Ecological Language Education Policy

Language Policy

“…Hult's work has been central in developing an ecological orientation to LPP (see 2.6), referred to as the ecology of language policy (Hornberger and Hult 2008;Hult 2010a). In this approach, language planning and policy processes are seen as existing within, and contributing to, social and linguistic ecosystems.…”

“…It is by nature ideologically situated in that it is concerned with the preservation of all languages. Hornberger and Hult (2008) argue that it "calls upon researchers to see relationships among speakers, their languages, and the social contexts in which LPP and language use are situated" (Hornberger and Hult 2008: 292;Hult 2010a: 9) and, thus, the ecological orientation to LPP requires breadth (an interest in a broad range of linguistic ecosystems) and depth (close attention to the details within any particular ecosystem). The concept of a linguistic ecosystem is similar to the notions of "layers" or "levels" in LPP research yet, as Hult (2010a) argues, it emphasizes how our conceptualizations of LPP layers are ultimately abstractions useful for the sake of whatever analytical lens the researcher uses.…”

Uneasy lies the head: Poststructuralism in the midst of paradigm contestation in applied linguistics

“…In these variants of postmodernism, applied linguistic work acknowledges that overt and covert political agendas are operative when designs for language solutions are proposed (Hornberger & Hult, 2008;Hult & King, 2011b). The solutions designed and presented as the result of applied linguistic investigation are never politically or ethically neutral.…”

The complexity turn in educational linguistics

“…Indeed, even in the area of cognitive second language acquisition, the complexity turn is beginning to raise serious questions about the implications of broader social systems for highly selective research on isolated constructs (Ortega, 2010). Principles of complexity dovetail, perhaps, most easily with discourse studies and sociolinguistics since they have had reconciling micro -macro factors on the agenda for quite some time, especially as reflected in the ecology of language orientation (Haugen, 1972;Hornberger & Hult, 2008;Kramsch, 2008;Voegelin & Voegelin, 1964). Here, too, recent methodological developments, such as nexus analysis (Scollon & Scollon, 2004), are promising in terms of an explicit focus on understanding the entire social systems and the role of social actions in (re)producing them.…”