Implications For Language Policy Research Articles

An Investigation of the Cross-Language Transfer of Reading Skills: Evidence from a Study in Nigerian Government Primary Schools

This paper investigates the linguistic interdependence of Grade 3 children studying in government primary schools in northern Nigeria who are learning to read in Hausa (L1) and English (L2) simultaneously. There are few studies in the African context that consider linguistic interdependence and the bidirectional influences of literacy skills in multilingual contexts. A total of 2328 Grade 3 children were tested on their Hausa and English letter sound knowledge (phonemes) and reading decoding skills (word) after participating in a two-year English structured reading intervention programme as part of their school day. In Grade 4, these children will become English immersion learners, with English becoming the medium of instruction. Carrying out bivariate correlations, we find a large and strongly positively significant correlation between L1 and L2 test scores. Concerning bidirectionality, a feedback path model illustrates that the L1 word score predicts the L2 word score and vice versa. Multi-level modelling is then used to consider the variation in test scores. Almost two thirds of the variation in the word score is attributable to the pupil level and one third to the school level. The Hausa word score is significantly predicted through Hausa sound and English word score. English word score is significantly predicted through Hausa word and English sound score. The findings have implications for language policy and classroom instruction, showing the importance of cross-language transfer between reading skills. The overall results support bidirectionality and linguistic interdependence.

Community language ideologies: Implications for language policy and practice

Nebraska is increasingly becoming a linguistically and culturally diverse state. As a designated refugee resettlement state, Nebraska rural and urban communities harbor different world languages. With the current research showing the importance of home languages for educational success and the importance of multilingualism, this study seeks to discuss community language ideologies through data analysis of a sample of community members (N = 1584). The study uses survey methods and quantitative statistical analysis. The findings disclose that a dominant monolingual ideology is rooted among community members. Community members’ language ideologies varied by race and educational background. In addition, community members’ ideologies in language politics and intolerance to multilingualism predicted their views on language support for multilingual students. Implications for educators, families and other community members are discussed.

A Conceptual Framework for Inclusive Pedagogy in South African Multilingual Higher Education Classrooms

In addition to the linguistic diversity of South African nationals, the growing number of international students from other countries, especially from Africa, has made language-related issues in South African university classrooms more complex. The teaching-learning process is very challenging with linguistically heterogeneous learners with different symbols and meanings that influence the way they learn and could be a source of exclusion and a barrier to effective learning outcomes. Hence, this paper aims to shed light on strategies and practices contributing to engendering inclusive pedagogy in diverse classroom settings, especially in multilingual university classrooms. To address this, this literature review used secondary sources collected through an in-depth review of academic journals, books, and doctoral dissertations using Google Scholar. The textual analysis showed that enablers of inclusive pedagogy in South African multilingual higher education classrooms include translanguaging, continuous lecturer professional development on inclusivity, use of audio-visuals, continuous evaluation of lecturers and inclusive policies, providing learners with requisite skills, lecturers’ knowledge of learners’ diversity, and lecturer’s self-awareness and preparedness to deal with linguistically diverse learners. This resulted in a potential conceptual framework for inclusive pedagogy in multilingual South African higher education undergraduate university classrooms. The results have implications for language policy, practice, and research.

A multi-layered comparative analysis of English-medium instruction in the Netherlands

AbstractThe rise of English in Dutch higher education has been accompanied by a language ideological debate that affects students’ and lecturers’ lives at the micro level, policy and planning at the meso (institutional) level and is related to the macro perspective (national political agenda). This study explores how language ideologies and attitudes play a role in this debate by comparing lecturers’ perceptions of the use of English in higher education to general language ideologies reflected in the Dutch printed press. A thematic analysis was conducted, including a three-dimensional investigation incorporating a vertical approach (macro, meso, micro) combined with a horizontal approach focusing on ideological themes present at the vertical level. Our data consist of 151 news items and 20 interviews with lecturers in higher education. Results show that monolingual language ideologies are the norm in both the perceptions of teaching staff and the Dutch media. Lecturers were generally more positive towards the exclusive use of English than the printed media. The study suggests that the Dutch/English dichotomy and accompanying persistence of a monolingual language ideology contrast with the reality of the Netherlands as a multilingual community. Implications for language policy and practice within EMI are presented.

