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MAAL7007 Language Policy

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MAAL7007 Language Policy

COURSE TEACHER:
Dr. James Fong
Email: jamesfyt@hku.hk

 

Course description:

Language policy, originated as a branch of sociolinguistics, is an interdisciplinary area which attracts attention in various fields including education. Drawing on the work of sociolinguists, applied linguists, language educators and ethnographers, the course explores the intersection of language policy as intended by political and economic interests. Another aim of the course is to introduce students to contemporary theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches within the field of language policy at macro and micro levels, and to link them with practical implications. Special attention is placed on an understanding of key conceptual underpinnings of language ideology, language rights, linguistic landscape, multilingualism, nationalism, and language standardisation within globalisation processes. Data from Hong Kong and selected world contexts will be used to explore these core issues.

 

Course objectives:

This course intends to develop students’

  1. Conceptual and theoretical understanding of language policy
  2. Critical awareness of how language policy works in everyday social worlds, with local, educational, institutional, national, and transnational perspectives
  3. Abilities to assess and evaluate the current directions in language policy, both in Hong Kong and beyond

 

Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs):

Upon successful completion of this course, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

  1. Comprehend and define basic theories in language policy
  2. Compare and apply relevant theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches to research in language policy
  3. Analyse diverse purposes, nature and impacts of language management in society
  4. Assess language policy as political, economic and social practices
  5. Evaluate the development and dynamics of language policy within and across as socially defined borders, both locally and globally
  6. Articulate how their views on language policy have developed over the course of study

 

Course content:

This course is divided into two strands: theoretical and practical. In the theoretical strand, students are given a broad understanding of the contemporary theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches to language policy as an activity of governments, educational establishments, and individuals. The practical strand analyses these conceptual underpinnings applied in various contexts, locally and globally.

Theoretical strand:

1. Definitions and theories

1.1 What is language policy?

1.2 Philosophy of language policy

1.3 Language policy as language planning

1.4 Research methods in language policy

2. Language policy and late modernity

2.1 Globalisation and multilingualism

2.2 Politics of English as an international language

2.3 Language as commodity

2.4 Language policy and linguistic landscapes

3. Language policy and globalisation

3.1 Language policy and the role of English

3.2 Language management agencies

3.3 Medium of instruction policy

3.4 Literacy and writing reform

4. Language ideology and rights

4.1 Ideology of language standardisation

4.2 Language rights as individual rights and collective rights

4.3 Language policy, nationalism, territorialism

4.4 National, official, and implicit language policies

 

Practical strand:

5. Language policy in selected world contexts

5.1 Language policy in Singapore: Educational, political and societal priorities

5.2 Language policy in Canada: Politicisation of language in Montréal

5.3 Language policy in the UK: A monolingual or multilingual country?

6. Language policy in Hong Kong

6.1 Hong Kong’s official language policy towards Chinese and English

6.2 Historical perspectives on Hong Kong’s medium of instruction policy

6.3 New challenges for Hong Kong’s language policy

        1.  

Teaching and Learning Activities (TLAs):

Students will engage in:

1. In-class and out-of-class activities (case study + discussion + evidence use):

• Students will work with case studies, readings, and fieldwork observations (from the course language tour or from independent data collection). They will take part in group discussions that connect their evidence to language-policy concepts. They will extend their observation and documentation and use the collected evidence to support essay planning and analytical writing.

2. Lectures:

• Lectures will provide the conceptual and analytical frameworks needed for language-policy analysis and academic reasoning. Instruction will be multimodal and interactive, combining instructor explanations with slides and video clips, and using class questioning and brief application prompts to shift from one-way delivery to guided sense-making. This will support students in applying course concepts to practice tasks such as analysing incidents, comparing linguistic settings with measurable indicators.

 

Assessments:

Students are expected to write an essay on an assigned topic related to an aspect of language policy, 2,500 words in length (+/- 10%), excluding footnotes, endnotes, references, and appendices.

 

GenAI policy:

Generative AI tools may be used only for grammar/style checking or as a critical interlocutor. No AI-generated text may appear in the final submission except short quoted phrases (clearly placed in quotation marks, cited, and fully documented in the GenAI Use Declaration).

