Date

2002

Document Type

Capstone Project

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)

Department

Humanities & Communication

Abstract

Because of the historical and current state and national language situation, or 'dilemma' as some would have it, California has issued several language policies, such as the English Language Development (ELD) Standards and official U.S. English. The primary purpose of language policy/planning is to make "explicit the mechanisms by which planning processes interact with other historical-structural forces that form language communities and determine patterns of language structure and use" (Planning language, planning inequality Tollefson 36). Still, language policies and ideologies are "articles of faith" subject to empirical verification, where there are profound related effects to the object of their inquiry (Planning language, planning inequality Tollefson 28). In general, language policy makers and planners see themselves as simply observers in a process they do not interfere with, and therefore place full responsibility in the hands of public schools on whether or not the goals articulated are achieved. Although language problems do incorporate public schools, on a much more covert and controversial level, they incorporate language planning/policy and its principles/ideology. What language is being planned, who is doing the planning and for whom, and for what local, state, or national purposes and with what anticipated effects, are some of the questions that must be answered in order to first understand the language planning approach to language problems, then with more adequacy and competency, address what I believe to be a more critical issue, literacy.

Comments

Capstone Project (B.A.) Institute for Human Communication

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