“‘Kwai’ is not an appropriate expression of God”: Stancetaking on Kaaps gospel music

PurposeThis research explores the standard language ideology in Chinese foreign language education policies. The most substantial in relation to language policy and management in regard to language ideology are beliefs associated with the values on the named language and its varieties (Spolsky, 2009). In the standard language ideology, the standard is treated as being valuable linguistic capital and possessing prestige as well as authority. Mandarin is the most well-accepted standard Chinese, and similarly, UK English or US English is the most popular and Standard English (SE) in China.Design/methodology/approachThe theoretical framework in this research is critical discourse analysis (CDA) and discourse-historical approach (DHA) to guide the data collection and data analysis. This research will review recent and seminal literature obtained from the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) on language policy in China in relation to standard language ideology. The literature also investigates Chinese state's English language ideologies using official language education policies (FLEPs).FindingsThe results show that standard language ideology is a common mindset found within official state policies in regard to SE. The authors argue that the Chinese trust on the ideology of standard language appears to not be aligned to recent worldwide trends such as globalization and multilingualism.Originality/valueThis research can provide insights into future language planning and language policy in China and shows that the future research could do more on language planning in China.

Straipsnyje analizuojamas standartinės kalbos ideologijos poveikis lietuvių kalbos ir literatūros mokytojų kalbinėms nuostatoms: žiūrima, kiek hierarchiškai mokytojai vertina lietuvių kalbos atmainas (bendrinę kalbą, tarmes, jaunimo kalbą) ir kiek vietos ugdymo procese užima kalbos koregavimas. Tyrimas remiasi prielaida, kad mokykla savo institucine galia ir autoritetu įtvirtina tam tikras vertybines ir elgsenos schemas ir daro įtaką bendruomenės mąstymo apie kalbą modeliams. Lietuviški duomenys vertinami iš permainų šiandieniame kalbos švietime perspektyvos, kai į švietimo teorijas ir praktikas įtraukiamas kalbinio sąmoningumo klausimas, mokytojų rengimo programose ieškoma būdų mažinti steretipiškai neigiamas nuostatas nestandartinių tarmių atžvilgiu, įvertinti kalbos variantiškumo reikšmę individualiai ir socialinei kalbėtojo tapatybei (Kristiansen 1990: 291, Cross, DeVaney & Jones 2001, Razfar 2005). Tyrimu norėta išryškinti galimas stereotipines mąstymo schemas ir nuostatų variacijas. Tyrimas parodė, kad lietuvių kalbos ir literatūros mokytojų kalbinės nuostatos yra ganėtinai homogeniškos ir nepriklauso nuo informato amžiaus. Vertindamos kalbos atmainas ir variantiškumą mokytojos iš esmės reprodukuoja standartinės kalbos ideologijos suformuotas hierarchines vertybines schemas, o per mokymo praktiką teigia atliekančios joms numatytą mokinių kalbos kontroliavimo ir taisymo vaidmenį. Tikėtina, kad poreikio ir pareigos taisyti nestandartinius variantus nuostata lietuvių kalbos mokytojų suvokiama kaip jų profesionalumas. Mokytojų deklaruojamose praktikose ryški galios pozicija – matyti, kad jos taiso pašnekovų kalbą neapsiribodamos lietuvių kalbos pamokomis, į taisymų praktiką indoktrinuoja ir mokinius. Tyrimo išvados turėtų būti tikslinamos su didesne ir reprezentatyvesne informantų imtimi, taip pat etnografiniais metodais.

This article presents an analysis of the standard language ideology within a corpus of school-designed language policy documents from 264 primary schools in England. It examines the processes by which standard language ideological concepts (e.g. ‘Standard English’, ‘correctness’, ‘hegemony’) get textually manifested in school policies, and how these are intertextually and interdiscursively shaped by the broader educational policy context that teachers work in, notably the large-scale curriculum and assessment reforms of National Curriculum 2014. Using tools and methods from critical language policy, I reveal how new meanings emerge in the machinery of the policy-making process and at the contact points between policy levels. I trace how the standard language ideology within government policies gets reconstructed in school policies, with an emphasis on linguistic ‘correctness’ and the near-exclusive requirement for students and teachers to use standardised English in speech and writing. I discuss policies of surveillance, whereby teachers are discursively constructed and positioned as standard language ‘role models’: as powerful and authoritative figures who are granted a license to police, regulate and suppress their students’ language, whilst also having their own language controlled and monitored. Finally, I argue for the place of critical language awareness within the policy-making process at school level.

