Educational Language Policy

Though the pedagogical concerns appear at the surface, the underlying goal of educational language policies is to maintain (or challenge) the power relation in the society through ideologies. Nepal's educational language policies can be categorized as promoting assimilation or pluralism on the basis of underlying ideologies.

Este artículo de revisión contribuye a la comprensión de la política educativa para la enseñanza del inglés en Colombia en relación con la posibilidad que abre o limitación que representa para el ejercicio de la Pedagogía Crítica. El texto presenta inicialmente una exploración del concepto de Pedagogía Crítica, hace luego un recorrido por la política educativa para la enseñanza del inglés en el  país y señala sus planteamientos principales. Finalmente discute el encuentro entre la política y la pedagogía crítica y plantea distancias y acercamientos entre ellas.

As was the case with many newly independent African nations, Somalia was beset by a language problem whose complexity had begun well before independence and the unification of British Somaliland and Italian Somaliland in 1960. With three languages (English, Arabic, and Italian) used as media of communication in government offices and in schools, various Somali administrations struggled to contain the impasse but found no tangible solution. Barely three years after Mohamed Siad Barre seized power in October 1969, he had his military regime introduce the Somali orthography in the Latin alphabet. Based on this milestone, Siad Barre's military rule is highly commended for taking a remarkable step forward in what came to be known as the Somalization project. However, officials of the government and Somali scholarship failed to

Over the past 40 years, the University of Hawaii at Hilo (UHH) has come to have the highest percentage of Pacific Islander students in the ten-campus state University of Hawai'i system. In other parts of the U.S., native Hawai'ian/Pacific Islander is a single category for identifying ethnicity in demographic surveys. In 2013, however, the term "Pacific Islander" was used at UHH to refer primarily to Micronesian, Samoan, and Tongan students, as distinct from native Hawai'ian students and also from other international students. This article reports on an ethnographic investigation into the history and current situation of Micronesian students as a subgroup of Pacific Islanders at UHH. It describes why Micronesians have gravitated to UHH, how they contribute to the university's mission of campus diversity, and what support services they receive as Pacific Islanders, using the family history of a young first-year Micronesian college student from Chuuk. The case study of UHH is relevant to Japanese universities' categorization of and support services for students at a time of increasing ethnic diversity and internationalization in Japan. 英文キーワード international and minority student services, University of Hawaii at Hilo (UHH), Pacific Islander students, Micronesian migrants in Hawai'i, campus diversity 2 本文 International Student vs. Ethnic Minority: Pacific Islander Students and the University of Hawai'i at Hilo Cheiron McMahill I.

This paper considers the role of Malay language loyalty and loss in South Thailand. The ethnographic material presented is based on the author’s ten years living and working among bilingual urban Malays, and a year making regular visits to rural communities in Narathiwat. One of the few things that informed analysts of South Thailand agree on is that a range of factors contributed to the resumption of violence in 2004. In addition to the role of political legitimacy, there is consensus that progress towards peace is complicated by the involvement of uncivil constituencies from two highly ethnicised religious communities. Despite the importance of ethnoreligious issues this paper argues that ethnolinguistic dynamics⎯specifically language loyalty, loss, and angst⎯have much to contribute to the return of peaceful co-existence and reconciliation. Although religious freedom in Thailand is promised and present, few minority languages in Thailand are strong now than they were before policies promulgated in the 1930s. I introduce the range of positions on the role of language and multi-lingualism in the construction of difference and the achievement of peaceful co-existence. I describe the range mono-lingual and bilingual communities in South Thailand. I also recount the variety of ways that Southern Malays have responded to the decline of Malay and the importance of Thai for those wishing to engage in Thai modernity. There is a need to as informed by ethno-linguistic angst as ethno-religious rebellion.

This manuscript draws from a 2-year multiple-case ethnography on the educational experiences of Mexican immigrant families with California middle schools. The article explores the influence of the political landscape and raciolinguistic ideologies surrounding the nature and implementation of a middle school dual language bilingual program, and it shares ethnographic snapshots from both a school-and home-based perspective of (in)equity issues related to the program. Data sources include home and school observations, and interviews with students, parents , administrators, and teachers. Findings suggest that though all students are considered language learners, educational reform policies and practices may be undermining the school's effort to implement an equitable bilingual program. Implications for practice include the interrogation of educational policies and practices that can further marginalize students across race and class in the process of becoming bilingual in the US.

