Language Planning and Policy

Gaelic in Contemporary Scotland: contradictions, challenges and strategies

by Wilson McLeod

Foghlam tro mheadhan na Gàidhlig anns a’ cho-theacsa eadar-nàiseanta

by Wilson McLeod

El gaèlic a l’Escòcia contemporània: contradiccions, reptes i estratègies

by Wilson McLeod

Des de mitjans de la dècada dels 70, els esforços per preservar i revitalitzar el gaèlic a Escòcia han anat adquirint... more Des de mitjans de la dècada dels 70, els esforços per preservar i revitalitzar el gaèlic a Escòcia han anat adquirint nous impulsos i importància, a pesarque la llengua ha continuat disminuint des del punt de vista demogràfic. Els recursos públics i institucionals per a conservar el gaèlic, en particular en el camp de l’educació i dels mitjans de comunicació audiovisual, han augmentat de manera considerable en els últims anys, de manera que el gaèlic es considera cada vegada més un aspecte fonamental de la ja característica cultura escocesa i, com a tal, es relaciona (més indirectament que directament) amb el moviment per l’autonomia escocesa. Aquest nou reconeixement del gaèlic ha sigut consagrat en una llei anomenada Gaelic Language Act (Llei del gaèlic) (Escòcia) 2005, que atorga al gaèlic categoria oficial per primera vegada. Aquesta Llei també ha fundat un consell del gaèlic, Bòrd na Gàidhlig, amb capacitat per a emprendre una planificació lingüística nacional per al gaèlic. El descens progressiu del nombre de parlants i de l’ús de la llengua indica que la política duta a terme fins ara per a preservar i promoure el gaèlic no ha sigut adequada; el que fa que es necessiten urgentment estratègies que s’integren millor i siguen més contundents si es vol recuperar la llengua que l’anglès ha desplaçat.

Integrating Language Learning with Language Teacher Learning in K-12 World Language Teacher Education

by Jeff Bale

Draft, currently under review

This paper presents a qualitative study of integrating language learning with language teacher learning (Tedick, 2009)... more This paper presents a qualitative study of integrating language learning with language teacher learning (Tedick, 2009) in two K-12 world language teaching methods courses at a large, Midwestern public university. Based on document and interview data, I analyze how teacher candidates engaged with curricular materials written in the respective target language (TL), how they interacted with their peers in the TL about those materials, and how they described the effect of both on their learning. This analysis demonstrates that not only did such integrated experiences with language and language-teacher learning help candidates extend their (TL) proficiency into pedagogical and professional domains, but also to understand more fully the dynamic complexities of teaching.

Historia (y otres histories) de la oficialización del topónimu Ribadesella / Ribeseya

by Fernando Álvarez-Balbuena

published in La Plaza Nueva 30 (2010): 73-77

LANGUAGE IN SUVA - Language use and Literacy in an Urban Pacific Community

by Thorold (Thor) May

This paper is a preliminary report on a sociolinguistic field survey. It records the beliefs which 834 permanent... more This paper is a preliminary report on a sociolinguistic field survey. It records the beliefs which 834 permanent residents of Suva, Fiji had about their own language and literacy skills in 1988-89. The interview subjects were selected from five census enumeration districts with populations ranging from 430 to 1200, and chosen for having a roughly equal ethnic composition of Fijians and Indo-Fijians. Bilingual interviewers (linguistics students) invited and assisted subjects to complete an extensive questionnaire, and offer unstructured comments. The collated and analysed outcome gives a complex and sometimes surprising picture of urban language change.

The science of language policy and planning

by David Bradley

To appear in Nancy A. Chapelle (ed.) The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics, London: Routledge 2012

Minority languages in the United States, with a focus on Spanish in California

by reynaldo f. macias

Language Policies and the Sociolinguistic Historiography of Spanish in the United States

by reynaldo f. macias

Bilingual workers and language use rules in the workplace: a case study of a nondiscriminatory language policy

by reynaldo f. macias

English in India’s National Development: Hindi-Dravidian Politics and the Retention of a Colonial Language

by Derrick Nault

Asian Englishes, Vol. 15, No. 1, Summer 2012.

The widespread usage of the English language in India today has been explained in numerous ways. Theorists most... more The widespread usage of the English language in India today has been explained in numerous ways. Theorists most commonly view it as a consequence of structural forces such as colonialism or contemporary globalization. Others stress local initiative in the form of prescient top-down language policy decisions or individual rational choice on the part of language learners. Although cultural diversity is occasionally mentioned as a factor promoting English in India, the role inter-ethnic language conflict has played in the process has been downplayed or received less attention. Focusing on Indian political developments in the colonial and postcolonial eras and assessing the impact of key actors and events on language policy formulation, this paper argues that sustained resistance from the Dravidian-speaking South to New Delhi’s plans to make Hindi India’s sole official language and eliminate English in education and government after independence was the key factor that laid the foundations for the spread of English in postcolonial India. If globalization in more recent years has encouraged Indians to learn and use English in ever increasing numbers, earlier linguistic and ethnic disputes between the North and South and the ad hoc language policy decisions they engendered were pivotal for making this possible. With this in mind, the paper recommends that social theorists revisit Indian history and reflect more deeply on the role played by ethno-linguistic discord in conditioning local and global patterns of English language diffusion.

