book notice: Discourses on Language and Integration

[Harold Schiffman]

Discourses on Language and Integration: Critical perspectives on
language testing regimes in Europe
Series: Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture 33
Published: 2009
Publisher: John Benjamins
                http://www.benjamins.com/

Book URL: http://www.benjamins.com/cgi-bin/t_bookview.cgi?bookid=DAPSAC%2033

Editor: Gabrielle Hogan-Brun
Editor: Clare Mar-Molinero
Editor: Patrick Stevenson

Abstract:

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'.

http://linguistlist.org/issues/20/20-1396.html
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