El Programa Nacional de Bilingüismo colombiano busca mejorar el aprendizaje del inglés como lengua extranjera en los distintos niveles de la enseñanza. Hasta ahora se han realizado pocos estudios sistemáticos dentro de las escuelas que permitan conocer el estado real en que se encuentran en relación con ese Programa.
En nuestra investigación, realizada en la ciudad de Santiago de Cali, se utilizaron encuestas, entrevistas y un examen internacional para dar cuenta de la gestión administrativa
llevada a cabo por los directivos académicos y del nivel de inglés de los profesores, dentro de otros aspectos tendientes a definir el perfil de los docentes de inglés. Para la muestra participaron 56 instituciones que representan las 22 comunas en que está dividida administrativamente la ciudad y se ubican en estratos socioeconómico bajos y medios.
Se encontró una gestión de los recursos y del talento humano insufi ciente para apoyar los procesos de implementación de la política educativa; además, los niveles de lengua de los profesores están, generalmente, por debajo de las metas del PNB, que busca que en el año 2019 los docentes en ejercicio tengan un nivel de usuario intermedio (B2) de acuerdo con MCER. Adicionalmente, se registró una brecha entre la enseñanza privada y pública del inglés, que va en contravía con el espíritu de la política educativa.
Estos hallazgos sugieren que existe la necesidad apremiante de revisar en contextos escolares particulares las condiciones en que se da la enseñanza de la lengua extranjera para tomar acciones que redunden en su mejora si se aspira a mejorar los niveles de competencia en inglés de los estudiantes.

For over a century the Ainu language has been threatened with disappearance as a result of language policies imposed by the Japanese following colonization of Ainu Mosir (now known as Hokkaidō), the Indigenous Ainu homeland. With recent legal and political victories, the Ainu have begun to reclaim their Indigenous culture and language within local communities, on the wider national stage, and internationally. However, while Ainu revitalization efforts continue, discourses of globalization in Japan have contributed to a dramatic increase in the status of English-as-a-foreign-language education, eclipsing other foreign and minority languages at all levels. Examining current policies, both de jure and de facto (see, e.g., Johnson, 2013; Schiffman, 1996), this paper explores how the disproportionate focus on English in contemporary Japanese education, reflected in societal and policy discourses regarding language and globalization, may be contributing to the closing down of ideological and implementational spaces (Hornberger, 2002, 2005, 2006; Hornberger & Johnson, 2007) for Ainu language education, thereby negatively impacting the continued revitalization of the Ainu language. The paper concludes by implicating opposing discursive orientations to globalization within Japanese society, and Japanese educational language policy specifically, in the lack of explicit attention to Ainu language revitalization efforts in national policy, and suggests that more critical examination of the role of English in Japanese education is needed if these efforts are to continue to succeed.

The recent interest in heritage language education reflects an attempt to reverse language shift towards the exclusive use of English in immigrant families. However, most of the research in this area addresses either early childhood language development or postsecondary education and does not explore language acquisition and use during the school years and rarely takes the family environment into consideration.
Framed by Spolsky’s (2004) three-part model for language policy, this qualitative case study examines the ways in which supplementary education and family language policies assist in raising bilingual and biliterate speakers of Russian and English. It explores two domains of the children’s life: the contexts of family and a Russian Saturday School by investigating specific language beliefs, practices, and language management strategies at the Russian School and the families of five of its graduates as well as by providing a threefold perspective of parents, teachers and adolescents. Observations, interviews and surveys provide different types of data that helps us understand of how these different contexts impact the adolescents’ language development and their attitude towards their heritage language.
In line with previous research, this study confirms the leading role of parents in heritage language preservation. The main components of the parents’ language policy that supported bilingualism were (1) dedication to the home language and culture, (2) adherence to strict rules about when each language is used, and (3) support of Russian language development by providing additional opportunities to practice both receptive and reproductive skills in Russian. In the family context, language management was largely implemented through language practices and parental language use was one of the main tactics of such management.
The study demonstrates that the Russian School played an important role in the lives of these families not only as a place of supplementary education but also as a community builder where children socialized in the Russian culture in a pressure-free atmosphere. It played an important role in building a positive attitude towards the Russian language in adolescence.
The analysis also reveals a diminishing role of parents and teaching in affecting language choices and language practices of children in adolescence. At this stage, their choice to use Russian for personal activities was closely related to the opportunities to use the Russian language outside of the home and the Russian School, especially in communication with their peers.
This study has implications for the theory of family language policy, heritage language educators, program planners, and immigrant families interested in raising bilingual-biliterate children.  

