SEARCH ARTICLE

02 Pages : 21-40

http://dx.doi.org/10.31703/gssr.2018(III-II).02      10.31703/gssr.2018(III-II).02      Published : Jun 2018

Foreign Languages' Planning in the Post-Taliban Afghanistan

    This paper analyses the management of foreign languages in the language planning of Afghanistan after the fall of Taliban. The analyses assess the suitability of foreign languages performing developmental and peace-making roles in domains where distribution of power is contested by the Afghan ethnolinguistic groups. Primary data of the paper comes from a questionnaire based survey and followup interviews. Analysis reveals the presence of various modern languages such as French, German, Russian and English in Afghanistan. The acceptance of foreign languages especially English is overwhelming in Afghanistan. Among foreign languages, English happens to be the most vigorous and promising language. However, a significant portion of Afghans oppose the growing influence and power for the foreign languages in Afghanistan. The paper notes, an uneven spread of English as the dominant foreign language in Afghanistan. Therefore, foreign languages' role in development and peacemaking may not be achieved due to lack of equal access. The paper recommends a wide-range of interventions to help in making foreign languages a resource for development and peacemaking. The intervention includes social, economic and political equality and equal opportunities in learning of foreign languages. It is also emphasised that the promotion of local languages is not to be affected by the availability of foreign languages.

    Afghanistan, Foreign Languages, Language Planning, English, French, German, Russian.
    (1) Ayaz Ahmad
    Lecturer, Department of English,Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, Mardan, KP, Pakistan.
    (2) Sana Hussan
    MPhil Scholar (English), Department of English, Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, Mardan, KP, Pakistan.
    (3) Muhammad Safiullah
    Research Assistant, Humanity Research Council, Islamabad, Pakistan.

60 Pages : 645-657

http://dx.doi.org/10.31703/gssr.2023(VIII-I).60      10.31703/gssr.2023(VIII-I).60      Published : Mar 2023

Language Policy and Planning in the Era of Globalization: Examining the Effects of Global Trends on National and Regional Language Policies and Educational Practices

    This paper looks at how the language policy and planning (LPP) is affected by the globalization, with references on national and regional language policies and education. The study examines three policy situations through a conceptual, comparative, qualitative case study, which includes English-media expansion, official multilingualism and decentralized regional autonomy. The data was collected by reviewing policy documents, policy elites interviews, interviews with school administrators, interviews with teachers, classroom observations, and student/parent focus groups. The results indicate that such global tendencies as the Englishization, the increase of mobility, and digital language use influence policy discourse. Nonetheless, implementation is influenced by such challenges as lack of teacher training, resources to regional languages and mismatched assessment. Such informal multilingual practices as code-switching sprouted in classrooms. The research proposes a combination of planning, teacher training, and resource allocation in order to support equitable LPP and linguistic justice in the environment of globalization-related reforms.

    Language Policy, Language Planning, Globalization, English-Medium Instruction, Multilingual Education, Equity, Assessment Alignment
    (1) Irfan Ullah
    Assistant Professor, Department of English, Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, KP, Pakistan.
    (2) Aqsa Goloona
    BS Student, Department of English, Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan, KP, Pakistan.