Language Problems and Language Planning - Volume 46, Issue 3, 2022

Abstract

In recent years, the significant expansion of English-medium instruction (EMI) programmes across higher education institutions outside English-speaking contexts has brought with it an inherent set of language-related tensions and ambiguities. In this article, we explore how a selection of Italian universities have tackled these tensions. Via a content analysis of university policy documents, we investigate the key language-related themes in them, and the orientations to language that these themes entail. The results show that English is seen as necessary for and almost synonymous to internationalisation, as well as a language that can bring benefits to both institutions and individuals. However, a commitment to multilingualism and to the promotion of Italian from a non-protectionist stance is apparent in the documents analysed. This finding, we argue, puts the Italian context apart from other settings that have been previously investigated (e.g. the Nordic countries), and points to an original way in which universities can navigate the language ambiguities that come with the process of higher education internationalisation.

Abstract

This study aims to explore language education policy among Palestinian Arab kindergarten teachers in Israel, employing the framework of language policy proposed by Spolsky (2009), based on three major components: language practices, language ideologies, and language management. A mixed-method research approach consisting of both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection is employed. A questionnaire was completed by a total of 509 kindergarten teachers. In addition, a semi-structured interview was carried out with 12 kindergarten teachers, selected from among those who answered the questionnaire, in order to gain a deeper understanding about Arabic language education policy. The data revealed that Palestinian Arab kindergarten teachers in Israel mostly use a mixture of Standard Arabic (StA) and Spoken Arabic (SpA) as the medium of instruction, using Hebrew or foreign words only sparingly. They express positive attitudes towards Arabic’s role as an important language in Israel. They also show positive attitudes about StA, believing that it is necessary to master it, yet facing difficulties while using it when speaking with the children. Regarding language management, they conduct activities that help develop StA skills, both for themselves and their students. Finally, there are significant interrelations between the kindergarten teachers’ background variables (religion, type of city they live in, seniority, education, and district) and language practice, ideology, and management. Based on these findings, it is important to construct a clearly-defined StA educational policy in Arab kindergartens.

Abstract

In a world of increasing globalisation, governments, including Canada, face ongoing challenges in their efforts to integrate immigrant languages and to communicate with their users in public service settings. By exploring the translation policy in health care settings in Ontario, Canada, this research investigates how immigrant language barriers in health care access are addressed there, and probes into ideologies around the issue of immigrant language integration. Ontarian translation policy in health care settings is pragmatic yet cautious and laissez-faire. It indicates inclusiveness to accommodate immigrants; but it also reveals considerable tensions and hesitations. The belief that translation is a necessary measure to secure immigrants’ equal health care rights has been largely overridden at the regional and institutional level in Ontario, hindering further planning and more effective provision. The inadequate value designated to translation in terms of immigrant integration by government authorities, the ambiguous and ambivalent stances of Toronto Central Local Health Integration Network and some hospitals on translation provision against budgetary concern and the expectation for linguistic homogeneity all play roles in determining the flexibility and fluctuation of translation policy in health care settings in Ontario.

Abstract

This article focuses on the advocacy of social justice through the implementation of language policies in South African universities. Noting the multilingual complexity of South Africa with 111 official languages and the intricacies surrounding South Africa’s political and sociocultural borders, the submission explores the advocacy of social justice in informing the reappraisal and the ensuing implementation of such a language policy by exploring constitutive dimensions (specifically identity) and instrumental dimensions (non-identity/functional aspects) from a linguistic justice perspective. The institution used as a case study is the North-West University (NWU) which is a by-product of three campuses that were merged in 2004. The authors use survey data eliciting opinions about revising the institution’s language policy. Central to the analysis is how linguistic justice could be exercised in consideration of constitutive vs instrumental dimensions based on the work of De Schutter (2007). With 20, 000 responses, the authors used a qualitative analysis, supplemented by frequencies, to tease apart identity and non-identity aspects to determine which of these had a closer relationship with linguistic justice and the selected institution’s language policy. The results of this study aim to offer insight into future revisions of higher education language policies in order to fulfil the mandate of linguistic justice.

This article reviews Gaelic in Scotland: Policies, Movements and Ideologies£95.00

This article reviews The Gaelic Crisis in the Vernacular Community: a Comprehensive Sociolinguistic Survey of Scottish Gaelic