A Critical Integrated Approach to Language Policy as Discursive Action: Strengths, Challenges, and Opportunities

Abstract

This chapter describes in detail the methodology of a critical language policy study that integrates multiple methods to analyze the discursive construction of the English-Only movement in the USA. Proponents of English Only, a political movement, contend that English is threatened and needs official protection. The reproduction of language ideology, which is essential to an analysis of English-Only arguments, leads to the valuation of some languages and speakers over others, thereby contributing to inclusion and exclusion within US society. Drawing on the discourse-historical approach (DHA) (Reisigl and Wodak, The discourse historical approach. In: Wodak R and Meyer M (eds) Methods of critical discourse analysis, 2nd ed. Sage, Los Angeles, pp. 87–121, 2009; Wodak, The discourse-historical approach. In Wodak R and Meyer M (eds), Methods of critical discourse analysis, Sage, London, pp. 63–94, 2001; Wodak, Linguistic analyses in language policies. In: Ricento T (ed), An introduction to language policy: theory and method, Blackwell, Malden, pp. 170–193, 2006) to develop an eclectic, multi-methodological framework for the discursive analysis of language policy as a multi-layered and ideological phenomenon, I combine data sets and methods in this study to emphasize the construction of English in relation to other languages in US public life. In doing so, I adopt Wodak’s (Linguistic analyses in language policies. In: Ricento T (ed), An introduction to language policy: theory and method, Blackwell, Malden, pp 170–193, 2006) methodology for the analysis of language policies to examine how languages are supported in their public validity, their functionality, and their dissemination. The primary aim of this chapter is to consider the strengths, challenges, and opportunities associated with a multi-methodological, integrated, and eclectic approach to language policy as both social and discursive action.