Language policy is the means by which governments
and other groups (e.g. some local authorities in England) set out
their intentions to safeguard, develop and exploit the capacity in
languages among the people they represent. Bodies such as the
Council of Europe
support groups in developing language policy.
What factors
influence language policy in the UK in the
21st century?
Language policy is shaped in
the context of other developments, both in the world of education
and in the wider world...
Global
factors
For example, language policy
in the UK has evolved to take into account devolution to national
administrations in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. It
has reflected policy developments in the European Union and in
Anglophone countries across the globe, such as Australia.
Linear progression from the
aspirations of language policy to the desired results in practice,
for example, 'all members of the European Union able to use two
languages in addition to their mother tongue', can be frustrated or
supported by the (unintended) consequences of policy enacted in
other fields. It is not enough to look at language policy in
isolation.
Business and economy
A recent concern in all
developed countries has been the urgent requirement to 'upskill'
the population, starting from the earliest of learning
opportunities, the better to match skills and education supply to
known and forecast employer demand. Language policy
development has therefore increasingly been situated in the context
of shaping education and skills to improve economic
competitiveness.
Mobility
The 21st century
sees unprecedented mobility around the globe, with all the
consequences that entails for the individuals concerned and the
communities in which we all live. Language policy takes this
into account as well, for example, in efforts to meet the growing
need for multilingual public services and to acknowledge and
celebrate the diversity of languages enjoyed by a given population,
as a rich bonus rather than an obstacle to communication.
Education policy
In the education sector, the
development and implementation of language policy is tied to
generic policy development. This may be seen in the
continuing debate in the first decade of the 21st
century about the rival merits of teaching and learning in school
according to subject discipline versus cross-curricular theme.
The impact of change
One thing only is certain in
language policy: that it is constantly evolving. As languages
and intercultural skills are about communication between people,
the consequences of that evolution, whether intended or otherwise,
have an impact not only in the education sector but across the
whole of society.