Semantics, Actor Network Theory, Diffusion Of Innovation, South Africa INTRodUCTIoN The need for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has increased monumentally in recent years as nearly everyone has witnessed a vast expansion in the prevalence of mobile device (Brown, 2018). ICT solutions are used to facilitate communication, information processing, storage and management through electronic means (Saleem, Flanagan, Wilck, Demetriades, & Doebbeling, 2013, p. 49). Also, ICT is considered as the key to enhancing and improving communication among healthcare providers, especially for patients with chronic conditions (Barr, Vania, Randall, & Mulvale, 2017). According to Yagos, Olok and Ovuga (2017), services such as e-Referral, teleconsultation, electronic medical records, and the utilisation of mobile phones indicate substantial benefits to health workers in rural and remote areas. Thus, ICT can be used to promote and improve the quality of healthcare and enhance the education of both health professionals and patients (Rouleau, Gagnon, & Côté, 2015). However, healthcare service delivery systems have faced problems (Ball, Bertone, Carrazza, Deans, Del Debbio, Forte, Guffanti, Hartland, Latorre, Rojo, & Ubiali, 2015). Some of the problems include usability, information security (Zakaria, Affendi, & Zakaria, 2010), as well as the translation of languages. According to Nemutanzhela and Iyamu (2016), the diverse nature of the tribes and languages within African countries makes it difficult to deliver or receive the provisional services of This article, originally published under IGI Global’s copyright on January 24, 2020 will proceed with publication as an Open Access article starting on January 18, 2021 in the gold Open Access journal, Journal of Cases on Information Technology (converted to gold Open Access January 1, 2021), and will be distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and production in any medium, provided the author of the original work and original publication source are properly credited.