Individuals have their own culture and social structure. They are accustomed to the norms and practices of that social structure. But the advent of new elements brings notable changes in their particular social pattern. These changes have impact on individual's personalities, thinking, and behavior; and the society takes a new look with distinguished characteristics. Ben Jonson, in Volpone, presents a group of diverse characters who seemed to be the representatives of the rising period of protocapitalist economic order. These characters are distinguished by what and how fraudulently they speak to others to boost money and wealth. They are in rivalry against each other, and mostly engaged in the acquirement of material goods over goodwill and moral obligation. Among others Volpone and Mosca are the leading representatives who constantly entice the different entrepreneurial potential to avariciously drive for money, and to finally shatter their hopes. The two mastermind plotters creatively shroud their true sort in entwining linguistic artifice merely to trick the wealth-maniac people by making themselves unsuspected and credible. The difference between right and wrong evaporates from society, and the principles and morality have been at stake. Such society depicted in the play gives a new mode of principles, morality, and good conduct. The attitudes to morality have been under consideration in the analysis.

This presentation demonstrates the benefit of examining education language policy. Sign language studies document participants’ school location and attendance dates; addressing changing language policies in deaf education. Education of some spoken language populations parallels that of deaf Westerners. Considering such similarities, this variable should be incorporated in new variation studies.

Author(s): Ice, Anna | Advisor(s): McCarty, Teresa L; Vroon, Ronald W | Abstract: Framed by Spolsky’s (2004) three-part model for language policy, this qualitative case study examines the ways in which supplementary education and family language policies assist in raising bilingual and biliterate speakers of Russian and English. It explores two domains of the children’s life: the contexts of family and a Russian Saturday School by investigating specific language beliefs, practices, and language management strategies at the Russian School and the families of five of its graduates as well as by providing a threefold perspective of parents, teachers and adolescents. Observations, interviews and surveys provide different types of data that helps us understand of how these different contexts impact the adolescents’ language development and their attitude towards their heritage language. In line with previous research, this study confirms the leading role of parents in heritage language p...

The article provides a short overview how the competition between three languages – Estonian, Russian and English in the Estonian linguistic environment has manifested in education, and has been shaped by language education policy. As a post-Soviet country, Estonia had to establish the full functionality of its national language in a society that has a significant minority of Russian speakers. At the same time, it has to hold on to its positions in competition with English, a language of globalisation and perceived personal success. While Estonia has been both active and successful in pursuing its langue policies, the analysis also shows that the results have been achieved in interaction of various agents with often conflicting interests.