As a discipline, the study of Biblical Hebrew grammar began largely among Arabic-speaking Jews of the Middle Ages, particularly in the ʿAbbasid period (750–1258 CE). Indeed, it has long been acknowledged by scholars that the Hebrew grammatical tradition, in many ways, grew up out of and alongside the Arabic grammatical tradition. Many concepts present in Hebrew grammar have their origins in the writings of Arabic grammarians of the ʿAbbasid period. And yet, as recent linguistic and anthropological work has shown, setting down ‘the grammar’ of a language can be as much an ideological or political activity as an academic one. In addition to the language itself, speech communities also share beliefs and attitudes about that language—what linguistic anthropologists would term a ‘language ideology’. Language ideology can have a dramatic impact on what forms of the language one regards as acceptable and what sort of rules one imposes on and through their description of the language. Nevertheless, while much work has been done on the interface between Hebrew and Arabic grammar and literature in the Middle Ages, interface of their respective language ideologies has yet to be treated theoretically or systematically. In the present book, then, we survey six specific characteristics of a ‘standard language ideology’ that appear in both the writings of the Hebrew grammarians who wrote in Judeo-Arabic and the Arabic grammarians during the ʿAbbasid period. Such striking lines of linguistic-ideological similarity suggest that it may not have been only grammatical concepts or literary genres that the medieval Hebrew grammarians inherited from the Arabic grammatical tradition, but a way of thinking about language as well.

To construct a conceptual framework on the process of family resilience during the first year following childhood leukaemia diagnosis. A longitudinal qualitative interview study. A longitudinal qualitative study following a grounded theory methodology was employed. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with parents of children with leukaemia in a general hospital. The participants were recruited through purposive and theoretical sampling and longitudinal engagement was achieved by conducting interviews at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after the leukaemia diagnosis. The core category and categories were saturated following the enrolment of parents of children with leukaemia. Data collection and analyses were performed simultaneously. Sixteen parents of children with leukaemia participated. The core category of 'families living with childhood leukaemia' refers to the process of family resilience during the first year following childhood leukaemia diagnosis, which includes three phases: (1) destruction and resiliency period; (2) adjustment and consolidation period; and (3) growth and planning period. This study explored the dynamic, complex and continuous processes of resilience among families coping with childhood leukaemia during the first year following diagnosis. Further research should design tailored family interventions that characterise the different phases of family resilience, aiming to support family well-being, integrity and functioning. Both families and healthcare professionals must create an enabling environment that supports families coping with difficulties. Understanding the different phases of family resilience allows healthcare professionals to provide holistic care that meets the demands of families with childhood leukaemia. Unique knowledge emerged about the family's resiliency process when facing childhood leukaemia, suggesting a family-led revolution in understanding and managing childhood leukaemia. Therefore, the development of phased, resilience-based family interventions is imperative. This study was reported using the COREQ checklist. Patients contributed via study participation.

Lessons learned from a longitudinal qualitative family systems study

This study examines the decisive role of translation as a method of linguistic documentation and its implications for language standardisation, focusing on the case of Rajbanshi, a language spoken in northeastern India. It critically engages with Charu Chandra Sanyal’s (1965) documentation of Rajbanshi in relation to earlier colonial initiatives, particularly Grierson’s Linguistic Survey of India (1909), which employed translation as a primary tool for data collection. While translation has historically been seen as a neutral mechanism for representing linguistic diversity, this study argues that translation has instead functioned as an instrument of linguistic hierarchy and standardisation, reinforcing dominant language ideologies. By examining both colonial and post-colonial approaches to translation-based linguistic documentation, the study highlights how the standard language ideology (SLI), as conceptualised by Lippi-Green (1997) and Kroskrity (2004), has shaped Rajbanshi’s representation. It demonstrates how translation choices—ranging from lexical selection to value attribution—have influenced Rajbanshi’s classification as a dialect of Bengali, marginalising its linguistic distinctiveness. The analysis extends to contemporary linguistic policies, revealing how recent efforts to standardise Rajbanshi (2015-2016) echo colonial-era documentation biases. By tracing the historical trajectory of translation in linguistic data collection, this study calls for a re-evaluation of translation-based documentation methodologies to ensure more inclusive and representative linguistic records.

