Presented By Elana Shohamy

Session Details

Language teachers as active and critical partners in creating and negotiating language policies

Language policy has recently been defined in broader terms, beyond declared statements about language learning goals and uses. Rather it incorporates a variety of overt and covert mechanisms which contribute to de facto language policies and are negotiated via different stake holders. Such mechanisms include declared policies in the form of laws and regulations, language education statements, language tests, proficiency frameworks and language in the ecology (e.g. linguistic landscape), among others. Understanding the relationship among theses mechanisms and especially their consequences for language learners and de facto policies provides a more valid picture of de facto language policies in relation to people, educational systems and nations. As in the case of tests, policies are often detached from research and knowledge about language learning and from teachers, who are responsible for carrying out these policies in classes and schools. In most cases teachers are excluded from these discussions and lack opportunities of negotiations, participation and from presenting the 'reality' dimensions. In the talk I will introduce the expanded view of language policy along with its mechanisms and their problematic consequences in terms of exclusion and rights in a number of different language learning contexts. I will then argue for the need to include language teachers as active partners and negotiators in the act of language policy making. I will show how participating, discussing, negotiating and disagreeing can lead to more realistic and successful language policies which are open, dynamic, critical, and constructive. Each teacher is a language policy maker whose voice, knowledge, expertise and experiences should be incorporated into the act of language policy making following an expanded view.

About Elana Shohamy

Dr. Elana Shohamy is a professor of Applied Linguistics at the School of Education, Tel Aviv University. Her research and writings focus on a variety of topics related to language testing and language policy in the context of conflicts and co-existence in multilingual societies. Her current publications in language testing focus on political and social consequences of tests, (e.g. language tests in schools and for citizenship) and ways of measuring academic achievements of immigrants. Her recent publications in language policy focus on expanded perspectives of language policy, language rights, immigration, language maintenance, and linguistic landscape (language in the space). Her more recent books include: The languages of Israel: Policy, ideology and practice (w/ B. Spolsky); 1999, Multilingual Matters; The power of tests: 2001, Longman; Language policy: Hidden agendas and new approaches, 2006, Routledge; Volume 7 Encyclopedia of Language and Education,: Language Testing and Assessment (ed. with Nancy Hornberter, Springer, 2008); Linguistic landscape: expanding the scenery, (ed. with Durk Gurter, 2009, Routledge); She is also the current editor of the journal Language Policy.

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