LANGUAGE

What it is and what it can do?

POLICY:
PRESENTED BY:
Mark Gabrielle Pelias
 WHAT IS
the principal method of human
LANGUAGE?
communication, consisting of
words used in a structured and
conventional way and
conveyed by speech, writing,
or gesture.
MODEL OF LANGUAGE
POLICYPOLICY
LANGUAGE

LANGUAGE PRACTICES LANGUAGE BELIEFS

(ECOLOGY) (IDEOLOGY)

LANGUAGE MANAGEMENTS
(PLANNING)
 LANGUAGE
are the “observable
PRACTICES
behavior and choices –
what people actually do.”
Which includes the choice
of linguistic features and of
the language variety.
LANGUAGE BELIEFS
is “the values assigned
to the varieties and
features.’’
 LANGUAGE
is the explicit and observable
MANAGEMENT
effort by someone or some
groups that has claims to have
authority over the participants
on the domain to modify their
practices or beliefs.
THE FOUR LAYERS
OF LANGUAGE
POLICY
Decisions about language-in-
education and medium of
instruction can occur at
multiple levels. Ricento and
Hornberger (1996) outline
four layers of the ‘onion’
where language planning,
policy, and practice occur:
1. legislation and political
processes;
2. states (i.e., nations) and
supranational agencies;
3. institutions (including
schools); and
4. classroom practitioners.
LEGALIZATION AND
POLITICAL PROCESS
In the Philippines, language
policy and legislation play a
significant role due to the
country's diverse linguistic
landscape and complex
historical background.
 LEGALIZATION AND POLITICAL
PROCESS
Constitutional Provisions: The
1987 Philippine Constitution
recognizes Filipino (Tagalog) as the
national language and English as an
official language. It states that
Filipino shall be developed and
enriched on the basis of existing
Philippine and other languages.
 LEGALIZATION AND POLITICAL
PROCESS

Bilingual Education Policy:

The Philippines operates
under a bilingual education
policy, which aims to
develop proficiency in both
Filipino and English.
 LEGALIZATION AND POLITICAL
PROCESS
Language of Instruction: Filipino
and English are used as the
primary languages of instruction in
the Philippine education system.
However, the language of
instruction may vary depending on
the region and the availability of
resources.
 LEGALIZATION AND POLITICAL
PROCESS

Language Promotion and

Preservation: The
government supports
efforts to promote and
preserve indigenous
languages and dialects
throughout the country.
 LEGALIZATION AND POLITICAL
PROCESS

Language Access in
Government: Government
services and communications
are typically provided in both
Filipino and English to ensure
accessibility to all citizens
 LEGALIZATION AND POLITICAL
PROCESS

Language in Media and

Culture: Filipino and
English are widely used
in media, entertainment,
and cultural productions.
 LEGALIZATION AND POLITICAL
PROCESS
Language Rights and
Diversity: The Philippine
government recognizes the
rights of linguistic minorities
and indigenous peoples to
preserve and promote their
languages and cultures.
 STATE &
SUPRANATIONAL
POLICY
the state and supranational
policies regarding language in
the Philippines reflect a
commitment to linguistic
diversity, national unity, and
international cooperation.
 STATE &
SUPRANATIONAL
POLICY
These policies aim to balance the
promotion of Filipino as the
national language with the
recognition and support of other
languages spoken within the
country and across the region.
 STATE AND SUPRANATIONAL POLICY

ASEAN Language Policy: As a

member of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN), the Philippines
participates in regional language
policies aimed at promoting
communication and cooperation
among member states.
 STATE AND SUPRANATIONAL POLICY

International Language Standards: The

Philippines adheres to international
language standards, particularly in areas
such as education, business, and
diplomacy. English proficiency is often
emphasized to facilitate participation in
the global community and promote
economic opportunities.
 INSTITUTIONS
Language policy refers to a
set of guidelines, rules, and
practices adopted by
institutions, governments, or
organizations to regulate the
use of language within their
respective domains.
 INSTITUTIONS

These policies can range from

promoting multilingualism and
linguistic diversity to enforcing
the use of a specific language
or languages for official
communication, education, and
other purposes.
 INSTITUTIONS
Government Bodies: National
governments often establish language
policies to regulate official languages,
language education, language planning,
and language rights within their
territories. For example, countries like
Canada, Belgium, and Switzerland have
official bilingualism or multilingualism
policies.
 INSTITUTIONS

Educational Institutions:
Schools, colleges, and
universities implement
language policies to govern
language instruction, language
requirements, and language
use within academic settings.
 INSTITUTIONS

International Organizations:
Entities like the United Nations
(UN), European Union (EU), and
African Union (AU) develop
language policies to facilitate
communication and collaboration
among member states with
diverse linguistic backgrounds.
 INSTITUTIONS

Corporations and Businesses:

Multinational companies and
organizations may adopt
language policies to facilitate
communication and cooperation
among employees and
stakeholders from different
linguistic backgrounds.
 INSTITUTIONS

Media Outlets:
Broadcasters, publishers,
and news organizations
implement language
policies to determine the
languages in which
content is produced and
distributed
 INSTITUTIONS
Non-Governmental
Organizations (NGOs):
NGOs often develop
language policies to support
their mission and objectives,
particularly when operating
in multilingual or
multicultural contexts.
 INSTITUTIONS

Cultural Institutions:
Museums, libraries, and
cultural centers may have
language policies governing
the languages used for
exhibitions, educational
programs, and outreach
activities.
 INSTITUTIONS

Legal and Judicial Systems:

