Acceso usuarios
Richard D. Lambert
The primary purpose of this article is to present a taxonomy within which language policy analysis may be carried out. Such analyses currently seem to fall within one or another of the following domains: (1) the choice and use of official languages; (2) setting the norms for national languages;
(3) the diffusion of languages across national boundaries; (4) the architecture and functioning of language instruction within the formal educational system; (5) language instruction outside the formal educational system; and (6) the language planning process itself. In addition, such analyses tend to deal with policies dealing with indigenous ethnolinguistic divisions or with foreign-language instruction; rarely both. With regard to the former, countries are divided into those that are relatively ethnically homogeneous, those that contain two or three main ethnolinguistic groups, and those that are ethnically more heterogeneous. Using these dassifications, differences in the emphasis on the various domains of language policy are discussed. The second portion ofthe paper discusses policy with respect to the teaching offoreign languages. The principal decisions and points of Intervention in the making of foreign-language policy are noted.
