This paper explores family multilingualism through the lens of language ideologies upheld by parents within three Chinese transnational families living in Luxembourg. Following a linguistic ethnographic approach throughout the inquiry and analysis process, this study provides illuminating insights into the Chinese parents' language ideologies…

The aim of this Afterword is to foreground and discuss some of the key themes emerging from the four studies in this special issue. I first consider the critical ethnographic approach to language policy and planning adopted in the studies, and the attention to language policy processes unfolding on different scales of social and institutional…

Much recent research examines how teachers navigate language policy in dual language bilingual education (DLBE) classrooms (Cervantes-Soon et al., 2017; Palmer & Martínez, 2013). While previous work has illustrated that teachers' language use is varied and related to identity, little research has considered the role of emotions in this setting…

This article argues that an expanded view of linguistic landscapes provides a useful metaphor for exploring language policies. Following this view, "language policy" is defined as "linguistic landscaping" (i.e., placing language policy mechanisms which, together with already placed mechanisms, construct a metaphorical…

This article is about navigating asylum, employment and language policy in a new country as an asylum seeker. Through the story of one individual, we show that profound inequalities are exacerbated when forced migrants are limited in their choice of language they might study or use. The individual is Tailor F, an Iraqi man seeking asylum, and the…

Taking the Norwegian construction industry as its site of study, this article discusses under which conditions migrant workers in the Norwegian construction industry obtain the status as new speakers in the workplace. These conditions are determined by language proficiency requirements and speaker hierarchies that are constructed through language…

Yakutsk, capital of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) in Russia's Far Eastern Federal District, was often described in 19th and early 20th century accounts as being unique in the Russian Empire in that it was not a solely "Russian" city; rather, it was a Sakha (Yakut) place. Its population, Russian and Sakha alike, were conversant in the…

This article makes the case for conducting ethnographic research of a multi-scalar nature that links language policy processes and ideologies of language with everyday practices, on the ground, in local schools and classrooms. As with other researchers engaged in the ethnography of language policy (e.g. McCarty, 2011; Johnson, 2013), my concern is…

In line with the post-Fishmanian turn that contributes to new understandings of social-semiotic practices in different contexts this study is concerned with the language management of 'backstage performers' of a three-star hotel kitchen crew in an Austrian alpine village that economically thrives on tourism, where employers and employees do not…

As interpretations of results from small-scale research sites are incomplete without consideration of the social structures that frame them (Block, in: Gardner, Martin-Jones (eds) "Multilingualism, discourse and ethnography," Routledge, New York, 2012), the current study uses the theoretical lens of agency to examine the language…

Based on ethnographic fieldwork in two towns in the Republic of Ireland, this article explores the local negotiation, endorsement, and contestation of two community-level Irish language advocacy organizations' attempts to regulate the use of Irish in business by mobilizing discourses of language commodification to position Irish as a commercial…

This paper provides an ethnographic understanding of harmony as language policy in China, grounded in a historical analysis of "harmony" ([character omitted] "he") as a distinct traditional Chinese (Confucian) ideal that gradually finds its new expressions through the policy of Harmonious Society ([characters omitted]…

English as a foreign language is taught almost exclusively as a school subject in most parts of the world. However, reported in this autoethnography is our practice in family language planning in English as a foreign language (non-native to either parent). The personal narratives of our bilingual parenting experience focus on our decision making…

In the past decade, research on language policy has shifted from a top-down approach toward the inclusion of micro-political aspects and ethnographic approaches. In studies of bilingualism and bilingual acquisition the role of parents and parenting has always been mentioned as an important (although somewhat peripheral) factor. In this paper, our…

Using Jamaica, a former British colony where Jamaican Creole (JC) is the mass vernacular but Standard Jamaican English is the official language, as an illustrative case, this critical ethnographic study in three Jamaican schools examines the theoretical and practical challenges of language education policy (LEP) development and implementation in…