[lg policy] Arizona: Language (Policy) Matters

[Harold Schiffman]

Language (Policy) Matters

“I ascribe a basic importance to the phenomenon of language. To speak
means to be in a position
to use certain syntax, to grasp the morphology of this or that
language, but it means above all
to assume a culture, to support the weight of a civilization.” - Frantz Fanon

Public education has a vital role in ensuring that this and subsequent
generations are successful in a global, multilingual
economy. In this What Matters brief, we examine how teachers,
students, parents and communities in our nation’s schools
can create rich opportunities for students to learn. Educators and
policy makers have an obligation to ensure that ALL students
have equitable opportunities to learn, meaningful participation and
engagement in school, and successful outcomes.
In this brief, we explore the complex issues that surround one of the
fundamental aspects of what makes us human: the
languages that we use to communicate, express, refl ect, and infl
uence others. Long after a generation has left us, their
deeds and wisdom live on in their oral and written histories and
commentaries. Each of the world’s languages offer nuanced
ways of describing the human condition from the Laplanders in Finland
to the Maori of New Zealand. Indigenous as well as
widely spoken languages inform and are infl uenced by the multiplicity
of languages that inhabit our world. Language
contains nuanced understandings of the world around us. By hearing
about the world through the structures and design
of multiple languages, our collective understanding is enriched and deepened.

Our individual perspectives are bounded and some would say constrained
by the languages that we understand and speak.
Languages seem to develop a life and trajectory of their own. Some
become increasingly dominant while others dwindle
in popularity and use. Each year the world runs the danger of losing
more and more indigenous languages as global languages
like Chinese, English, and Spanish anchor themselves in wide flung
communities across the globe. Learning about the
importance of language in representing the world in which we live
allows us to understand how language shapes our realities. Language is
a powerful expression of the world around us, and should be
appreciated and celebrated as a resource that students and families
bring to
school rather than a barrier to assimilation. Studying and becoming
proficient in more than one language builds a capacity to
understand and use language skillfully in multiple languages. Because
languages can be structured differently, the mental
schemas that use language to store and retrieve information can become
more powerful by becoming fl uent in more than
one language. Languages offer clues into the cultures from which they
emerge, so language learning is another way of
understanding and developing cultural fluency as well. Multilingual
approaches provide access to new cultures, information
and knowledge, and opportunities to forge --

More at: http://www.equityallianceatasu.org/sites/default/files/whatmatters/Language-Policy-Matters.pdf
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