The Role of Linguistic Attitudes and Representations in the Development of Educational Language Policies Cover Image

Rolul Atitudinilor și Reprezentărilor Lingvistice în Elaborarea Politicilor Lingvistice Educaționale
The Role of Linguistic Attitudes and Representations in the Development of Educational Language Policies

Author(s): Angela Soltan
Subject(s): Social Sciences, Language and Literature Studies, Education, Applied Linguistics, Language acquisition, School education, Philology, Pedagogy
Published by: Universitatea Liberă Internațională din Moldova
Keywords: Speech community;linguistic otherness;linguistic code; common norms and aspirations;standard language;national language;social variation;linguistic variation;

Summary/Abstract: With the advent of languages, speech communities have cultivated evaluating judgments about their usefulness and status. The attitudes and representations associated with the language are explicit or implicit components of the culture and myths of speech communities. Attitudes toward the language varieties are not necessarily perceivable; nevertheless, their impact on language education can translate into a lower motivation in children from families or communities where a different language or a different variety is spoken compared to the instruction language of formal education. The ongoing debate in language education swings between the emphasis on standard language and curriculum regulation and whether or how to build on the diversity of language practices children bring to school. In this paper, we argue that for the teachers educated in the spirit of normative linguistics is essential to enter into a dialog with researchers and policymakers over the repercussions of language attitudes and representations on the language education policy. We draw attention as well to the fact that there is a need for the key actors of the language education to develop and calibrate their awareness of the language attitudes hidden in the institutional mandate of schools and to understand their impact.

  • Issue Year: 2020
  • Issue No: 1-2
  • Page Range: 177-191
  • Page Count: 15
  • Language: Romanian