Language policy toward equity: how bilingual teachers use policy mandates to their own ends

AbstractThis paper investigates how bilingual Upper Sorbian-German teachers who belong to the Sorbian speech community (Lusatia, Germany) introduce the minority language during German language lessons in an Upper Sorbian school. In Lusatia, as well as in Sorbian schools, bilingualism is not of equal character; minority language speakers are all bilingual while the German language speakers are not encouraged to speak Sorbian. The language policy of Upper Lusatia gives Sorbs the right to use their language in public life in principle but due to the strained Sorbian-German relations, language ideologies, and hostile attitudes towards the use of minority language in the presence of Germans Sorbs do not benefit from it in practice. The school language policy divides Sorbian-speakers from pupils of German-speaking families and keeps the teaching of Sorbian separate for both groups. Only during the last two years of school are all language groups mixed. Based on participant observation of and in-depth interviews with bilingual teachers during lessons with students of the 11th grade in one Upper Sorbian school this article discusses how teachers negotiate top-down language policy in their classrooms and, introduce bilingualism; and how their language choices affect students’ language practices.

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Normative Language Policy

10.1017/cbo9781316534267 ◽

2017 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Leigh Oakes ◽

Yael Peled

Keyword(s):

Language Policy ◽

Normative Language ◽

Normative Language Policy

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A Critical Examination of BIM Policy Mandates: Implications and Responses

Construction Research Congress 2020 ◽

10.1061/9780784482865.081 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Kwadwo Oti-Sarpong ◽

Roine Leiringer ◽

Sujuan Zhang

Keyword(s):

Critical Examination ◽

Policy Mandates

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Language policy: An economics perspective

Voprosy Ekonomiki ◽

10.32609/0042-8736-2016-2-128-140 ◽

2016 ◽

pp. 128-140

Author(s):

D. Kadochnikov

Keyword(s):

Economic Theory ◽

Language Policy ◽

Research Field ◽

Economic Policies ◽

Economic Phenomenon ◽

Market Situation ◽

Theory Of Language ◽

Methodological Aspects

Economic theory of language policy treats a language as an economic phenomenon. A language situation is considered to be an economic, or market, situation, while language policy becomes an element of economic policies. The paper aims to systematize and to further develop theoretical and methodological aspects of this promising research field situated between economics and sociolinguistics.

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The Politics of Arabic in Israel

10.3366/edinburgh/9781474420860.001.0001 ◽

2017 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Camelia Suleiman

Keyword(s):

Qualitative Methods ◽

Language Policy ◽

Language Choice ◽

Minority Language ◽

The Other ◽

Official Language ◽

Political Identities ◽

Production Of Knowledge ◽

The One

Arabic became a minority language in Israel in 1948, as a result of the Palestinian exodus from their land that year. Although it remains an official language, along with Hebrew, Israel has made continued attempts to marginalise Arabic on the one hand, and secutise it on the other. The book delves into these tensions and contradictions, exploring how language policy and language choice both reflect and challenge political identities of Arabs and Israelis. It combines qualitative methods not commonly used together in the study of Arabic in Israel, including ethnography, interviews with journalists and students, media discussions, and analysis of the production of knowledge on Arabic in Israeli academia.

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