Language policy is all about choices. If you are bilingual or plurilingual, you have to choose which language to use. Even if you speak only one language, you have choices of dialects and styles. ...Some of these choices are the result of management, reflecting conscious and explicit efforts by language managers to control the choices. This book presents a specific theory of language management. Bernard Spolsky reviews research on the family, religion, the workplace, the media, schools, legal and health institutions, the military and government. Also discussed are language activists, international organisations, and human rights relative to language, and the book concludes with a review of language managers and management agencies. A model is developed that recognises the complexity of language management, makes sense of the various forces involved, and clarifies why it is such a difficult enterprise.
Jews spent over two thousand years in exile. Although Hebrew remained a sacred and literary language, it formed part of a repertoire which included Jewish varieties of the local language. With the ...return to Israel, Hebrew was revernacularized. This article traces the sociolinguistic effects of exile and return to the homeland.
Drawing on four decades of research, Bernard Spolsky presents an updated theory of language policy that starts with the individual speaker instead of the nation.
Over the last 50 years, language policy has developed into a major discipline, drawing on research and practice in many nations and at many levels. This is the first Handbook to deal with language ...policy as a whole and is a complete 'state-of-the-field' survey, covering language practices, beliefs about language varieties, and methods and agencies for language management. It provides a historical background which traces the development of classical language planning, describes activities associated with indigenous and endangered languages, and contains chapters on imperialism, colonialism, effects of migration and globalization, and educational policy. It also evaluates language management agencies, analyzes language activism and looks at language cultivation (including reform of writing systems, orthography and modernized terminology). The definitive guide to the subject, it will be welcomed by students, researchers and language professionals in linguistics, education and politics.
The Handbook of Educational Linguistics is a dynamic, scientifically grounded overview revealing the complexity of this growing field while remaining accessible for students, researchers, language ...educators, curriculum developers, and educational policy makers. * A single volume overview of educational linguistics, written by leading specialists in its many relevant fields * Takes into account the diverse theoretical foundations, core themes, major findings, and practical applications of educational linguistics * Highlights the multidisciplinary reach of educational linguistics * Reflects the complexity of this growing field, whilst remaining accessible to a wide audience
Introducing a pioneering series of studies of family language policy and management, this paper points out that classic language policy dealt almost entirely with the nation-state, although it did ...recognise the critical role of the family in determining natural intergenerational transmission of a variety. After arguing for the need to look at each of the levels, or, rather, domains making up a speech or political community, it shows how these studies deal with internal pressures (such as ideology or grandparents) and external domains (especially the school) which aim to influence the family domain. More studies of these domains, including the family, are needed to provide a clear understanding of language policy.
Earlier, I proposed that language policy could usefully be analyzed as consisting of three independent but interconnected components, language practices, language beliefs or ideologies, and language ...management. It was also argued that failure to recognize that language policy can exist in other domains and at other levels than the nation-state, ranging from the family to international organizations was one of the reasons for the ineffectiveness of state planning efforts. From looking at a number of cases, some modifications are now suggested. First, within management, is to note the distinction between advocates (without power) and managers. Second, is to add the level of the individual, noting the importance of self-management, attempts to expand personal repertoires to enhance communication and employability. Finally, it is pointed out that even when this leads to a workable language policy, it may be blocked or hampered by non-linguistic forces such as genocide, conquest, colonization, introduced diseases, slavery, corruption and natural disasters.
Language policy is an issue of critical importance in the world today. In this introduction, Bernard Spolsky explores many debates at the forefront of language policy: ideas of correctness and bad ...language; bilingualism and multilingualism; language death and efforts to preserve endangered languages; language choice as a human and civil right; and language education policy. Through looking at the language practices, beliefs and management of social groups from families to supra-national organizations, he develops a theory of modern national language policy and the major forces controlling it, such as the demands for efficient communication, the pressure for national identity, the attractions of (and resistance to) English as a global language, and the growing concern for human and civil rights as they impinge on language. Two central questions asked in this wide-ranging survey are of how to recognize language policies, and whether or not language can be managed at all.
"In Asia, English is no longer a foreign language but a key resource for education, government, business and the general public. Whereas thirty years ago, British and American experts believed that ...the best way to improve the quality of English teaching was to cancel any programs below the secondary level, Asian nations as well as European are now introducing English in primary school. But there are major obstacles to overcome: the training of enough local teachers or the hiring of English speakers, the preparation of suitable teaching materials, the development of useful tests, and the design of workable curriculums. The chapters in this book, written by leading English-teaching professionals in seven Asian countries and originally delivered at the 2010 Annual Conference of Asia TEFL which took place in Hanoi, Vietnam, describe and analyze national policies and how they are implemented. The coverage is wide: China with its huge number of students learning English, Japan working to make the transition from elementary to secondary school seamless, Singapore continuing to use English as medium of instruction for its multilingual population, Korea developing English education policies to recognize the increased role of English alongside the national language, India building on its colonial past to make English an economic resource, Vietnam fitting English into a program of national rebuilding, and Taiwan spreading its English teaching outside the national capital. This is not a report of the views of outside experts, but of local experiences understood by local scholars of international standing. Policy makers, educators, researchers and scholars will be able to gain valuable insights from Asian experts"--
