Neo-Nationalism and Language Policy in the United States: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Public Discourse Advocating Monolingual English Use

Recent geopolitical events have led to a worldwide resurgence in nationalism which entails political togetherness and invokes the spirit of patriotism. In various contexts, language has been a central point of departure for many nationalist movements. In particular, English is increasingly discussed with regards to its sociopolitical and sociocultural implications for the expanding‐circle spaces. This research is a critical qualitative study that examines how neo‐nationalist policies are potentially transforming TESOL classes in Morocco. By focusing on TESOL teachers' reactions, we seek to reveal the range of impacts that recent nationalist policies have had on English teaching in Morocco and discuss pedagogical possibilities that can balance internationalist and nationalist desires in the country. In addition, we attempt to investigate how understandings of the nation are actualized in classrooms and how English language teaching practices and policies account for the ideas about the Moroccan nation. The study highlights how English language teachers make sense of debates surrounding English as a threat to national languages and how they can be agentive in realizing change through critical pedagogical interventions with nationalism and the concept of nation.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neo‐Nationalism and Politicizing TESOL: Nationalist Rhetoric and Decolonial Impulses in English Teaching in Morocco

R’boul

Belhiah

2023

“…It is a tool to create and delineate identity categories through which those in political power demarcate, legitimize, and ascribe power to political communities (Calhoun, 1993). Nationalism is discursively constructed at the macro level in political speeches and policy language as well as in micro-level spaces such as language classrooms (Meadows, 2020). In the time following the second world war, nationalism was seen as synonymous with racism in the public landscape, though nationalism was present as an undercurrent in society (Bergmann, 2020).…”

Section: The Trump Administration and Language Education In The Us Co...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As neo-nationalist politicians have risen to power in recent years, there has been a marked amplification of nationalism accompanied by political power and heightened public approval of such ideologies. For example, the Trump Administration both consorted with neo-nationalist politicians and used the presidential platform to voice messages from neo-nationalist groups (Meadows, 2020).…”

Section: The Trump Administration and Language Education In The Us Co...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“This is our country, too”: Embodied Experiences of and Resistance to Neo‐nationalism in a Midwest School District

Stephens

2023

Nationalist rhetoric is not new to the US political context of transnational migration (Johnson et al., 2018). However, the election cycle of 2016 amplified nationalist rhetoric and policy in new public spaces, including schools and classrooms. In this article, I analyze neo‐nationalist discourse as voiced by the Trump Administration in and adjacent to language classrooms and general education classrooms in a predominantly White, Midwestern school district with growing demographics of students designated as English Language Learners (ELLs). Using intertextual and interdiscursive analysis (Fairclough, 1992) and embodied sociolinguistics (Bucholtz & Hall, 2016), I trace how neo‐nationalist discourses entered the classrooms, homes, and, I argue, bodies of newly arrived, racialized, documented, and undocumented immigrant students. I demonstrate how such rhetoric and policy provoked physical manifestations of trauma coupled with resistance, showing how the circulation of neo‐nationalist ideas contributed to ideological constructions of immigrant student and family identities along lines of race, immigration status, and language. Based on my findings, I center participants' lived knowledge and goals to argue that these moments demand response in schools and language education classrooms and offer implications for research, policy, and practice.

“…While much of the nascent literature on the topic appears to be interpretive/speculative (McIntosh, 2020), some broad trends can be identified. In the United States, the English-only agenda seems to have strengthened, showing less sympathy for linguistic diversity and multiculturalism (Meadows, 2020). Similarly, as the rediscovery of English nationalism is expected to challenge multilingualism in the United Kingdom, scholars have been explicit about the imperative of developing other language skills to engage with the rest of Europe and the world (Kelly, 2018).…”

Section: English and Colonialism 9/11 And Resurgent Nationalismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Teaching English in the Muslim World against the Backdrop of 9/11 and Resurgent Nationalism: A Case Study of Bangladeshi ELT

Hamid

Ali

2023

This article examines English language teaching (ELT) policy, textbooks, and pedagogy in the neo‐nationalist era that followed 9/11 in Muslim‐majority Bangladesh. Informed by the Douglas Fir Group's transdisciplinary framework of second language learning, the examination substantiates the ideologies of economization, de‐Islamization and awamization, which coalesce into the overarching ideology of secularization of ELT as a response to the global war on terror and the rise of neo‐nationalism in South Asia. This secular response to forces and developments in global, regional, and local contexts marks the distinctiveness of Bangladeshi ELT compared with other Muslim societies, which have sought to develop students' awareness of religious and cultural values while teaching English. The secularization of ELT can be explained by the rise of Hindutva nationalism in India and the latter's influence on the ruling Bangladesh Awami League government which has been in power for over 14 years. The article attests to the complex, multilayered ELT ideology shaped by local, regional, and global forces and interests, suggesting the formation of a national/social imaginary that seeks alliance with secular Muslims and non‐Muslim communities at home and in the region and excludes practicing Muslims in both contexts.