Latinization of the Kazakh Alphabet: Implications for Education, Inclusion, and Social Cohesion in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan’s decision to transition its Kazakh language from the Cyrillic to the Latin alphabet has serious implications for language policy, communication, education, inclusion, and social cohesion. This critical qualitative study, underpinned by a discourse-historical approach, employs critical discourse analysis to analyze statements of ex-President Nursultan Nazarbayev and semi-structured interviews with Kazakh language educators and social media articles to determine the nature and effects of the Latinization of Kazakh on social cohesion, inclusion, and inclusive education. The findings indicate that Latinization of Kazakh is gradually becoming more ethnically oriented, implying that the inevitable formation of included and excluded language groups. These patterns in society might undermine social cohesion and inclusion, hinder their maintenance and hamper efforts to achieve inclusive education, which prioritizes equality for all social groups through proper access to knowledge.

A translanguaging and trans-semiotizing perspective on subject teachers’ linguistic and pedagogical practices in EMI programme

Abstract English as a medium of instruction (EMI), as a major agenda of language policy and planning and characterizing internationalization of higher education, has been increasingly adopted in global contexts. EMI teachers’ language and teaching practices in situated classroom contexts and the possible pedagogical challenges they encounter have not gained sufficient research attention in relation to the expansion of EMI. This qualitative study explored the experiences of nine EMI teachers from different disciplines in Chinese universities through investigating their linguistic and pedagogical practices in EMI teaching, the challenges they encounter, and how they co-ordinate semiotic resources with the affordance of the EMI context. The findings suggested that the teachers a) achieved professional development when developing different teaching materials for and perspectives on the same phenomenon to facilitate the understanding of students from various backgrounds; b) co-ordinated semiotic resources with an affordance of the EMI context to facilitate teaching, with the understanding that language is not merely language, but also a factor influencing knowledge construction, a lens for interpreting knowledge, and a part of the event or issue; and, c) attempted to integrate content/language in learning, despite lacking CLIL-related professional training. The implications for language policy and EMI programme development are discussed.

French and Kreyòl in multilingual Haiti: insights on the relationship between language attitudes, language policy, and literacy from Haitian Gonâviens

ABSTRACT This targeted, qualitative study examines language attitudes, educational language policy, and literacy in an underrepresented segment of Haiti’s multilingual society. Drawing on decolonizing theory, we take a critical stance, arguing that colonial language ideologies that privilege French and disempower Kreyòl are reproduced in the marginalization of Kreyòl in Haitian schools, which results in low literacy levels and exacerbates postcolonial power dynamics and socioeconomic inequalities. Most Haitians are monolingual speakers of Kreyòl, but most schooling is conducted in French, a language spoken only by an elite minority. Previous studies on Creolophones’ language attitudes have not focused on beliefs about community language use and have excluded the voices of Haitians who are non-urban and who have basic literacy or are illiterate. This study is an important first step in addressing this gap. Thirteen participant interviews were analyzed using content analysis. Findings revealed a complex set of attitudes and orientations toward Kreyòl, French, and educational language policy, with participants at times resisting and at times aligning with colonial ideologies. Overall, the majority displayed positive language attitudes toward Kreyòl as a language of cultural identity, and believed Kreyòl should be used for literacy education. Preliminary implications for language policy and future research are discussed.

Enacting multilingual entrepreneurship: an ethnography of Myanmar university students learning Chinese as an international language

ABSTRACT Drawn on the notion of linguistic entrepreneurship (De Costa, P., Park, J. S., & Wee, L. (2016). Language learning as linguistic entrepreneurship: Implications for language education. Asia-Pacific Education Research, 25(5–6), 695–702, De Costa, P., Park, J. S., & Wee, L. (2019). Linguistic entrepreneurship as affective regime: Organisations, audit culture, and second/foreign language education policy. Language Policy, 18(3), 387–406, De Costa, P., Park, J. S., & Wee, L. (2021). Why linguistic entrepreneurship? Multilingua), this study extends the field of inquiry of neoliberal language learning by exploring Chinese as an international language. Based on a large-scale ethnography of Myanmar university students in China conducted between September 2013 and July 2017, this paper reports on a qualitative inquiry on how the neoliberal discourse permeates Myanmar students’ language exploitation to enhance their worth and maximise their opportunities. Findings show that Chinese learning constitutes the formation of a neoliberal self through the valorisation of multilingual competence. However, the study demonstrates that the enactment of multilingual entrepreneurship only values certain languages, which aligns with the neoliberal logic of convertibility for the China-and-Myanmar communication market. The study also reveals that access to entrepreneurial ambitions through Chinese learning opportunities is largely constrained by citizenship status, socioeconomic conditions, and the fast-evolving demands of linguistic markets within and across national boundaries. The study concludes with some implications for language policy and language education.

Competence beyond language: translanguaging and spatial repertoire in teacher-student interaction in a music classroom in an international Chinese University

ABSTRACT Previous research on classroom interaction in international university contexts tended to focus on individual speakers’ language (in)competence. This paper adopts a translanguaging and spatial orientation to intercultural classroom interaction and highlights the role of situated assemblages of linguistic, semiotic and multimodal resources embedded in the environment of learning activities for successful communication. The study provides a close multimodal conversation analysis of the interaction between a Chinese instructor and an international student in a music classroom in an international university adopting English medium in China. The findings illustrate how diverse resources beyond the official language of instruction congregated at a particular time in the classroom, interacted with one another and worked collaboratively to allow the two participants, with language barriers between them, to communicate smoothly and accomplish the teaching/learning tasks efficiently. We thus call for an expanded conceptualization of communicative competence in intercultural (classroom) interaction in international higher education, which moves beyond the linguistic-centered view and incorporates the value of spatial repertoires in generating individuals’ situated ‘language ability’ for achieving communicative, teaching and learning goals. Implications for language policy and pedagogy in international universities are discussed.

Perceptions of invisible Zhuang minority language in Linguistic Landscapes of the People’s Republic of China and implications for language policy

Abstract The article presents data from a 2013–2019 ethnography of Zhuang language policy to support an analysis of implications for language policy research and scholarship of findings about the (in)visibility of publicly displayed Zhuang. The analysis challenges core assumptions of language policy-making, advocacy and scholarship and explicates the general implications of this challenge beyond China, particularly for minority languages. The most important assumption that this article interrogates is that a written language on display will be recognised as that language by its speakers. Further, it argues that literacy, script, and other language policies impact on display policies and must work together; they do not in the Zhuang case. In making a case for language policy informed by ethnographic research, this article reviews the foundations of socially-situated analyses of Linguistic Landscapes. To galvanise further such research and articulate it to policy-makers, the article employs the term ‘lived landscape approach’.

Non-native Teachers’ Challenges in Target Language-only Classrooms: Empirical Implications for Language Policy

Non-native Teachers’ Challenges in Target Language-only Classrooms: Empirical Implications for Language Policy

Problematising the English-only policy in EAP: a mixed-methods investigation of Chinese international students’ perspectives of academic language policy

ABSTRACT Up to date, there is scarce quantitative literature accounting for the interrelationships of the components (policies, beliefs, and practices) of academic language policy. This paper reports findings from a mixed-methods study of the enactment of academic English language policy by focusing on international students’ perceptions of the classroom language policy (English-only) in three Canadian EAP programmes. With corroborative findings, this study identifies general trends in students’ perceptions and beliefs towards the implementation of classroom language policy as well as factors that contribute to students’ ambivalence and varied perspectives. Major findings reveal the tensions and conflicts between top-down language requirements/expectations and the actual language use/choice in the EAP classroom. Discussions of the findings suggest that, despite the increasing awareness of the homogenising effects of internationalisation as embodied in the monolingual orientation in classroom language policy, the linguistic and cultural differences which mark the Chinese students’ identities and holistic linguistic repertoires seem to remain othered and their language needs marginalised by the hosting communities. This empirical study may deepen current understandings of the interrelationships between language choice and language beliefs and provide implications for language policy making in alignment with internationalisation of higher education.