This paper examines diasporic language ecology based on a sociolinguistic study of a Chinese complementary school (CCS) in Birmingham, England. The study applies a historical perspective to investigate local multilingual practices in relation to language ideology and identity. The discussion in this paper draws on heteroglossia to investigate language stratification in the CCS. It documents the impact of global mobility and socio-economic changes on shifting power relations among two Chinese language varieties (Putonghua and Cantonese) and English. Data for the discussion includes audio-recordings of interaction and interview as well as fieldnote vignettes. Findings show that (1) a stratified ideological ecology including ‘separate bilingualism’, ‘translanguaging’, ‘a preferred school-wide monolingualism’, and ‘a standard language ideology’ is dynamically constructed and negotiated in the school as a local heteroglossia; (2) At the intra-Chinese level, the Chinese language shift from Cantonese to Putonghua at global level is seeing its power in the local discourses of Putonghua becoming ‘the new diasporic standard’. This standardisation towards Putonghua, on one hand, is claimed and celebrated in the school by some Putonghua-speaking members as ‘practical’ and ‘useful’ for better communication; on the other side, it is also contested – sometimes silently – in tension-filled local interactions by groups of Chinese people who lack the resource of Putonghua in their repertoires. This complex and tension-filled standardisation of diasporic Chinese language provides new local discourses of global mobility and the ongoing conversion from linguistic standardisation to social inequality.

The ideological position of Standard Dutch in Flanders: the standard language ideology under pressure?In this paper, the results of a perception study in Flanders are reported. 80 informants were subjected to a qualitative interview, to gain insight in the way Flemish language users judge on the situational appropriacy of several Dutch language varieties. The reported beliefs of the informants were compared to language ideological frameworks and they show an evolution in the standard language ideology (Milroy & Milroy, 1985), an ideology in which the standard language is considered to be the ideal and to be the only appropriate variety for formal and public situations. The informants still consider the standard language to be important and to be superior, but the variety according to them is not necessary for formal and public situations. Instead Tussentaal, lit. ‘in-between language’, has gained a position in the situational spectre.

Anonymisation processes are an embedded, if contested, element of ethical research practice. Current debates, highlighting various challenges to anonymity, suggest the importance of situated ethics and negotiated solutions. However, the strategies adopted are necessarily mediated by the researcher’s epistemological positions. Longitudinal studies with their extended timeframes and intensive research relationships tend to amplify ethical dilemmas and highlight the contingency and fluidity of ethical processes. Here we explore how temporality intersects with epistemology in a qualitative longitudinal (QL) study of organisations located in a contemporary policy context. We reflect on the confidentiality and anonymity dilemmas that develop and change over time, the strategies adopted and the implications of these for the type of knowledge produced. We suggest that QL studies entail flexibility within epistemological frameworks. These issues have particular resonance and consequences for researchers in light of contemporary pressures around public scrutiny of academic performance and wider debates around public sociology.

This article presents data from the first large-scale study of fathers involved in repeat (or recurrent) care proceedings in England. The project complements important research on mothers and recurrence. It consisted of three elements: an analysis of population-level administrative data from the Child and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS), a survey of fathers in pre-proceedings and care proceedings, and a qualitative longitudinal (QL) study of recurrent fathers. Here we report findings from the survey and the QL study, offering an expanded definition and description of fathers and recurrence. Elsewhere, we reported that a significant number of fathers appear in recurrent care proceedings and that the majority return with the same partner. Alongside this, there is also a notable pattern of “missing” fathers demonstrated by the proportion of lone mothers reappearing before the court. Our survey indicates a certain profile of recurrent fathers, but also that recurrent fathers are not straightforwardly a homogenous group. We report on the significance of recurrent fathers’ early lives, on the phenomenon of enduring couple relationships and on the prevalence of issues affecting parenting, such as poor mental health, substance use and domestic abuse. Insights from the QL study in particular reveal legacies of harm, loss, and a lack of emotional and relational resources in childhood, which have debilitating and far-reaching consequences. We argue the importance of understanding the vulnerabilities of recurrent fathers and of challenging certain assumptions in child welfare and family justice practices. There is much to be learnt from existing services for recurrent mothers, but also a need for bespoke or adapted services that may be more responsive to particular circumstances of recurrent fathers and couples.

