French Immersion Ideologies In Canada

French Immersion Ideologies in Canada looks at discourses that capture ideologies in the context of French immersion in Alberta, Canada, from a sociolinguistics for change lens.

In French Immersion Ideologies in Canada, Sylvie Roy gives voice to people who have experiences with French immersion programs in Alberta, Canada. Using a sociolinguistics for change approach, she interprets questions related to language ideologies, as well as reasons people learn French as an additional language and why some students are asked to learn English first. She also reflects on what it means to become or to be bilingual or multilingual in a globalized world. Roy discusses teachers’ and learners’ linguistic and cultural practices and examines transculturality for the future. By questioning concepts that recur in participants’ narratives, this book explores how power is reproduced, who is marginalized in the process, and what can be done to deconstruct ideologies about learning and teaching French in Canada and in the world. Roy demonstrates complex issues related to the French language and their consequences for learners, parents, teachers, and administrators.

Language Ideologies and Canadian Media explores how French and English Canadian media discuss languages and language issues, which language ideologies predominate in English and French, and whether language ideologies in traditional news media are transferred to new and social media. Using corpus linguistics and discourse analysis and a variety of different datasets ranging from print newspapers to online news, commentary and Twitter, the author argues that language ideologies in Canadian media have a bearing not only on the extent to which Canadian language policies are adopted, but also on the very way that Canadians understand themselves and their place in the nation.

"From the time of its inception in Canada, multiculturalism has generated varied reactions, none more starkly than between French and English Canadians. In this groundbreaking new work, Eve Haque examines the Government of Canada's attempt to forge a national policy of unity based on 'multiculturalism within a bilingual framework, ' a formulation that emerged out of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism (1963-70). Uncovering how the policies of bilingualism and multiculturalism are inextricably linked, Haque investigates the ways in which they operate together as part of our contemporary national narrative to favour the language and culture of Canada's two 'founding nations' at the expense of other groups. Haque uses previously overlooked archival material, including transcripts of royal commission hearings, memos, and reports, to reveal the conflicts underlying the emergence of this ostensibly seamless policy. By integrating two important areas of scholarly concern -- the evolution and articulation of language rights in Canada, and the history of multiculturalism in the country, Haque provides powerful insight into ongoing asymmetries between Canada's various cultural and linguistic groups."--Publisher's website.

Are far-reaching language rights defensible in a liberal society? Language Rights in French Canada explores this question in the context of a political culture long hostile to Québec's language laws, and increasingly resistant to official bilingualism across Canada. It argues for the moral validity of collective goals that aim to preserve and promote the French-Canadian identity in and outside Québec. This book makes a compelling case for recognizing strong language rights as a matter of justice. Pierre A. Coulombe addresses crucial issues about the coexistence of language communities in Canada, issues that will surely resonate in multilingual America.

This volume seeks to add to our understanding of how language is constructed in late capitalist societies. Exploring the conceptual and theoretical underpinnings of the so-called "commodification of language" and its relationship to the notion of linguistic capital, the authors examine recent research that offers implications for language policy and planning. Bringing together an international group of scholars, this collection includes chapters that address whether or not language can rightly be referred to as a commodity and, if so, under what circumstances. The different theoretical foundations of understanding language as a resource with exchange value – whether as commodity or capital – have practical implications for policy writ large. The implications of the "commodification of language" in more empirical terms are explored, both in terms of how it affects language as well as language policy at more micro levels. This includes more specific policy arenas such as language in education policy or family language policies as well as the implications for individual identity construction and linguistic communities. With a conclusion written by leading scholar David Block, this is key reading for researchers and advanced students of critical sociolinguistics, language and economy, language and politics, language policy and linguistic anthropology within linguistics, applied linguistics, and language teacher education.

This book offers a unique understanding of how researchers’ linguistic resources, and the languages they use in the research process, are often politically and structurally shaped and constrained, with implications for the reliability of the research. The chapters are written by both experienced and novice researchers, who examine how they negotiated the use of their own, and others’, linguistic and communicative resources when undertaking their research in politically-charged, and linguistically and culturally diverse contexts. The contributing authors are either from the Global South, or engaged in work which is contextualised within the Global South; or they face linguistic structural hegemonies in the Global North which challenge their research processes. They utilise diverse theoretical, methodological and disciplinary approaches to produce a collection of engaging and accessible accounts of researching multilingually in their contexts. These accounts will help readers to make theoretically and methodologically informed choices about the political dimensions of languages in their own research when researching multilingually.

Understanding School Choice in Canada provides a nuanced and theoretical overview of the formation and rise of school choice policies in Canada. Drawing on twenty years of work, Lynn Bosetti and Dianne Gereluk analyze the philosophical, historical, political, and social principles that underpin the formation and implementation of school choice policies in the provinces and territories. Bosetti and Gereluk offer theoretical frameworks for considering the parameters of school choice policies that are aligned and attentive to Canadian educational contexts. This robust overview successfully shifts the debate away from ideology in order to facilitate an understanding that the spectrum of school choice policy in Canada is a response to the varying political challenges in society at large. This book is essential reading for those who desire a deeper understanding of school choice policies in Canada.