Cover not available

Article published In: Language, Culture and Society
Vol. 1:1 (2019) ► pp.83–105

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required

Authority and morality in advocating heteroglossia

 | Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB)
Published online: 12 April 2019
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/lcs.00005.jas
Abstract
In this article I address the fact that influential strands in socio- and applied linguistics advocate heteroglossic policies in education and other monolingually organised domains without extending this heteroglossia to public debate about language policy. Often this occurs by presenting linguistic diversity to relevant stakeholders as natural and real, or as the only option on account of its proven effectiveness. I argue that this strategy removes options from the debate by framing it as a scientific rather than political one, that it confronts stakeholders with academic pressure and blame, and that this may diminish scholars’ impact on policy making. Using examples from research on translanguaging, repertoires, and linguistic citizenship, I will suggest that scholars may be more effective in contexts of value conflict when their knowledge serves to expand rather than reduce the range of alternatives for stakeholders. Focusing on education I will then explore how we may reclaim language policy from an evidence-based discourse and address matters of value besides matters of fact.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Translanguaging
  • 3.Repertoires and linguistic citizenship
  • 4.The relation between science and policy
  • 5.From “what is/works” to “what do we want (and why)”
  • 6.Conclusion
  • References
References (60)
References
Bakhtin, M. (1981). The dialogical imagination (ed. by M. Holquist). Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bauman, R., & Briggs, C. (2003). Voices of modernity. Cambridge: CUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bezemer, J. (2015). Partnerships in research. In J. Snell, S. Shaw, & F. Copland (Eds.), Linguistic ethnography (pp. 207–224). Basingstoke: Palgrave. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bell, A., & Coupland, N. (2001). Dialogue. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 5(4), 575. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Biesta, G. (2009). Good education in an age of measurement. Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability, 211, 33–46. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2010). Why ‘what works’ still won’t work. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 291: 491–503. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2012). Giving teaching back to education. Phenomenology and Practice, 6(2), 35–49. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Biesta, G., & Osberg, D. (2010). Complexity, education and politics from the inside-out and the outside-in. In D. Osberg & G. Biesta (Eds.), Complexity theory and the politics of education (pp. 1–3). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Billig, M. (1996). Arguing and thinking. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Billig, M., Condor, S., Edwards, D., Gane, M., Middleton, D., & Radley, A. (1988). Ideological dilemmas. London: Sage.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Block, D. (2018). The political economy of language education research (or the lack thereof). Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, 15(4), 237–257. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Blommaert, J. (1999). The debate is open. In J. Blommaert (Ed.), Language ideological debates (pp. 1–38). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Blommaert, J., & Backus, A. (2011). Repertoires revisited. Working Papers in Urban Language and Literacies, 671.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bruce Morton, J., & Harper, S. N. (2007). What did Simon say? Revisiting the bilingual advantage. Developmental Science, 10(6), 719–726. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bourdieu, P., & Passeron, J. C. (1977). Reproduction in education, society and culture. London: Sage.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cameron, D. (2012). Verbal hygiene (2nd ed.). London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cameron, D., Frazer, E., Harvey, P., Rampton, B., & Richardson, K. (1992). Researching language. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chun, E., & Lo, A. (2016). Language and racialization. In N. Bonvillain (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of linguistic anthropology (pp. 220–233). New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cooke, M., Bryers, D., & Wistanley, B. (2018). ‘Our languages’. Working Papers in Urban Language and Literacies, 234.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
De Bruin, A., Treccani, B., & Della Sala, S. (2014). Cognitive advantage in bilingualism: An example of publication bias? Psychological Science, 26(1), 99–107. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Del Percio, A., Flubacher, M., & Duchêne, A. (2016). Language and political economy. In O. García, N. Flores, & M. Spotti (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of language and society (pp. 55–76). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Erickson, F. (1987). Transformation and school success. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 18(4), 335–356. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Flores, N. (2017). Developing a materialist anti-racist approach to language activism. Multilingua, 36(5), 565–570. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
García, O., & Flores, N. (2012). Multilingual pedagogies. In M. Martin-Jones, A. Blackledge, & A. Creese (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of multilingualism (pp. 232–246). New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
García, O., & Hesson, S. (2015). Translanguaging frameworks. In A. Yiakoumetti (Ed.), Multilingualism and language in education (pp. 221–241). Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
García, O., & Li, W. (2014). Translanguaging. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
García, O., & Lin, A. (2016). Translanguaging and bilingual education. In O. García, A. Lin, S. May (Eds.), Bilingual and multilingual education (pp. 117–130). Dordrecht: Springer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Garcia, O., Flores, N., & Woodley, H. H. (2015). Constructing in-between spaces to ‘do’ bilingualism. In J. Cenoz & D. Gorter (Eds.), Multilingual education (pp. 199–224). Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gardiner, M. (2004). Wild publics and grotesque symposiums. The Sociological Review 52(1), 28–48. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hammersley, M. (2005). Is the evidence-based practice movement doing more good than harm? Evidence & Policy 1(1), 85–100. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2014). The perils of ‘impact’ for academic social science. Contemporary Social Science 9(3), 345–355. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heller, M. (1999). Ebonics, language revival, la qualité de la langue and more. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 3(2), 260–266. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heller, M., Pietikäinen, S., & Pujolar, J. (2017). Critical sociolinguistic research methods. New York, NY: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heller, M., & McElhinny, B. (2017). Language, capitalism, colonialism. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hill, J. H., & Hill, K. C. (1980). Mixed grammar, purist grammar, and language attitudes in modern Nahuatl. Language in Society, 9(3), 321–48. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hogan-Brun, G., Mar-Molinero, C., & Stevenson, P. (Eds.) (2009). Discourses on language and integration. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jaffe, A. (1999). Ideologies in action. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2012). Collaborative practice, linguistic anthropological enquiry and mediation between researcher and practitioner discourses. In S. Gardner & M. Martin-Jones (Eds.), Multilingualism, discourse and ethnography (pp. 334–352). New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jaspers, J. (2016). (Dis)fluency. Annual Review of Anthropology, 451, 147–162. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2018). The transformative limits of translanguaging. Language & Communication, 58(1), 1–10. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kompridis, N. (2005). Normativizing hybridity/neutralizing culture. Political Theory, 33(3), 318–343. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lefstein, A., & Snell, J. (2011). Professional vision and the politics of teacher learning. Teaching and Teacher Education, 271, 505–514. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lewis, M. C. (2018). A critique of the principle of error correction as a theory of social change. Language in Society, 471, 325–384. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Li, Wei. (2016). Epilogue. In V. Cook & W. Li (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of linguistic multicompetence (pp. 533–543). Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Longino, H. (2002). The fate of knowledge. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Masschelein, J., & Simons, M. (2013). Defence of the school. Leuven: E-ducation, Culture and Society Publishers.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McNamara, T. (2009). Language tests and social policy. In G. Hogan-Brun, C. Mar-Molinero, & P. Stevenson (Eds.), Discourses on language and integration (pp. 153–163). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Moore, R. (2007). The sociology of knowledge and education. London: Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Otheguy, R., García, O., & Reid, W. (2015). Clarifying translanguaging and deconstructing named languages. Applied Linguistics Review, 6(3), 281–307. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pielke, R. A. (2007). The honest broker. Cambridge: CUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rampton, B. (1997). Retuning in applied linguistics. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 7(1), 3–25. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rampton, B., Cooke, M., & Holmes, S. (2018). Promoting linguistic citizenship. Working Papers in Urban Language and Literacies, 2331.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Salö, L. (2017). Sociolinguistics and epistemic reflexivity. Working Papers in Urban Language and Literacies, 2061.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Silverstein, M. (1985). Language and the culture of gender. In E. Mertz & R. J. Parmentier (Eds.), Semiotic mediation (pp. 219–259). New York, NY: Academic Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stevens, A. (2007). Survival of the ideas that fit. Social Policy & Society, 6(1), 25–35. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stroud, C. (2001). African mother-tongue programmes and the politics of language. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 22(4), 339–355. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stroud, C., & Heugh, K. (2004). Linguistic human rights and linguistic citizenship. In D. Patrick & J. Freeland (Eds.), Language rights and language survival (pp. 191–218). Manchester: St Jerome.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Woolard, K. A. (1989). Double talk. Bilingualism and the politics of ethnicity in Catalonia. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wynne, B. (1993). Public uptake of science. Public Understanding of Science, 21, 321–337. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (13)