PurposeWhile place significantly influences entrepreneurial processes, it has received limited theoretical attention in entrepreneurship literature, particularly regarding its connections to enterprises and sustainability. This study addresses this gap through a longitudinal qualitative case study conducted in Birmingham, UK, examining how the multidimensional roles of place attachment shape the sustainable entrepreneurial journey of ethnic minority entrepreneurs through the lens of place attachment theory.Design/methodology/approachUtilising Scannell and Gifford’s (2010) three-dimensional person–process–place framework, this study undertook a rigorous four-year longitudinal qualitative study from 2020 to 2023 by conducting six interviews with an ethnic minority entrepreneur and observing entrepreneurial activities. The data were analysed using thematic analysis to interpret the themes and insights systematically.FindingsThe findings revealed that the interplay of individual place attachment, psychological processes and physical place characteristics drives sustainable entrepreneurial actions within ethnic minority contexts. The personal experiences of environmental deprivation and cultural constraints can paradoxically enhance environmental consciousness and catalyse sustainable innovation, while ethnic minority cultural values naturally align with and strengthen sustainable business practices. By leveraging both social and physical aspects of place, the entrepreneur has created a business model that is deeply rooted in and responsive to the local context, demonstrating the potential of place attachment to foster innovative and sustainable forms of ethnic minority entrepreneurship.Practical implicationsTo enhance sustainable venture creation among ethnic minority entrepreneurs, this study recommends tailoring business support by considering both cognitive and behavioural factors. This tailored support can empower ethnic minority entrepreneurs, foster long-term business sustainability and inform a comprehensive policy framework.Originality/valueThis longitudinal qualitative study offers a nuanced understanding of the role of place attachment in sustainable entrepreneurship, particularly among ethnic minority entrepreneurs. It introduces a holistic approach by exploring both the cognitive and behavioural aspects of place attachment, enriching the current understanding of its influence on the entrepreneurial journey.

This dissertation introduces and analyzes a critical multicultural pedagogical approach to the introductory linguistics course focused on the introduction to the main levels of analysis within linguistics (phonetics, phonology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics) in the context of standardized English; a nonstandardized English language variety, African American English (AAE); and a World English, Indian English (IE). The approach, which is based on the tenets of critical pedagogy and multicultural education, is centered on language variation and intended for K-12 future language arts teachers (and writing instructors at the college level) with the goal to teach them how to develop linguistically informed curriculum at the K-12 level and beyond.The course starts with an introduction to the origins of language, properties of human language, and a subsequent comparison of these properties with animal communication systems. Then, the focus shifts to the main historical periods of the English language and language change throughout these periods, followed by such topics as globalization of English, English language variation in the U.S., and the origin and some distinctive linguistic features of African American English (first brief introduction to the variety). The course further centers on the study of the main branches of linguistic analysis, which allows for a more detailed description of the prominent linguistic and paralinguistic features of AAE (and IE). The course further takes a sociolinguistic approach and explores the issues of language variation, standard language ideology, and language subordination. The last but no less important part of the curriculum is an introduction of the teaching strategies on how to compare and contrast oral and written standardized English with nonstandardized Englishes so that teachers know how to educate K-12 students on the linguistic structure of both varieties, bring awareness about the legitimacy of English language varieties, and guide students on how to communicate effectively with respect to register, context, purpose, and audience. The research findings suggest that my critical multicultural pedagogical approach and course design were instrumental in the development of students’ positive perceptions towards language variation as the result of the scientific study of the linguistic structure of both standardized and nonstandardized Englishes and the examination of linguistic prejudice and injustice in society. In fact, as a result of this examination, the students brought up the question of fair assessment practices in language arts classes, practices that address the needs of linguistically and culturally diverse K-12 students. This inquiry by the students led to additional research on K-12 language arts teachers’ assessment practices, the findings of which I share in chapter 5. Furthermore, the pedagogical approach demonstrates how to engage students in critical inquiry and problem solving through their personal experiences with language via the examination of the sociolinguistic injustices stemming from standard language ideology.

Although standard language ideologies have been well researched and theorized, the practices that lead to the reproduction and enactment of these ideologies deserve attention. Specifically, there remains a need to study language that both reveals reliance on standard language ideologies and perpetuates these ideologies within the field of writing studies, undermining the field’s efforts to challenge standard English’s ongoing privileged position. This article examines the role of language in perpetuating perceptions of standard English as linguistically neutral regardless of personal or field-wide views about linguistic equality and the value of linguistic diversity. Specifically, I describe the discursive practices of standard language ideologies—what I term standard language discourse—that allow for a positioning of standard English as normal, natural, non-interfering, and widely accessible. Finally, I explore how to resist or challenge this positioning.

Micro-level teaching strategies for linguistically diverse learners