The role of agency in language planning and policy (LPP) is a recent focus of scholarship. Interest in agency has seen new issues and contexts being given prominence in LPP research. In this introduction, we present an overview of theoretical definitions of agency and the ways it has emerged as a concept in LPP scholarship. We consider how…

This article reports on a national survey of complementary school providers in Scotland to gain insights into their perspectives of the abrupt transition to online learning spaces during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data gathered from a questionnaire (n=34) and in-depth interviews (n=13) covering 19 different heritage languages are analysed through the…

This paper discusses how the political interplay between English-in-society and English-in-education policy in the Global South(s) facilitates what I term 'English as a subtle technology of policy distraction' in postcolonial spheres that were colonised by languages other than English. 'English as a subtle technology of policy distraction' is…

This paper presents a thematic analysis of public sector discourse on the values assigned to regional minority and community languages within the UK and Finland. This paper draws from semi-structured interviews conducted in Manchester, Cardiff, Helsinki, and Rovaniemi. Two key themes emerged from the interview data: "Language as a Resource…

As global migration and transnational mobility have increased steadily in the recent few decades, interests in equity-based theories and pedagogies have intensified to respond to racially and linguistically diverse student needs in today's classrooms. Raciolinguistic ideology is a theoretical framework challenging monoglossic language ideologies…

Drawing on the ethico-political framework of hospitality, this paper investigates the communicative practices of three administrative support staff as they attempt to manage the twin challenges of working in adherence to state and institutional language policies while communicating ethically in an internationalising workplace. Academic…

Language planning and policy has evolved from considering policy as one of states' affairs at its early stages to how policy actors exercise their agency to appropriate and enact policy in micro and local contexts. Ethnography of language policy is predominantly used today to explore why policies are enacted in a certain way and not otherwise,…

Against the backdrop of the Belt and Road Initiative, the study reports on the ideological construction of multilingualism in higher education in mainland China. Through a new methodological approach combining intertextual discourse analysis and thematic analysis, this paper concentrates on the interplay of ideologies towards multilingualism…

The Irish language is recognised in Bunreacht na hÉireann [The Constitution of Ireland] as the national and first official language, and provisions to support the language are to found in c.120 specific enactments in Irish legislation. In 2007, the Irish language was designated as an official working language of the European Union. In 2003, the…

This paper analyses divergence between national language policy on the one hand, and perceptions of it on the other. In ethnocratic Malaysia, language policy codifies the supremacy of Bahasa Malaysia as part of a broader ethnonationalist policy agenda that pedestalises the ethnic Malays and curtails the rights of Chinese and Indian-Malaysians. A…

This paper contributes to the building of a sociolinguistics of the south by considering the nature and significance of contemporary language-in-education policy processes in Timor-Leste, and by tracing the ways in which these processes have been shaped by its specific colonial and post-colonial history. In presenting this account, I draw on…

Language law is a tool used to manage problems of linguistic diversity in the EU. The paper analyzes the processes in which language law is found in the discursive practice of agents addressing the Court of Justice of the European Union with their language problems. The theoretical-methodological basis for the research is Language Management…

In recent years, interest in the study of language policy issues in the context of universities has grown considerably. One reason for this is the coexistence of two apparently contradictory discourses, centering around nationalising and globalising orientations. Universities are seen by many as the key institutions for safeguarding the…

In studying language policy, it is not enough to look at central government management, but also at the influence of managers at levels ranging from the family to international organizations. Actual cases reveal that there are also non-linguistic forces such as demography, war, civil strife, and economic breakdowns which have major effects. This…

Europe as a multilingual continent hosts three main types of languages: dominant languages, autochthonous minority languages, and new minority languages. From a policy standpoint, planning for speakers of these languages and their needs become a complex matter in which many actors with different interests are involved. Of the many issues which…