Abstract
Language planning in education refers to a broad range of decisions affecting the structure, function, and acquisition of language in schools. This chapter reviews the history of language planning in education, major contributions of past research, current research, problems and difficulties facing the field, and future directions. Early developments are categorized into two major periods, distinguished by a focus on the role of language planning in “modernization” and “development” on the one hand and critical analysis of power and ideology on the other. Major contributions emphasize work by pioneers in language planning, such as Joshua Fishman and Charles Ferguson, who laid the foundation for subsequent work on language maintenance and shift, bilingualism and diglossia, and a host of related topics. Subsequent developments shifted attention to language and ideology, tensions between “standard” and “nonstandard” varieties, globalization and the spread of English, language maintenance/revitalization, and bilingual approaches to education. Work in progress includes new developments in research methodologies, new conceptual frameworks such as interpretive policy analysis and the ecology of language, and changing understandings of language policy and planning. These new understandings have led to increasing use of qualitative research methods such as ethnography. Important challenges facing the field include efforts to integrate language planning with other social sciences and to build more direct links between research and the practice of language planning in education. Finally, this chapter examines future directions, including the role of language planning in economic inequality, language planning in non-state institutions such as the World Bank, and development of new research methodologies.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alidou, H. (2002). Language policies and language education in Francophone Africa: A critique and a call to action. In S. Makoni, G. Smitherman, A. Ball, & A. K. Spears (Eds.), Black linguistics: Language, society, and politics in Africa and the Americas (pp. 103–114). London: Routledge.
Blommaert, J. (1996). Language planning as a discourse on language and society: The linguistic ideology of a scholarly tradition. Language Problems and Language Planning, 20, 199–222.
Canagarajah, S. (2013). Translingual practice: Global Englishes and cosmopolitan relations. New York: Routledge.
Cummins, J. (1999). The ethics of doublethink: Language rights and the bilingual education debate. TESOL Journal, 8(3), 13–17.
Fishman, J. A. (Ed.). (1972). Advances in the sociology of language (Vol. 1–2). The Hague: Mouton.
Fishman, J. A. (Ed.). (1974). Advances in language planning. The Hague: Mouton.
Fishman, J. A. (Ed.). (1991). Reversing language shift: Theoretical and empirical foundations of assistance to threatened languages. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Fishman, J. A. (Ed.). (2001). Can threatened languages be saved? Reversing language shift, revisted: A 21st century perspective. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Fishman, J. A., Ferguson, C. A., & Das Gupta, J. (Eds.). (1968). Language problems of developing nations. New York: Wiley.
Freeland, J. (2013). Righting language wrongs in a plurilingual context: Language policy and practice in Nicaragua’s Caribbean Coast Region. In J. W. Tollefson (Ed.), Language policies in education: Critical issues (2nd ed., pp. 91–114). New York: Routledge.
Gándara, P., & Hopkins, M. (Eds.). (2010). Forbidden language: English learners and restrictive language policies. New York: Teachers College Press.
Gegeo, D. W., & Watson-Gegeo, K. A. (2001). “How we know”: Kwara‘ae rural villagers doing indigenous epistemology. The Contemporary Pacific, 13, 55–88.
Grin, F. (2015). The economics of English in Europe. In T. Ricento (Ed.), Language policy and political economy: English in a global context (pp. 119–144). New York: Oxford University Press.
Haugen, E. (1959). Planning for a standard language in Norway. Anthropological Linguistics, 1(3), 8–21.
Hult, F. M., & Johnson, D. C. (Eds.). (2015). Research methods in language policy and planning: A practical guide. Malden: Wiley-Blackwell.
Jones, D., & Martin-Jones, M. (2004). Bilingual education and language revitalization in Wales: Past achievements and current issues. In J. W. Tollefson & A. B. M. Tsui (Eds.), Medium of instruction policies: Which agenda? Whose agenda? (pp. 43–70). New York: Routledge.
Kaplan, R. B., & Baldauf, R. B. (1997). Language planning: From practice to theory. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Lippi-Green, R. (1997). English with an accent: Language, ideology, and discrimination in the United States. London: Routledge.
May, S., & Hill, R. (2005). Māori-medium education: Current issues and challenges. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 8(5), 377–403.
McCarty, T. L. (2002). A place to be Navajo: Rough Rock and the struggle for self-determination in indigenous schooling. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum.
McCarty, T. L., & Warhol, L. (2011a). The anthropology of language planning and policy. In B. A. Levinson & M. Pollock (Eds.), A companion to the anthropology of education (pp. 177–197). Malden: Wiley-Blackwell.
McCarty, T. L. (2011a). Preface. In T. L. McCarty (Ed.), Ethnography and language policy (pp. xii–xiii). New York: Routledge.
McCarty, T. L. (2011b). Ethnography and language policy. New York: Routledge.
McGroarty, M. (2002). Evolving influences on educational language policies. In J. W. Tollefson (Ed.), Language policies in education: Critical issues (pp. 17–36). Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Nettle, D., & Romaine, S. (2000). Vanishing voices: The extinction of the world’s languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Pennycook, A. (2002). Mother tongues, governmentality, and protectionism. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 154, 11–28.
Phillipson, R. (1992). Linguistic imperialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ramanathan, V. (Ed.). (2013). Language policies and (dis)citizenship: Rights, access, and pedagogies. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Ricento, T. (Ed.). (2015). Language policy and political economy: English in a global context. New York: Oxford University Press.
Ricento, T., Peled, Y., & Ives, P. (Guest Eds.) (2014). Language policy and political theory. Language Policy [Special issue], 13(4).
Rubin, J., & Jernudd, B. H. (Eds.). (1971). Can language be planned? Sociolinguistic theory and practice for developing nations. Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii.
Skutnabb-Kangas, T. (2000). Linguistic genocide in education – Or worldwide diversity and human rights? Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Skutnabb-Kangas, T. (2002). Marvelous human rights rhetoric and grim realities: Language rights in education. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, 1, 179–205.
Smith, L. T. (1999). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and indigenous peoples. London: Zed.
Spolsky, B. (Ed.). (2012). The Cambridge handbook of language policy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Tollefson, J. W., & Tsui, A. B. M. (2014). Language diversity and language policy in educational access and equity. Review of Research in Education, 38, 189–214.
Wee, L. (2011). Language without rights. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Wiley, T. G. (2002). Accessing language rights in education: A brief history of the U.S. context. In J. W. Tollefson (Ed.), Language policies in education: Critical issues (pp. 39–64). Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Williams, G. (1992). Sociolinguistics: A sociological critique. London: Routledge.
Woolard, K. A. (1992). Language ideology: Issues and approaches. Pragmatics, 2, 235–250.
Wright, W. (2005). The political spectacle of Arizona’s Proposition 203. Educational Policy, 19(5), 662–700.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Tollefson, J.W. (2016). Language Planning in Education. In: McCarty, T., May, S. (eds) Language Policy and Political Issues in Education. Encyclopedia of Language and Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02320-5_2-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02320-5_2-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-02320-5
eBook Packages: Springer Reference EducationReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Education