National Language Education Policy or a National Language Education Framework? Summary of a Discussion Group

Abstract

The United States does not have anything re motely like an explicit, coherent, and generally agreed upon national language policy. Unoffi cially, English is both the country's national lan guage (the most widespread language, closely associated with national identity) and the taken for-granted language of government, law, and official business, but neither role is explicitly rec ognized in the Constitution or in federal law, at least not yet. Spanish is widely spoken through out the United States and is studied more than