Legal and judicial
institutions establish
language policies to ensure
access to justice and legal
services for individuals who
speak different languages.
 CLASSROOM
PRACTITIONERS
Classroom practitioners play a crucial
role in implementing language policies
within educational settings. Language
policies in classrooms can vary widely
depending on the educational context,
goals, and demographics of the student
population.
 EXAMPLES OF
CLASSROOM
• PRACTITIONERS
Bilingual Education Programs
• Language Immersion Programs
• Language Assessment and Placement
• Language Support Services
• Language-Integrated Curriculum
• Culturally Responsive Teaching
• Language Policy Implementation
• Promotion of Multilingualism
 THE FOUR
COMMON AND CO-
EXISTING FORCES
OF LANGUAGE
POLICIES AT
 Bernard Spolsky
theorizes that the
language policy of
anyindependent nation
is driven, at its core, by
fourco-occurring
conditions—national
(or ethnic) ideology,
 English in the
globalization process,
a nation’s attendant
sociolinguistic situation,
and the internationally
growinginterest in the
linguistic rights of
minorities.(Albury, 2015)
 Spolsky (2009) proposes that language
policies at the national level aredriven by
four common and co-existing forces:
• national (or ethnic) ideology or
claims of identity;
• the role of English as a global language;
• a nation’s sociolinguistic situation; and
• an increasing interest in linguistic rights
within the human and civil
rightsframework
NATIONAL (OR ETHNIC)
IDEOLOGY OR
CLAIMS OF IDENTITY
National ideology and identity
refers to the infrastructure of
beliefs and principles relevant
to a collective psyche that may
manifest inlanguage policy.
For illustration, Spolsky reflects
on northern African nations
where post-colonial Arabisation
instituted Arabic as an official
language on the primacy of the
Qur’anin national and cultural
identity (Spolsky 2004).
 THE ROLE OF ENGLISH
AS
A GLOBAL LANGUAGE
English is no doubt a motivating
force in Icelandic language
policy. Iceland’s response to
English is dichotomised by the
tension that May (2014)
describes between the
cosmopolitan and the local:
Icelanders pursue the perceived
global benefits of English
language proficiency, but seek
to counter its influence
through protectionist policy
in the interests of preserving
their local language.
 NATION’S
SOCIOLINGUISTIC
SITUATION
Iceland’s contemporary sociolinguistic
situation also informs the nation’s
language policy in so far that the
government acknowledges linguistic
diversity, but heralds the primacy of
Icelandic and anticipates the linguistic
assimilation of migrants.
 Immigration particularly
accelerated in 1996 (Statistics
Iceland 2009), and whereas
in 1995 Iceland accepted 938
new migrants, 9,318 arrived in
2007 (Statistics Iceland
2012).
 Iceland now hosts around 25,000
immigrants, over 2,500 s-generation
immigrants, and almost 14,000
Icelanders with a foreign-born
parent. The largest groups
are the Polish (9,363) and
Lithuanian (1,589) communities
(Statistics Iceland 2013).
 INTERNATIONALLY
GROWING INTEREST IN
LINGUISTIC MINORITY
RIGHTS
It would so far seem doubtful that
linguistic minority rights have informed
Iceland’s language policy. The most
notable achievement for language rights
was the recognition of Icelandic Sign
Language (ISL) in 2011
 (Act on the Status of the Icelandic
Language and Icelandic Sign Language
no. 61/2011, Article 13) which affords
Icelandic Sign Language (ISL) equal
status with Icelandic. Affording ISL
status was, however, ideologically
innocuous because ISL does not threaten
traditional Icelandic purism and
homogeneity and instead attends to other
human rights concerns.
THE FOUR PHASES
OF LANGUAGE
HowPLANNING
Language Policies are
developed
 Planning in a language can have an
impact on an individual's or a society's
language. In language planning,
according to Fatima (2022), the
resources can be anyone; these could be
the government, individuals,
or even academies and committees.
According to the article
"Theories of Language Planning,"
 published by ebrary.net (n.d.),
modern research on language
planning emerged in the 1950s
from American sociolinguistics.
Einar Haugen, a pioneer in the
field who created the idea of
language planning, was one of its
creators.
 Some goals of language planning
include preventing language death,
standardizing and modernizing the
language, and achieving social,
political, and economic benefits for
a country, according to Fatima
(2022).
 THE FOUR PHASES
OF LANGUAGE
PLANNING
Selection, Codification, Elaboration
and Acceptance
 SELECTION
Selection is the first step in the
language policy. Amin (n.d.)
explained that it is the process
of selecting a variety of a
language to be developed and
become a standard language.
 SELECTION
Language planners must
consider some aspects of the
words when choosing or
adopting them from the country,
such as English and Arabic
words. They should
be simple, prestigious,
and easy to remember.
CODIFICATION
The second step is the process
of increasing the uniformity of a
language by making it more
similar to another language
in terms of its structural
or linguistic features;
this is codification.
CODIFICATION
Codification seeks tocodify
pronunciation and vocabulary in
order to provide a set of
standards for standard use,
Fatima (2022)
ELABORATION
Elaboration is the third step,
which refers to the need for a
code of language that has been
codified but that needs to be
elaborated or socialized. The
government plays a significant
part in this elaboration
ELABORATION
by utilizing the language in
legislatures, courts, educational
institutions, and other settings;
thisidea is stated in the article
written by Amin (n.d.).
 ACCEPTANCE
It is important to choose a
language that will be used as a
medium of instruction in the
classroom. In education,
"language planning" refers to
practices that influence the way
that language is taught, used,
and acquired in classrooms.
ACCEPTANCE
The importance of language in
concerns of migration,
globalization, cultural diversity,
nation-building, education, and
ethnic identity is reflected in the
resurging academic field of
language planning, Ferguson
(2022).
 ACCEPTANCE
It involves the formation and
implementation of a policy
intended to dictate and/or affect
the language(s) that will be used
in various spheres
of society or education.
THANK YOU!
God bless us all!