Language Policy Research in East Asia: Global Challenges and Local Responses
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ITORIAL
Language Policy Research in East Asia: Global Challenges and Local Responses Xuesong Gao1
Published online: 22 October 2016 © De La Salle University 2016
Introduction The issue addressed in this collection of studies is the significant challenges facing language policy-makers and language educators emanating from dramatic cultural, demographic, economic, political, and social changes in global and East Asian contexts (e.g., Heller and MartinJones 2001; Block and Cameron 2002; Tollefson 2012; Tollefson and Tsui 2004; Park and Wee 2012). Traditionally, language policy-making has been largely driven by particular visions and aspirations of the political establishment and institutions in specific nations and contexts which in turn led to prescriptive pedagogical models and influenced language education practices in these contexts profoundly. The policy-making mechanisms and processes now have to consider not only the strategic need for enhancing global engagement and sustaining linguistic diversity but also increasingly complex demographic and socio-cultural realities in contexts where relevant language policies are to be implemented (e.g., Park and Wee 2012; Lo Bianco et al. 2009). In addition, the language policymaking process needs to accommodate increasingly strong bottom-up voices, by involving individuals in making decisions about what languages to learn and use with whom as well as when, why, and how these languages are used (e.g., Gao 2012, 2015). These shifts add substantially to complications of language policy-making and require major conceptual and methodological shifts in research in & Xuesong Gao [email protected] 1
Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Room 663, 6/F, Mengwah Complex, Hong Kong, China
order to fully appreciate and address the rising challenges (Pe´rez-Milans 2015). This special issue highlights these significant challenges and invites readers to reflect on the possible responses that educational researchers could have in specific contexts. The first challenge relates to the promotion of national standard and foreign languages in contexts characterized with linguistic diversity and dramatic demographic changes caused by internal and cross-border migrations. Over the years, national and regional governments in East Asian contexts have increasingly stressed the importance of English language competence for effective global engagement (e.g., Tollefson and Tsui 2004; Wang 2015; Yang and Zhang 2015). The continual rise of English as a strategically important language can undermine the use of mother tongue as medium of instruction, which is critical to the improvement of educational practices in many Asian contexts. In the meantime, promotion of national standard languages in Asian contexts such as China and Singapore has resulted in regional Chinese varieties or dialects being on the verge of disappearance because their usage is getting increasingly confined to private spaces (e.g., Gao 2012, 2015; Wee 2011). The complexity of language policy-making is further exacerbated by
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