Representations of immigrants and refugees in US K-12 school-to-home correspondence: an exploratory corpus-assisted discourse study

This study details a comparative, corpus-based discourse analysis of corpora containing educational documents distributed to parents and guardians of K-12 children in public schools in the United States (US). The exploratory local corpus (n=152,934) contains parent-directed educational documents collected from four public schools in a city located in the south-eastern US with an unusually high percentage of foreign-born residents. The comparison corpus (n=147,796) contains parent-directed documents collected from a sampling of K-12 schools across the US. Following Baker et al. (2008) , keyness and collocations were utilised as central theoretical notions and tools of analysis, in addition to a lexical sophistication comparison, in order to investigate text simplification across corpora. Results show that while the first corpus used labels for students that were superficially inclusive, English language learners themselves were discursively represented as outsiders facing barriers to inclusion that native-English speaking monolingual students do not face. Furthermore, the first corpus revealed an emphasis on identifying and categorising language learners so as to provide them with immediate services, while the non-geographically specific corpus focussed more on the long-term development of learners and on preparation for post-secondary education. We discuss the implications for language policy in public education and for policies related to K-12 school-to-home correspondence.

Globalization and Language Use on Social Media in Pakistan

This article examines the written comments of Pakistani students on the official Facebook sites of the public and private sector universities in order to study their English language skills and social networking systems of students and its implications for language policy in education. The study focused on the quantitative and statistical analysis and investigated the differences of Facebook users from the public and private sector in the light of educational background, regional variation, and gender. Results of the study displayed the dominant use of English and a significant difference between public and private sector students in their preference to use English. Results also showed that there is considerable differences in men and women representation on Social Networking Sites (Facebook) in some provinces of Pakistan. Findings of the study raise the issue of language discrimination between students of public and private sector universities, in terms of access and equity of the current language policy in Pakistan to meet language demands of globalization.

Language Learning as Linguistic Entrepreneurship: Implications for Language Education

The growing emphasis on accountability, competitiveness, efficiency, and profit demonstrates how language education has been impacted by neoliberalism. To bring out the implications of neoliberalism on language education, we explore how language learning is increasingly constructed as a form of linguistic entrepreneurship, or an act of aligning with the moral imperative to strategically exploit language-related resources for enhancing one’s worth in the world. To critically examine the political conditions that promote such an ethical regime, we focus on how linguistic entrepreneurship can be indexed through two distinct aspects, the motivation for and the mode of language learning. We then discuss under what circumstances the notion of linguistic entrepreneurship might be invoked and what kind of contradictions this entails. We conclude by considering the implications for language policy and language education.

How immigrant students’ self-views at school relate to different patterns of first and second language use

This research investigates how students from immigrant families whose first language differs from the language of instruction at school view themselves while at school, depending on the way in which they use their first and second language. While some immigrant students are inclined to predominantly use their first language in the home environment but their second language while at school (separate language use pattern, S-LUP), others use their first and second language across social settings (fused language use pattern, F-LUP). We expected self-views of immigrant students with S-LUP to more strongly depend on the immediate (language) context than self-views of F-LUP students. We content-analysed open self-descriptions which 569 adolescents with different first languages had provided in their second language, the language of instruction at school, while at school. As expected, compared to F-LUP students, S-LUP students’ self-views contained more school-related descriptions, i.e., more self-descriptions bound to the immediate language context, but fewer homerelated descriptions, i.e., fewer self-aspects bound to a first language context. Implications for language policies and educational practices in culturally heterogeneous schools are discussed.