 

Core readings:

Fong, J. (2026). Language preferences in the metro space of Hong Kong: A study of borderland dynamics. Journal of Intercultural Studies, 47(2), 369–385. https://doi.org/10.1080/07256868.2025.2556382

Spolsky, B. (2021). Rethinking language policy. Edinburgh University Press. https://www-jstor-org.eproxy.lib.hku.hk/stable/10.3366/j.ctv1ns7n6q

 

Extended readings:

Theoretical strand:

1. Definitions and theories

Hult, F. M., & Johnson, D. C. (2015). Research methods in language policy and planning: A practical guide. Wiley-Blackwell. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9781118340349

Spolsky, B. (2012). The Cambridge handbook of language policy. Cambridge University Press. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/hkuhk/detail.action?docID=833377

Spolsky, B. (2019). A modified and enriched theory of language policy (and management). Language Policy, 18, 323-338. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-018-9489-z

2. Language policy and late modernity

Amos, H., & Soukup, B. (2020). Quantitative 2.0: Toward Variationist Linguistic Landscape Study (VaLLS) and a standard canon of LL variables. In Reterritorializing linguistic landscapes (pp. 31–55). Bloomsbury Publishing. https://julac-hku.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/852JULAC_HKU/r0004l/cdi_bloomsbury_books_9781350077997_b-9781350077997-chapter3

Blackwood, R., & Dunlevy, D. A. (2021). Multilingualism in public spaces: Empowering and transforming communities. Bloomsbury Academic. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350186620

Park, J. S. Y. (2016). Language as pure potential. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 37(5), 453–466. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2015.1071824

Pennycook, A. (2017). The cultural politics of English as an international language. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315225593

Petrovic, J. E., & Yazan, B. (Eds.) (2021). The commodification of language: Conceptual concerns and empirical manifestations. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003028581

Rubdy, R., & Tan, P. K. W. (2008). Language as commodity: global structures, local marketplaces. Continuum.

Soukup, B. (2020). Survey area selection in Variationist Linguistic Landscape Study (VaLLS): A report from Vienna, Austria. Linguistic Landscape, 6(1), 52–79. https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.00017.sou

Wee, L. (2021). The communicative linguistic landscape: Production formats and designed environments. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003021315

3. Language policy and globalisation

Bolton, K., Botha, W., & Bacon-Shone, J. (2017). English-medium instruction in Singapore higher education: policy, realities and challenges. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 38(10), 913–930. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2017.1304396

Chang, S. Y. (2023). English medium instruction for whom and for what? Rethinking the language-content relationship in higher education. Language, Culture, and Curriculum, 36(2), 161–176. https://doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2022.2104304

Spolsky, B. (2012). Language management. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511626470

4. Language ideology and rights

Kloter, H., & Saarela, M. S. (2020). Language diversity in the Sinophone world: Historical trajectories, language planning, and multilingual practices. Taylor & Francis Group. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003049890

Martín Rojo, L., & Del Percio, A. (Eds.) (2019). Language and neoliberal governmentality. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429286711

May, S. (2017). Language rights. Routledge.

McLeod, W., Dunbar, R., Jones, K., & Walsh, J. (Eds.) (2022). Language, policy and territory: A festschrift for Colin H. Williams. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-94346-2

Mishra, P., & Tan, Y. Y. (2021). Language, nations and multilingualism: questioning the Herderian ideal. Routledge.

Umberto A, & Kara F. (2019). Revivals, nationalism, and linguistic discrimination: Threatening languages. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315639451

 

Practical strand:

5. Language policy in selected world contexts

Jain, R. (2021). Multilingual Singapore: Language policies and linguistic realities. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429280146

Kelly, M. (2018). Languages after Brexit: How the UK speaks to the world. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65169-9

Mac Giolla Chriost, D., & Bonotti, M. (2018). Brexit, language policy and linguistic diversity. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78726-8

Martel, M., Pâquet, M., & Dumas, P. (2012). Speaking up: A history of language and politics in Canada and Quebec. Between the Lines.

Pearson, W. S. (2021). Policies on minimum English language requirements in UK higher education, 1989-2021. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 45(9), 1240–1252. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2021.1945556

Warren, J., & Oakes, L. (2019). Language policy and citizenship in Quebec: French as a force for unity in a diverse society? In C. Norrby & J. Hajek (Eds.), Uniformity and diversity in language policy (pp. 7–21). Multilingual Matters. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781847694478-005

Xie, W. H., Ng, B, C., & Francesco, C. (2022). Living in harmony: The negotiation of intergenerational family language policy in Singapore. Language & Communication, 82, 8–27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2021.11.004

6. Language policy in Hong Kong

Clark, A. S. (2019). The problematic definition of “Chinese” in Hong Kong. Language & Communication, 67, 55–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2019.03.001

Edwards, J. G. H. (2018). The politics of English in Hong Kong: attitudes, identity and use. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315178547

Evans, S. (2013). The long march to biliteracy and trilingualism: Language policy in Hong Kong education since the handover. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 33, 302–324. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190513000019

Evans, S. (2017). Language policy in Hong Kong education: A historical overview. European Journal of Language Policy, 9(1), 67–84. https://doi.org/10.3828/ejlp.2017.5

Fleming, K., & Ansaldo, U. (2020). Hong Kong: Language and survival in a ‘One-China’ world. In K. Fleming & U. Ansaldo (Eds.), Revivals, nationalism, and linguistic discrimination: Threatening languages (pp. 72-91). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315639451