Abstract
ABSTRACT In this article, which opens the second issue of Volume 19 of Revista Brasileira de Linguística Aplicada, we discuss some existing epistemological divergences in language policy research. In the first section, two lines of divergence will be outlined: (i) the focus on official versus de facto language policies; (ii) the conception of language policymakers versus subjects of language policies. In the second section, based on the analysis of titles of thematic issues, dossiers and books recently published in Brazil, we argue that this diversity of perspectives may be clearly noticed in the research carried out in the country. We finish our text highlighting some issues that have gained strength in the Brazilian research agenda.
Highlights
Given the multifaceted nature of the social phenomena with which they are concerned, research on language policy – as it is common in Human and Social Sciences – is marked by a series of less or more noticeable disputes
With the purpose of shedding light on divergences such as the one presented above, we propose this article, which opens the second issue of Volume 19 of the Revista Brasileira de Linguística Aplicada
Language policies at different levels of education are among topics that have been gaining ground in Brazilian research, as it can be seen in the present thematic issue, which includes articles on literacy reforms, the Brazilian National High School Examination (ENEM), and the Federal Program Languages Without Borders
Summary
Given the multifaceted nature of the social phenomena with which they are concerned, research on language policy – as it is common in Human and Social Sciences – is marked by a series of less or more noticeable disputes. Presented either as related to a specific area of knowledge or as an object of study in more clearly institutionalized areas (such as Sociolinguistics, Applied Linguistics, or Discourse Analysis), such investigations reveal divergences in the definition of key aspects In this sense, the term “language planning and policy” is used in the English-language literature as a way of naming a specific area of knowledge, as it appears, for example, in the book Language Policy and Language Planning: from nationalism to globalization (WRIGHT, 2003). We do not have the illusory pretension to exhaustively discuss all the differences that may be observed in different research traditions on language policy It is only a matter of outlining some epistemological contours through the establishment of points of approximation and differentiation between some research traditions. We finish our text highlighting some issues that have gained strength in the Brazilian research agenda on language policies
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