Volume 28, Number 1, 2013

Volume 28, Number 1, Spring

Editors: Catrice Barrett and Joanna Luz Siegel

South Asian Languages in Higher Education: An Exploration of Implementation of the Title VI of the Higher Education Act (PDF), Geeta A. Aneja

Allocating Authority and Policing Competency: Indigenous Language Teacher Certification in the United States (PDF), Haley De Korne

Literary Translation as a Nexus of Language Planning (PDF), Joanna L. Siegel

Language and Indigenous Health in Latin America: Case study of Mexico (PDF), Katie Maeve Murphy

Revisiting History in Language Policy: The Case of Medium of Instruction in Nepal (PDF), Miranda Weinberg

On Not Taking Language Inequality for Granted:  Hymesian Traces in Ethnographic Monitoring of South Africa's Multilingual Language Policy (PDF), Nancy H. Hornberger

Multicultural Education and Language Ideology in South Korea (PDF), Siwon Lee

South Asian Languages in Higher Education: An Exploration of Implementation of Title VI of the Higher Education Act (PDF)

 Geeta A. Aneja

Since the passing of Title VI of the National Defense Education Act in 1958, the notion of national need has permeated discourse surrounding foreign language education in the United States. Language programs are supposedly designed to enable students to develop communicative competence sophisticated enough to conduct international negotiations in critically needed languages. However, in practice, few students attain even rudimentary language ability. This paper explores the historical foundations of Title VI, its manifestation in South Asian language programs in three major U.S. universities, and some of its implications for program construction.

Allocating Authority and Policing Competency: Indigenous Language Teacher Certification in the United States(PDF)

 Haley De Korne

This paper describes the recent increase in and diversity of regulations relating to Indigenous language teaching in the United States, and analyzes these regulations in relation to 1) the institutional format of the certification processes (characterized as mainstream versus separate), 2) the relative control of different social actors (characterized as community actors versus central authority actors), and 3) the language capacity or learning goals that the regulations support (characterized as full immersion versus limited enrichment). In addition to looking at teacher certification as an important practical component of Indigenous language education which can be managed in different ways, I consider its significance as an ideologically-driven process through which language norms and authority may be created and (following Blommaert et al., 2009) policed by various social actors. I conclude that it is valuable to consider different systems for regulating and institutionalizing language education, and the relationship between these systems and local ideologies of language education. 

Literary Translation as a Nexus of Language Planning (PDF)

 Joanna L. Siegel

In recent years, the discipline of Translation Studies (TS) has moved toward producing research that takes greater account of the social and cultural contexts in which literary translations are produced (Bassnett, 2010). As a result, the writings of TS theorists are generating insights that are increasingly relevant to the concerns of sociolinguistics. In particular, their written speech—taken as sociolinguistic data itself—evinces discourses of language policy and planning (LPP) both overtly and covertly (Shohamy, 2006). This paper builds a framework to research these discourses, synthesizing theoretical and analytic contributions from both the TS and LPP literatures. It then examines four distinct case studies, to demonstrate the various ways that LPP activities and approaches have been manifested through literary translation and the secondary scholarship of TS. The overall aim of this paper is to initiate an ongoing conversation about literary and other forms of translation as pertinent objects of inquiry in LPP studies and sociolinguistics more generally. 

Language and Indigenous Health in Latin America: Case study of Mexico (PDF) 

Katie Maeve Murphy

Health disparities among indigenous and non-indigenous peoples serve as a poignant indication of pervasive social injustices that have yet to be adequately addressed. With the potential to produce broad economic and social benefits, the development of quality indigenous health systems warrants further analysis and practical strategies to improve current policies. Using the case of Mexico, home to the second-largest population of indigenous language speakers in the Americas, this paper examines the important—and often misunderstood—role of language in health care. From a historical perspective, Mexico’s policies and indigenous health initiatives indicate a movement toward progress, yet they seemingly fail to take into account the critical role of language—not only as a means of receiving health information—but as a means of communicating complex feelings and emotions and connecting with cultural conceptions of health. By understanding the important relationship between health and language, as well as the potential for language to serve as a resource and a protective factor for health, greater attention may be given to the development of participatory, culturally relevant, holistic care. To this end, this paper suggests that the field of language planning, with a long history of examining the multifaceted goals, approaches, and strategies to language policy and planning, could provide a significant contribution and help reduce existing disparities in indigenous health systems. 

Revisiting History in Language Policy: The Case of Medium of Instruction in Nepal (PDF) 

 Miranda Weinberg

This paper examines the history of language-in-education policy in Nepal. I begin with a brief overview of a standard history of Nepali language planning and policy. This version of history describes an early period with almost no schools, followed by the Nepali-only Panchayat period, and, after the 1990 restoration of democracy, an openness toward multilingual schooling in policy. I augment this history to point toward a view of history that is not split into static periods, does not impose current categories of ethnicity and language on a past when such categories functioned differently, and that recognizes the importance of influences from outside of Nepal’s national borders. Finally, I discuss the ways these differences inform an understanding of the past and opportunities for considering the future of language policy. 

On Not Taking Language Inequity for Granted: Hymesian Traces in Ethnographic Monitoring of South Africa's Multilingual Language Policy (PDF)

 Nancy H. Hornberger

South African higher education is at a critical juncture in the implementation of South Africa’s multilingual language policy promoting institutional status for nine African languages, English and Afrikaans. Drawing on more than a decade of short-term ethnographic work in South Africa, I recently engaged in participant-observation and dialogue with faculty, administrators, undergraduate and post-graduate students at the University of Limpopo and the University of KwaZulu-Natal to jointly assess current implementation and identify next steps and strategies for achieving truly multilingual teaching, learning and research. Concurring with Hymes that ethnographic monitoring of programs can be of great importance with regard to educational success and political consequences, I undertook my work from a collaborative stance, in which the participants and I jointly sought to describe and analyze current communicative conduct, uncover emergent patterns and meanings in program implementation, and evaluate the program and policy in terms of social meanings (Hymes, 1980). Hymes often reminded applied and educational linguists that despite the potential equality of all languages, differences in language and language use too often become a basis for social discrimination and actual inequality. While scholars may take these insights for granted after decades of scholarship, we nevertheless have our work cut out in raising critical language awareness in education and society more broadly. “We must never take for granted that what we take for granted is known to others” (Hymes, 1992, p. 3). Ethnographic monitoring in education offers one means toward not taking language inequality for granted. 

Multicultural Education and Language Ideology in South Korea (PDF)

 Siwon Lee

The ideology of one nation, one race, and one language has been constructed and reinforced in the Korean mind over the course of its history. However, a recently growing number of migrants in South Korea have challenged this ideology, and the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development (MEHRD) announced the Educational Support Plan for Children from Multicultural Backgrounds (ESP) in 2006 to address the needs of multicultural children in schools. Under this initiative, the national curriculum was revised to raise the understanding of diverse cultures among all students, and textbooks were developed under direction from MEHRD. Taking a critical perspective toward language policy, the current study aims to offer a historical account of the emergence of monolingual ideology in South Korea and then to analyze how this ideology has shaped recent multicultural education policies.