Language ideology and citizenship: A comparative analysis of language testing in naturalisation processes

Abstract

When analysed in the context of language testing in naturalisation processes, the broad notion of ideology can be approached from two quite distinct but closely related points of view. On one hand, ideology may be analysed to refer to construction and deconstruction of a nation's constitutive elements which form the basis of its own identity. The second point of view includes a more restricted view of the notion of specific language ideologies that may fit into a broader concept of national ideology and serve its specific purposes. The primary aim of this article is to use the narrower sense of the term in order to analyse the different language ideologies that may be identified through the comparative study of the importance and procedures of language testing in naturalisation processes in the USA and Croatia. However, such an investigation will inevitably lead to some conclusions regarding the broader sense of the notion of ideology as well.