Discourses on Language and Integration

Critical perspectives on language testing regimes in Europe
Erscheinungsjahr 2009
ISBN: 978-90-272-0623-7
Verlag: John Benjamins Publishing Company

Buch, Englisch, Band 33, 170 Seiten, Format (B × H): 164 mm x 245 mm, Gewicht: 500 g

Reihe: Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture

One of the most pressing issues in contemporary European societies is the need to promote integration and social inclusion in the context of rapidly increasing migration. A particular challenge confronting national governments is how to accommodate speakers of an ever-increasing number of languages within what in most cases are still perceived as monolingual indigenous populations. This has given rise to public debates in many countries on controversial policies imposing a requirement of competence in a ‘national’ language and culture as a condition for acquiring citizenship. However, these debates are frequently conducted almost entirely at a national level within each state, with little if any attention paid to the broader European context. At the same time, further EU enlargement and the ongoing rise in the rate of migration into and across Europe suggest that the salience of these issues is likely to continue to grow. This volume offers a critical analysis of these debates and emerging discourses on integration and challenges the assumptions underlying the new ‘language testing regimes’.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Hogan-Brun, Gabrielle

Mar-Molinero, Clare

Stevenson, Patrick

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Fremdsprachenerwerb und -didaktik
• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Spracherwerb, Sprachentwicklung
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Internationale Beziehungen Europäische Union, Europapolitik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of appendices, tables and figures
Notes on contributors
Acknowledgements
Testing regimes: Introducing cross-national perspectives on language, migration and citizenship
Gabrielle Hogan-Brun, Clare Mar-Molinero and Patrick Stevenson
Fortress Europe? Language policy regimes for immigration and citizenship
Piet Van Avermaet
Language tests for immigrants: Why language? Why tests? Why citizenship?
Elana Shohamy
Language, migration and citizenship: A case study on testing regimes in the Netherlands
Guus Extra and Massimiliano Spotti
Being English, speaking English: Extension to English language testing legislation and the future of multicultural Britain
Adrian Blackledge
Language, citizenship and Europeanization: Unpacking the discourse of integration
Kristine Horner
Local actors in promoting multilingualism
Brigitta Busch
Language tests and social policy: A commentary
Tim McNamara
Index