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Language education for glocal interaction: English and Tatar
Author(s) -
Gilmetdinova Alsu,
Malova Irina
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
world englishes
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.6
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1467-971X
pISSN - 0883-2919
DOI - 10.1111/weng.12324
Subject(s) - tatar , glocalization , linguistics , context (archaeology) , language policy , ideology , political science , language education , sociology , language contact , history , law , politics , philosophy , archaeology , globalization
This article adopts Seargeant's theory of language ideologies to conceptualize, review, and problematize various perspectives on language education for glocal interaction in Tatarstan. Tatarstan is an autonomous republic in the Volga region of Russia which in 1992 has succeeded in obtaining two official languages, Russian and Tatar. It houses the second biggest ethnicity in the country – Tatars. Along with the local language, English has gained much attention in recent decades; its earlier ambiguous position in the Soviet Union echoed that of Tatar. This article focuses on how Tatar and English languages are regulated within the context of education in Russia, and how languages are differentiated and conceptualized, both linguistically and ideologically. The analysis is based on language policy documents as well as methodological approaches for the study of language. It highlights the dangers of assuming a universal language approach, be it English or Russian, and extends the Seargeant framework. It also highlights ways the global can meet the local to facilitate a more contextualized process of language regulation in a multilingual setting.