Distractive language education policies and the endangerment of Indigenous languages in Bangladesh

• Anwar Ahmed ^[1]
  1. [1] University of British Columbia

     University of British Columbia

     Canadá

     
• Localización: Current issues in language planning, ISSN 1466-4208, Vol. 26, Nº. 3, 2025 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Special issue on English language policy distraction), págs. 292-307
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.1080/14664208.2024.2370670
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Focusing on language education policies in Bangladesh, this article shows how the policies have distracted people’s attention from the harms inflicted on the country’s Indigenous communities and their languages. I discuss two factors that have contributed to policy distractions in this context: a strong form of Bangla linguistic nationalism and a neoliberal approach to English language teaching. To address the problem of language education policy distractions, I put forward an argument for paying attention to what matters the most for protecting linguistic human rights and fostering linguistic diversity. Paying such transformative attention will require a mother-tongue-based multilingual approach to education and the creation of territorial niches for protecting and promoting endangered languages.

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