This paper describes Malay negotiation with Thai Influences and Islamic reformism in Thailand’s far-south by analyzing the changes in merit-making rhetoric, rituals, and rationales. I begin by demonstrating how the local rise of Thai/Siamese influence coincided with growth of Islamic reformism. The subjugation of the Malay Kerajaan of Patani by Siamese forces between the 178Os and the 1820’s led to an exodus of ‘ulama to Mecca at a tumultuous time. The writings and returning students of Malay-Indonesian scholars based in Mecca began to challenge traditionalist orthopraxy in Pattani before Siam increased its attempts to assimilate its southern subjects following the 1909 Anglo-Siamese Treaty. The governments of General Prem Tinsulanonda negotiated an amnesty to Malay separatists, accommodated Malay demands, and co-opted Malay elites. Once more, these developments roughly coincided with Islamic resurgence. As a result, Malays in South Thailand are both more religiously observant, and engagement in Thai modernity. The second half of this paper describes the impact of these Thai and Islamic influences on merit-making rhetoric, rituals, and rationales. Malay language loss among urban Malays have led to increasing numbers referring to the generation, accumulation and transference of merit as tham bun (merit-making)⎯an expansive Thai religious idiom. While Thai influences have impacted merit-making rhetoric, Islamic reformism has changed merit (Th. Bun, SM. Pahala) are generating. Traditionalists and reformists both insist that the performance of one’s individual ritual obligations (fardu ‘in) has the biggest effect on Muslim’s comfort in the grave and eschatological vindication. Nevertheless, reformist reject the efficacy of merit transferred to the deceased (except when performed by anak saleh) have led to the circle of posthumous funeral feasts being replaced by merit-transference strategies considered consistent with the sunnah. Traditionalists argue for the efficacy of a range of merit-generating ritual complexes, and that merit-transference is a meritorious act. While Thai influences have impacted merit-making rhetoric, and Islamic influences merit-making rituals, both affect merit-making rationales. Islamic tradition emphatically affirms that one’s the level of one’s store of merit affects one’s comfort in the grave and vindication at judgment. While Malays of South Thailand share the Indic background with other Southeast Asian Muslims, contact with Theravada Buddhism can be seen to have led to a greater emphasis on, and more sophisticated conception of, the economy of merit in South Thailand.

The success of language planning efforts around the development of Bahasa Indonesia as the official language of the Republic of Indonesia is commonly seen at the same time to be a remarkable achievement and a necessary means to maintaining unity among a population of otherwise intractable ethnolinguistic heterogeneity. Most Indonesians today speak a number of languages as a matter of course, the vast majority using a regional language other than Bahasa Indonesia in the home and/or community (e.g., Javanese) and studying a foreign language (usually English). For many Indonesians Bahasa Indonesia is as much a second language as the foreign languages studied in school-children often speak little to no Bahasa Indonesia prior to formal education where it is the official medium of instruction. However, its ubiquity in the public sphere and national significance as a symbol of unity tends to elevate its status far beyond that of other languages any individual might also be said to be a speaker of, even their first/home language(s). Following the dialogic approach of Wortham (2001), this paper employs narrative inquiry to examine how metadiscursive regimes (Bauman & Briggs, 2003; see also Makoni & Pennycook, 2007)-normative ideological frameworks for talking about language and language users-identifiable in participant self-narrative, educational language policy documents, and language education materials work to (re)produce idealized multi-languaged subjects (Flores, 2017). From this examination, the argument is made that educational language policy and planning in Indonesia has played a key role in shaping a very narrowly defined ideal multilingual Indonesian, one who is first and foremost a speaker of Bahasa Indonesia and only secondarily a speaker of others, each with their own delineated domains of use.

As one of the most significant aspects of the Balinese economy, tourism attracts a large number of foreign nationals to the Indonesian island province. For a variety of reasons many tourists choose to study the national language (Bahasa Indonesia) to at least some degree during their stay. In order to meet this demand, a few small private language schools have been established, having developed their own specialized teaching materials in the process. In this paper supplemental workbook materials published by one such school in Bali are examined through the methodological lens of narrative analysis following the dialogic approach of Wortham (2001). The ways in which statements about language use and language users in these materials interactionally position both students and those with whom they are expected to come into contact during their time in Bali are explored. In conjunction with narrative data collected from participant interviews with school administrators and students, this analysis demonstrates how implicit language policies (see, e.g., Johnson, 2013) communicated by such teaching materials can be seen to work to produce particular dynamically languaged subject formations (Flores, 2017) for local Balinese, Indonesians more generally, and tourists (as well as other non-nationals) embedded within a socioeconomic framework of neoliberal governmentality (Foucault, 2007). Extending this observation, the argument is made that in the context of Balinese society the uncritical inclusion of such implicit language policies in these kinds of materials not only socializes newcomers into understanding that specific language practices are important for navigating racialized divisions of labor, but also has the potential to reproduce and exacerbate socioeconomic disparities and orientalist relations of power between local Indonesians/Balinese and (predominantly) Western tourists. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications for the development of language teaching materials in the Balinese context as well as language teaching materials more generally.