English Language Spread in Local Contexts: Turkey, Latvia and France.

by Hacer Hande Uysal

Scotland's Languages in Scotland's Parliament

by Wilson McLeod

This  1998  article  discusses  the  possible elements of a language policy for Scotland's... more This  1998  article  discusses  the  possible elements of a language policy for Scotland's Parliament, considering ways in which Scotland's  languages,  autochthonous  and  immigrant, can  reasonably but meaningfully be put to use in its operation.

A Principles-Based Approach for English Language Teaching Policies and Practices

by Ahmar Mahboob

Mahboob, A. & Tilakaratna, N. (2012). Towards A Principles Based Approach for ELT Policies and Practices. Alexandria: TESOL International.

This TESOL white paper introduces the notion of a principles-based approach (PBA) for English language teaching... more This TESOL white paper introduces the notion of a principles-based approach (PBA) for English language teaching policies and practices. PBA identifies six principles aimed at helping policymakers, researchers, and practitioners build effective and successful practices within varied contexts while identifying and engaging with the challenges that the implementation of these practices will encounter. The principles are collaboration, relevance, evidence, alignment, transparency, and empowerment (CREATE). While acknowledging the complexities inherent in the process of language policy and planning, this white paper also includes a discussion of how these principles have emerged as a result of the demands of globalization and the interests of the local populations of countries in which the teaching and learning of English is having a major impact.

Språkriktighetsboken. Utarbetad av Svenska språknämnden

by Ben Lyngfelt

Linguistic Duopoly: A Case of Mewati

by Prerna Bakshi

Considerable attention has been drawn recently towards the plight of immigrant languages or minority languages. Much... more Considerable attention has been drawn recently towards the plight of immigrant languages or minority languages. Much is being done to maintain these languages and to bring the issues surrounding them to the public eye. However, not much has been done on linguistic varieties labelled as 'dialects'. This study seeks to fill this gap by exploring the issues surrounding a language variety called Mewati.

This paper examines the status of Mewati in relation to the other dominant languages of Hindi and Urdu and attempts to explain how social institutions like local state run schools and madrasas contribute towards language shift. Additionally, the study explores the relationship between language, religion and identity and the politics thereof. It is recommended that school curriculums must make a room for Mewati if its maintenance is to be ensured. 

Autochthonous minority languages in public-sector primary education: Bilingual policies and politics in Brittany and Scotland

by Wilson McLeod

Co-authored with Vaughan Rogers.

This paper examines the relationship between policy and politics in relation to the development of public- more This paper examines the relationship between policy and politics in relation to the development of public-
sector primary education through Breton and Gaelic, considering closely the patterns of power through
which such provision is delivered. Brittany and Scotland present many similarities as culturally distinctive
territories, contained within larger state-nations, which until recently allowed very little scope for minority
language education. Initiatives to develop public-sector education through Breton and Gaelic were finally
launched in the 1980s and have now became significantly institutionalised, even if they remain small in
scale. The dynamics of institutionalisation have been very different in the two territories, however: parallel
problems have been tackled in different ways, and issues that have proved fraught in one have presented
few complications in the other. Both case studies demonstrate the importance of ‘bottom-up’ dynamics as a
source of innovative energy.

Linguistic Pan-Gaelicism: A Dog that Wouldn't Hunt

by Wilson McLeod

Although 'pan-Gaelic' rhetoric has been a recurring theme in language movements in Ireland and Scotland since the late... more Although 'pan-Gaelic' rhetoric has been a recurring theme in language movements in Ireland and Scotland since the late nineteenth century, there have been no significant efforts to bring Irish and Scottish Gaelic closer together in linguistic terms. Instead, contact between the two speech communities has been relatively limited and intranational forms of linguistic nationalism have been dominant. This article analyses some of the key debates and decisions in corpus planning for Irish and Scottish Gaelic since the late nineteenth century, showing how potential opportunities to promote convergence were overlooked and how linguistic modernization has tended to increase the divergence between the two forms. Against this historical backdrop, the article considers the extent to which the promotion of linguistic convergence would have been a realistic goal and whether such efforts would have harmed broader language revitalization initiatives in Ireland and Scotland.

An overcoat wrapped around an invisible man? Language legislation and language revitalisation in Ireland and Scotland

by Wilson McLeod

Co-authored with John Walsh.

New legislation in Ireland and Scotland is expected to stimulate a
significant increase in the provision of... more New legislation in Ireland and Scotland is expected to stimulate a
significant increase in the provision of public services in Irish and Gaelic in coming
years. This article considers the implications of these enactments for language
revitalisation, by examining the measures which public bodies are expected to
implement in order to increase their bilingual service provision. Drawing on Strubell’s
‘Catherine Wheel’ language planning framework, it identifies weaknesses in
the measures and suggests way of overcoming them. It is argued that, for this
legislation to have a significant linguistic impact, careful strategies are needed to
equip speakers of Irish and Gaelic to use their languages in relation to public
services, given the dominance of English in these domains. In particular, strategies
are needed to recruit and deploy bilingual staff in an effective manner. Without
careful planning, there is a risk that these enactments will not bring about meaningful
changes in language practice and may become largely symbolic rather than
functional.

El dret lingüístic a Catalunya i a Finlàndia: situació de conflicte i situació de pau.

by Vittorio Dell'Aquila

Dell'Aquila Vittorio:
"El dret lingüístic a Catalunya i a Finlàndia: situació de conflicte i situació de pau", in Actes de la V Trobada de Sociolingüistes Catalans, Generalitat de Catalunya: Barcelona, p. 264-274