A View of Linguistic Landscapes for an Ethical and Critical Education

Abstract

The research described in this chapter is intended to contribute to a critical and inclusive language education in multilingual contexts resulting from migration. Our results demonstrate the visibility and invisibility of languages and their varieties in and around a secondary school in Arteixo (Galicia) and permit us to analyze, from a qualitative and emic perspective, youth perceptions, and values concerning linguistic diversity in these new multilingual contexts. Our analysis also reveals evidence of the ways in which languages are distributed and commodified in the linguistic landscape of the town, and how prejudices concerning local language varieties and migrant languages are rooted in a community that has naturalized the de-capitalization of local and authentic voices. In particular, the hegemony of English and the capitalization of standard language varieties are visible in the linguistic landscape, and they influence young people’s language ideologies.