LINGUISTIC APPLICATIONS IN TESL

LANGUAGE PLANNING & POLICY

Dr. Azadeh Asgari

Definition
Language planning is a government authorized, long-term , sustained, and conscious effort to alter a language s function in a society for the purpose of solving communication problems . It represents a coherent effort by individuals , groups , or organizations to influence language use or development .

Language policy and planning , decisions arise in response to sociopolitical needs . Language planning decisions may be required, for example, where a number of linguistic group compete for access to the mechanisms of day-to-day life or where a particular linguistic minority is denied access to such mechanisms . Language planning decisions typically attempt to meet these needs by reducing linguistic diversity . (e.g : in Indonesia and many dialects of Chinese )

Sociologists or political scientists may first identify and assess the need for some sort of action . Linguists can properly participate in the needs assessment stage to determine if the languages or dialects chosen adequately address the problem. Educators incorporate language planning legislation into action and develop programs to fulfill the needs identified. Writers keep up the tradition of writing in a dying language or complete written works in a previously unwritten language. National Language Academies may oversee one or more phases of the language planning process.(e.g: The Academie Francaise or The Turkish Linguistic Society )

The response of educational systems to government language planning legislation may either promote or reduce linguistic diversity. Responses that reduce linguistic diversity include: Monolingual instruction in the target language.

Transitional bilingual education, in which instruction time in the child's native language is gradually reduced.

Responses that promote linguistic diversity include: Language maintenance programs that emphasize equally the child's
native language and culture and the target language and culture. Immersion programs, where English-speaking children are taught in an entirely French-speaking environment . (e.g: the St. Lambert program in Quebec )

The Sun Language Theory was developed, a theory which said that Turkish was the mother tongue of the world and that , when Turkish borrowed from other languages , it was really taking back what had originally been Turkish anyway. Some deliberate attempts were made to purify the language , but these were not very successful , and today Turkish is full of borrowings, particularly from English , French and other European languages .

Language Planning Can Be Divided Into Three Subdimensions:

1) Status Planning : refers to deliberate efforts to allocate the functions of languages and literacies within a speech community. It`s changes the function of a language or a variety of a language and the rights of those who use it . It is often part and parcel of creating a new writing system and tends to be the most controversial aspect of language planning . 2) Corups Planning : refers to prescriptive intervention in the forms of a language. This may be achieved by creating new words or expressions , modifying old ones , or selecting among alternative forms . The aims to develop the resources of language or variety of a language . It`s often related to the standardization of a language , involving the preparation of a normative orthography , grammar and dictionary for the guidance of writers and speakers in a speech community .

3 ) Acquisition Planning : concerns the teaching and learning of

languages , whether national languages or second and foreign languages .It involves efforts to influence the number of users and the distribution of languages and literacies achieved by creating opportunities or incentives to learn them . Such efforts may be based on policies of assimilation or pluralism. It`s directly related to language spread.

Language planning efforts typically include several stages . The first stage is a needs analysis , involving a sciopolitical analysis of communication patterns within the society . The second stages in the language planning process involve the selection of a language or language variety for planning purposes .
These stages are sometimes referred to as status planning and include : Codification: Characteristics or criteria of a good language established. Standardization: A unified variety of the language is established if necessary.

The next stages in the language planning process is Fine - tuning , the selected language or language variety is referred to as corpus planning and include : Elaboration : Any of variety of developments, including expansion of vocabulary, expansion of stylistics repertoire , and creation of type fonts, allows the language to function in a greater range of circumstances . Cultivation : The establishment of arbiters ,such as dictionaries or language academies, maintains and advances the status of the language .

