ENGL 478 Language and Social Policy (5) I&S/VLPA
Examines the relationship between language policy and social organization; the impact of language policy on immigration, education, and access to resources and political institutions; language policy and revolutionary change; language rights.

What do all these items have in common? Global English, testing kindergarten readiness, U.S. English, laws about what can be on signs, interpreters in hospitals, the MLA Guide, French and English laws in Canada, and the New York Times style manual are all related to language policy in the United States and elsewhere. This course is an introduction to language policy. Each of the items in the list itself is part of a language policy. We'll examine how language policy works its way into many parts of our daily lives in the U.S. and we’ll also examine language policy internationally. In addition to reading an overview of the field, we'll read articles, legal cases, examples of language tests, and style guides as examples of language policy. Each individual class member will carry out a research project on a current U.S. language policy, reporting to the class and writing a paper on the results of the research.