Lectures and presentations
Introducing ‘doughnut language policy’: intersectional insights to avoid unintended consequences -- SEE BOTTOM OF PAGE (final link) to download the slides
All experts: Sayers, Dave
Activity details
Nature of event: Scientific conference
Name of event: British Association of Applied Linguistics (BAAL) annual conference
Presentation type: Other public presentation
Start date: 05/09/2024
End date: 07/09/2024
Year: 2024
Description
This paper begins with a linguistic analysis of the Welsh Government’s flagship language policies, demonstrating that the current model of promoting Welsh is centrally premised on increasing the number of Welsh speakers. This priority is the beating heart of all Welsh language policy, its guiding light.
But the analysis shows much less policy attention to how all this will actually help people in Wales and improve material wellbeing. Such benefits might feel obvious, but they cannot be evidenced if they are not described and measured.
Meanwhile, there is growing research evidence of unintended negative consequences – from linguistics, sociology, education, and economics. For example, English-speaking children entering Welsh-medium schools (L2 students) achieve lower grades than their L1 Welsh-speaking peers; and Welsh-medium schools overall achieve lower average grades despite equal funding. Graduates of Welsh-medium schools are less geographically mobile. And within communities, valorisation of Welsh – in contrast to English – fuels tensions between language groups. These outcomes are not inevitable, but they are missed by policies centred on the language itself.
But what about that original goal of increasing speaker numbers? The census data show even this goal is not being achieved. Quite the opposite. Social hostilities and educational inequalities cannot be helping. There is a real need to rebalance all these factors into mutually supportive, equally weighted priorities: to develop intersectional policy attending to a diversity of needs.
To remedy the policy imbalance and the negative consequences, I propose a ‘doughnut’ model of language policy. This is a borrowing of a recently introduced economic theory, “doughnut economics”, designed for intersectional balance of environmental and social outcomes alongside the financial. The same intersectional approach has great potential for language policy, emphasising that wellbeing and social relations can and should be equally prioritised, and – returning to my textual analysis – explicitly stated within policy.
But the analysis shows much less policy attention to how all this will actually help people in Wales and improve material wellbeing. Such benefits might feel obvious, but they cannot be evidenced if they are not described and measured.
Meanwhile, there is growing research evidence of unintended negative consequences – from linguistics, sociology, education, and economics. For example, English-speaking children entering Welsh-medium schools (L2 students) achieve lower grades than their L1 Welsh-speaking peers; and Welsh-medium schools overall achieve lower average grades despite equal funding. Graduates of Welsh-medium schools are less geographically mobile. And within communities, valorisation of Welsh – in contrast to English – fuels tensions between language groups. These outcomes are not inevitable, but they are missed by policies centred on the language itself.
But what about that original goal of increasing speaker numbers? The census data show even this goal is not being achieved. Quite the opposite. Social hostilities and educational inequalities cannot be helping. There is a real need to rebalance all these factors into mutually supportive, equally weighted priorities: to develop intersectional policy attending to a diversity of needs.
To remedy the policy imbalance and the negative consequences, I propose a ‘doughnut’ model of language policy. This is a borrowing of a recently introduced economic theory, “doughnut economics”, designed for intersectional balance of environmental and social outcomes alongside the financial. The same intersectional approach has great potential for language policy, emphasising that wellbeing and social relations can and should be equally prioritised, and – returning to my textual analysis – explicitly stated within policy.
Follow-up groups: School of Wellbeing (University of Jyväskylä JYU) JYU.Well
Profiling areas: School of Wellbeing (University of Jyväskylä JYU) JYU.Well
Keywords (YSO): linguistic rights; linguistic minorities; language policy; capability
Main country visited: United Kingdom (GB)