Language planning may affect all areas of language use but typically concentrates on the more observable ones.
Writing : The written form of a language may have to be developed, modified, or standardized. (e.g : Turkish language )

Lexicon : The vocabulary of a language may need to expand to keep pace with increasing technological development. (e.g :Sweden )

Syntax : The syntax of the language may need to expand as the language takes on a national function . (e.g : pidgin in Papua New Guinea )

Language planning has described four typical ideologies that may motivate actual decision making in particular society :
1 ) Linguistic Assimilation : is the belief that everyone , regardless of origin , should learn the dominant language of the society.(e.g : in France and United State ) 2 ) Linguistic Pluralism : the recognition of more than one language , also takes a variety of forms. It can be territorially based or individually based or there may be some combination of the two . It can be complete or partial , so that all or only some aspects of life can be conducted in more than one language in a society . (e.g : Canada , Beligium , Singapor ) 3) Vernacularization : is the restoration or elaboration of an indigenous language and its adoption as an official language. (e.g: bahasa Indonesia in Indonesia , Hebrew in Israel ) 4 ) Internationalization : is the adoption of a non indigenous language of wider communication either as an official language or for such purposes as education or trade. ( e.g : English in Singapore,India )

To reinforce the focus of the secretariats activities on promoting the use of society . (This entails including among its functions the promotion of language behaviour which ensures the use of society , enhancement of the social perception of the utility , modernity and prestige of Catalan, and an increase in the supply and demand of services and products in society .) To introduce functions connected with the language welcome for and skills development of recent immigrants to society . To reinforce its functions connected with driving and circulating resources which facilitate communication in society , especially in the field of language technology. To reinforce the response to queries , complaints and protests filed by citizens compliance with prevailing legislation. To reinforce the transversality of language planning which entails improving coordination between departments at management and technical levels.

1. Origin of the contact situation: Voluntary migration, especially of individuals and families, results in the most rapid language shift. Annexation and colonization tend to result in much slower language shift, if at all. 2. Status differential in power and economics : The power relationship among speech communities and its effect on their languages is welldocumented. In a study to examines the power differential between groups and concludes that it is equalitynot necessarily equality of size but of similar level of socio-economic developmentthat promotes maintenance of indigenous languages and societal bilingualism . 3. Cultural values : the way in which the expression of positive and highly valued aspects of the self comes to be bound to expression through a particular language is the most crucial factor influencing the rate and finality of language shift. Language is an important marker of ethnic identity.

4. Demographics : The size of the speech community reflects the

vitality and potentiality for language shift or maintenance. 5. Literacy : Written literacy increases the usefulness of a language, thereby expanding the use of the language, by providing a market for its products. However notes that in societies with oral traditions, languages can be maintained through the use of radios and the production and dubbing of films and videotapes. 6. Dialect diversity : Some societies are more diverse than others in the numbers of dialect and language speakers. In complex multilingual societies, where speakers of various dialects and languages must communicate with each other, a common language, or lingua franca, arises either naturally in the course of necessary economic transactions, or through governmental policy that establishes an official language.

7. Status of the writing system : A writing system legitimates literacy efforts which, in turn, contribute to the cultural production and vitality of a community. 8. Interlingual distance : The differences in vocabulary and grammar between two languages are factors in the communication patterns between speakers of different speech communities. If the languages or dialects are close and mutually comprehensible, it allows for more contact between the groups . 9. Mass Media : The impact of American mass media in films, music, television, and video cassettes in Pacific societies is noticeable even in once remote and isolated terlingual villages.

The preservation and strengthening of a language cannot be left to language planners, government leaders, and linguists. As language users, we all contribute to the patterns of language use in our society, due, in large part, to the values and attitudes we hold. A positive regard for our own culture and language supports their vitality. We also hold values and attitudes towards other peoples cultures and languages which contribute to their group identity and survival. As teachers, these values and attitudes impact daily on how we interact with our students and how we teach. As parents, we contribute to the expansion of a language by using it with our children and we contribute to its extinction by not using it. As members of a community, we can succumb to the powerful forces of modernization or we can awaken to the infinite array of possibilities from ancestral and contemporary cultures, and from them, forge a personal and community identity that is healthy, just, and ideally situated to face the challenges of the 21st century. We can help build the kind of community we want for ourselves and our children. And one of the ways to do this is by strengthening our language.

Cooper,R.L.(1989).Language planning and social change. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press Fishman,J.(1991). Reversing language shift. Clevedon, Avon: Multilingual Matters Ltd. Hornberger,N.N.,&Ricento,T.K.(Eds).(1996).Language planning and policy (Special Issue)TESOL Quarterly,30(3) Ronald Wardhaugh.(2002). __ 4th ed. An introduction to Sociolinguistics (Blackwell textbooks in linguistics;4)