Learner perceptions of English language teaching in African high schools: implications for language policy

Are the most suitable teachers of a second language necessarily mother-tongue speakers of that language? From a survey of responses of std 8, 9 and 10 African pupils of English as a second language, it would seem that teachers of English who are not mother-tongue speakers are automatically regarded as inferior. In this article, the author considers the validity of 'South African English; and the role and relevance of indigenous languages in education in a post-apartheid era. He uses data gained .from his pilot study to elucidate issues such as the role of English in education in a multi-lingual context and particularly the need for in-service training and improved initial training of language teachers in South Africa. Is die mees geskikte tweede taal-onderwysers noodwendig moedertaalsprekers van daardie taal? Uit 'n oorsig van response van standerd agt, nege en tien swart tweede taal Engels-leerlinge, blyk dit asof Engelsonderwysers wat nie moedertaalsprekers is nie outomaties as minderwaardig beskou word. In hierdie artikel ondersoek die skrywer die geldigheid van "Suid-Afrikaanse Engels" en die rol en relevansie van inheemse tale in die onderwys in 'n post-apartheid tydperk. Hy gebruik data uit sy loodsstudie om sake soos die rol van Engels in onderwys in 'n veeltalige konteks toe te lig en vera! die behoefte aan in-diensopleiding en verbeterde aanvanklike opleiding van taalonderwysers in Suid-A.frika.

Translanguaging and multilingual literacies: diary-based case studies of adolescents in an international school

A diary is often a personal and private matter, a well-kept secret. This article discusses findings from ethnographic research in which language diaries and diary-based interviews were used as a means to collect qualitative data. The article is based on case studies of six high school students who at the time of the study were enrolled at an international boarding school in Sweden. During the interviews, the students spoke about personal matters associated with languages, identities and discriminatory practices in school and in society. The aim of the paper is twofold: (1) to investigate and describe the students' language practices, their translanguaging practices and their multilingual literacies, and (2) to analyze diary-based case studies – based on language diaries and diary-based interviews – from a methodological viewpoint as a means to collect data. The study wishes to contribute to the growing body of ethnographic research on literacy that highlights and nuances the intricate ways in which languages are being used by bilingual and/or multilingual adolescents in their everyday lives in a globalized world. The diaries together with the diary-based interviews reveal significant findings about multilingualism both on a micro and macro level. On a micro level these findings relate to, for instance, the use of translanguaging that forms part of the students' multilingual repertoires and the construction of identities in a transnational space such as the school. On a macro level, the findings relate to, for instance, language ideologies, language policies and teaching and learning in a transnational space. The results of the study have implications for language policies and teaching practices in schools with bilingual/multilingual students. The study shows how the students' language practices differ from that of the school. Furthermore the study contributes to the methodological advancement of ethnographic research methods and shows how the use of language diaries can enable the production of self-reflection based on students' language practices.

Language choice as an index of identity: linguistic landscape in Dili, Timor-Leste

This article aims to show how language choice indexes social and national identity in the linguistic landscape of Dili, the capital city of Timor-Leste. The linguistic landscape is examined in the light of the country's current language situation, its colonial legacies and its ongoing development challenges. In this study, the iconicity, indexicality and visual grammar of official and non-official public signage in a capital city of the global south is discussed and the use of language in a range of signs is further analysed using the notion of language on display. The implications for language policy are also explored, taking account of the wider processes of social, political and economic change at work in this new nation.

Intended and unintended effects of language planning: insights from an orthography debate in Cyprus

This paper presents key insights from the analysis of a language debate in Cyprus, triggered when a number of individuals and groups refused to endorse the standardisation of the orthography of place names and the argumentation through which it was supported. The paper is based on a collection of newspaper texts and related documents and is informed by interviews with participants on either side of the debate. Drawing from work on language ideologies and orthography debates (e.g. Blommaert 1999; Kroskrity 2000; Schieffelin et al. 1998; Johnson 2005; Sebba 2007), this paper aims to make three key arguments. Firstly, language planning in this case did not measure up against changing sociolinguistic realities, as the standardisation committee disregarded or rejected changes in current practices and pluralist language ideologies that had been gaining ground, both in the academia and in lay perceptions. Secondly, the argumentation the committee developed so as to support its decisions, together with its negative connotations for the local dialect, played a major role in the way the standardisation project was perceived and responded to. Thirdly, the scepticism and scorn the standardisation was greeted with during its implementation stage can be attributed, partially, to specific linguistic choices by policy makers carrying negative indexicalities, which were then projected onto their users and the project (Irvine and Gal 2000). The paper concludes with some implications for language policy and planning practice and research.