Language Policies in Education: Critical Issues

by James W. Tollefson (Editor)

Overview

How do language policies in schools create inequalities among learners? How do policies marginalize some students while granting privilege to others? How do language policies in education serve the interests of dominant groups within societies? How can linguistic minorities further their interests through attempts to change language policies in schools? This new edition of Language Policies in Education takes a fresh look at these enduring questions at the heart of fundamental debates about the role of schools in society, the links between education and employment, and conflicts between linguistic minorities and "mainstream" populations. Reflecting developments in language policy since the publication of the first edition in 2002, all chapters are original and substantial contributions to the study of language policy and exemplify major theories and research methods in the field. Chapter authors are major scholars in language policy and critical language studies. The case studies, international in scope, present cutting-edge analyses of important language policy debates in countries around the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781136697692
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	10/02/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	328
File size:	555 KB

About the Author

James W. Tollefson is Professor, University of Hong Kong and Professor Emeritus at the University of Washington, USA.

Table of Contents

Preface

Part I: Language Policy in Education

1. Critical Issues in Language Policy in Education

James W. Tollefson

2. Language Policy in a Time of Crisis and Transformation

James W. Tollefson

3. Multiple Actors and Arenas in Evolving Language Policies

Mary McGroarty

Part II: Competing Agendas

4. A Brief History and Assessment of Language Rights in the

United States

Terrence G. Wiley

5. Righting Language Wrongs in a Plurilingual Context: Language

Policy and Practice in Nicaragua’s Caribbean Coast Region

Jane Freeland

6. Positioning the Language Policy Arbiter: Governmentality and

Footing in the School District of Philadelphia

David Cassels Johnson

Part III: Indigenous Languages in Postcolonial Education

7. Language and Education in Kenya: Between the Colonial Legacy

and the New Constitutional Order

Alamin Mazrui

8. Language-in-Education Policy and Planning in Africa’s

Monolingual Kingdoms of Lesotho and Swaziland

Nkonko M. Kamwangamalu

Part IV: Language and Global Capitalism

9. The Japanisation of English Language Education: Promotion of the

National Language within Foreign Language Policy

Kayoko Hashimoto

10. India’s Economic Restructuring with English: Benefits Versus

Costs

E. Annamalai

Part V: Language and Social Conflict

11. Rwanda Switches to English: Conflict, Identity and Language-in-Education Policy

Beth Lewis Samuelson

12. The Critical Villager Revisited: Continuing Transformations of

Language and Education in Solomon Islands

David Welchman Gegeo and Karen Ann Watson-Gegeo

Part VI: Language Policy and Social Change

13. Language Planning and Cultural Continuance in Native America

Teresa L. McCarty

14. New Functional Domains of Quechua and Aymara: Mass Media and Social Media

Serafin M. Coronel-Molina

15. Language Policy and Democratic Pluralism

James W. Tollefson

List of Contributors

Author Index

Subject Index

Editorial Reviews

Sixteen international specialists explore issues of language policies in educational systems in North America, Australia, Eastern Europe, Africa, East Asia, South Asia and the Pacific. They consider the links of these policies to broader social issues, including inequalities of class, region and ethnicity/nationality, and conflicts between linguistic minorities and mainstream populations. Coverage includes theoretical issues in language policies; the use of language policy for governance; the role of language policy in managing ethnic conflict; the link between language and globalization; and the impact of critical pedagogy on social change. For scholars and specialists, but also adaptable to graduate and advanced undergraduate courses on language policy and language education. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

"The end result is an edited collection that is geographically and intellectually wide-ranging, clearly focused, tightly edited, and remarkable even in the quality of its academic contributions. I recommend it warmly as an important contribution to the growing critical literature on language education policy."

—Anthropology and Education Quarterly

"...the book not only analyzes educational language policies worldwide in relation to sociopolitical, economic, and historical contexts, but it also envisions future of language policies in education toward the assurance of linguistic human rights and empowerments of language minorities."

—Contemporary Psychology

"Language Policies in Education is a highly interesting book for any scholar or student interested in language planning and policy. It's varied chapters give us a multiple view on these topics, showing a multi-disciplinary conception of the referred areas...the chapters offer different angles on this polygonal field, leading us to a comprehensive overview. Even for a reader with a scant knowledge in multicultural situations, this book is extremely helpful and formative....Tollefson's book is definitely remarkable, showing maximum interest for both students and scholars in language policy and planning in education. In one word, this is a potential future classic book in its field."

—Linguist List

"...a timely, up to date compendium of essays dealing with the topic of language policies and planning in the world."

—TESL-EJ

"...an inspiring collection...around the themes of critical issues in language policies in education. The chapters are geographically, linguistically, and culturally representative of diverse populations and are rich in history, theory, and examples."

—Critical Inquiry in Language Studies

From the Publisher