Lyn Wright Fogle

Family Language Policy

This article describes the newly emerging field of family language policy, defined as explicit and overt planning in relation to language use within the home among family members, and provides an integrated overview of research on how languages are managed, learned, and negotiated within families. A comprehensive framework for understanding family language policy is sketched by bringing together two independent and currently disconnected fields of study: language policy and child language acquisition. Within such a framework, this article reviews research on the role of language ideologies in shaping family language practices, and on the connection between different family language policies, such as the one person–one language approach, and child language outcomes. We argue that family language policies are important as they shape childrens developmental trajectories, connect in significant ways with childrens formal school success, and collectively determine the maintenance and future status of minority languages.

Family Language Policy from the Children’s Point of View: Bilingualism in Place and Time

Studies in family language policy (FLP) point to the important role children play in negotiating and shaping parents’ language ideologies and practices. This chapter focuses on how adult children perceive themselves as agents in shaping FLP and how they represent their own processes of becoming bilingual with an emphasis on experiences children had outside of the home that shaped their bilingual identities.

Language Teacher Identities in the Southern United States: Transforming Rural Schools

ABSTRACT Foreign language (FL) and English as a Second Language (ESL) teaching present considerable challenges in the rural U.S. South. Local language ideologies, budgetary considerations, and challenges in other curricular areas (e.g., math and science) lead to marginalizing both FL and ESL in schools. This article examines the personal and professional trajectories of in-service language teachers in K–12 settings in the state of Mississippi to better understand how participants conceptualize their practice and their roles in schools. By analyzing the interview discourse of nine teachers, we found that both ESL and FL teachers positioned themselves against dominant ideologies and educational policies and constructed themselves as agents of change in the classroom, school, and community at large. This study contributes to the argument for integrating FL and ESL in rural areas, where both groups need support, and provides suggestions for ESL-FL teacher collaboration in rural schools.