Cited by 13 other publications

Zirak Ghazani, Ahmad
2025. Power, positioning, and precarity: identity negotiation and agency in multilingual minors in Canada. International Journal of Multilingualism ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Ciriza, Maria Del Puy & Isabella A. Marrin
2024. Resistances to critical language awareness: understanding the role of social class and double consciousness. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Catedral, Lydia & Madina Djuraeva
2023. Whose Voice Matters? Chronotopic Position(ing)s and the Dialogic Inclusion of Marginalized Stakeholders in Critical Applied Linguistics. Applied Linguistics 44:3 ► pp. 420 ff. DOI logo
Imre Heltai, János
2023. Translanguaging as a rhizomatic multiplicity. International Journal of Multilingualism 20:3 ► pp. 1016 ff. DOI logo
Tian, Zhongfeng & Sunny Man Chu Lau
2023. Translanguaging pedagogies in a Mandarin-English dual language bilingual education classroom: contextualised learning from teacher-researcher collaboration. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 26:8 ► pp. 960 ff. DOI logo
Brooks, Emma
2022. Translanguaging and the shifting sands of language education. ELT Journal 76:1 ► pp. 129 ff. DOI logo
Brooks, Emma
2022. Translanguaging Health. Applied Linguistics 43:3 ► pp. 517 ff. DOI logo
Maseko, Busani
2022. Translanguaging and minoritised language revitalisation in multilingual classrooms: Examining teachers’ agency. Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies 40:2 ► pp. 162 ff. DOI logo
Sakamoto, Mitsuyo & Gavin Furukawa
2022. Native speakers aren't perfect’: Japanese English learners' identity transformation as English users. System 110 ► pp. 102921 ff. DOI logo
Santello, Marco
2022. Questioning translanguaging creativity through Michel de Certeau. Language and Intercultural Communication 22:6 ► pp. 681 ff. DOI logo
Valdés, Guadalupe
2022. Towards Educational Dignity: Translanguaging y la Preparación de Maestros. Journal of Language, Identity & Education 21:3 ► pp. 212 ff. DOI logo
García, Ofelia
2020. Singularity, Complexities and Contradictions: A Commentary about Translanguaging, Social Justice, and Education. In Inclusion, Education and Translanguaging [Inklusion und Bildung in Migrationsgesellschaften, ], ► pp. 11 ff. DOI logo
Salaberry, M. Rafael
2020. The ‘transformative’ potential of translanguaging and other heteroglossic educational practices. Journal of Multilingual Theories and Practices 1:2 ► pp. 266 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 25 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue