A Scaffolding for language policy

Bibliographic Data

ID4178438
AuthorsRichard D Lambert (corresponding author)
Year1999
Volume137
Issue1
Publication date1999-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of the Sociology of Language (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0165-2516 • E-ISSN: 1613-3668
PublisherWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/ijsl.1999.137.3
OpenAlexW1988460544
LanguageEN
Citations received14

The primary purpose of this article is to present a taxonomy within which language policy analysis may be carried out. Such analyses currently seem to fall within one or another of the following domains: (1) the choice and use of official languages; (2) setting the norms for national languages; (3) the diffusion of languages across national boundaries; (4) the architecture and functioning of language instruction within the formal educational system: (5) language instruction outside the formal educational system, and (6) the language planning process itself. In addition, such analyses tend to deal with policies dealing with indigenous ethnolinguistic divisions or with foreign-language instruction; rarely both. With regard to the former, countries are divided into those that are relatively ethnically homogeneous, those that contain two or three main ethnolinguistic groups, and those that are ethnically more heterogeneous. Using these classifications, differences in the emphasis on the various domains of language policy are discussed. The second portion of the paper discusses policy with respect to the teaching of foreign languages. The principal decisions and points of intervention in the making of foreign-language policy are noted

Linguistics · Sociology · Multilingual Education and Policy · Philosophy · Second Language Learning and Teaching

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