Evaluating Diglossia

The McKay & Bokhrts-Heng readings from this week elaborate on topics that we have previously discussed in class but also introduce new, interesting ideas.  In one of the most important parts of Chapter 2, the authors describe three different contexts in which English is studied.  These contexts are explained by the Concentric Circle model.  The inner circle describes countries in which English is the native language.  The outer circle refers to countries where English is spoken as an official or second language, but English is not necessarily the primarily language.   The expanding circle is countries where English is widely studied as a foreign language such as China, Germany, and Korea (29).  Although these circles are distinct, globalization is once again diminishing borders (in this case the differences between these contexts).  Many speakers in Outer Circle countries have developed functional nativeness similar to the levels of proficiency found in Inner Circle countries (30).  Nevertheless, each circle does have distinguishing characteristics that make it a unique English learning context.

            An interesting and significant difference exists in the manner that the United Kingdom and the United States (two Inner Circle countries) teach English in their schools.  The policy of Great Britain is to keep English Learners in general education classrooms without any kind of special kind of attention or pull-out group.  The rationale behind this policy is that identifying and separating English Learners would lead to further isolation and discrimination from the rest of society (33).  On the contrary, many educational leaders in the United States believe that it is necessary to pull English Learners out of regular classes in order to properly to support students’ language development.  It is evident that drastic differences exist between the two policies, but it is still unclear which policy is more effective.  Although the United States’ policy could be more beneficial to students’ language needs, isolation of English learning students could lead to more discrimination from other students and members of society.  I agree most with Australia’s National Language Policy detailed on page 35.  The four guiding tenets of this policy are: competence in English, maintenance and development of languages other than English, provision of services in languages other than English, and opportunities for learning second languages.  I would advocate a similar agenda in the United States, but I feel like many people would disagree with me.  Some extremists would push for English to be the only language taught in other schools.  Other educators would argue language policies should be determined by the states, or even the individual schools; they would say that it is not the federal government’s place to create national language or education policies.  Once again, the connections between language, culture, and politics are made evident.

            The most important concept mentioned in chapter 3 is the idea of diglossia.  Diglossia refers to a community that uses two different dialects or languages regularly based on the context or the level of formality.  Often there is a high language (H-language) used in formal situations while other languages (L-languages) are used in informal domains.  In the United States, English is usually the H-language used in public settings while a multitude of different languages are used in respective homes and communities.  Although English is not the official language, its status as the H-language makes learning English much more essential in the United States society than other languages.  I believe that having one common and unifying language is a good thing for society, but other languages should not be oppressed and allowed to be used only in homes.  People should have the freedom to communicate in public however they please.  However, imagine a society without one or two H-languages.  How could a society function unless the majority of people speak the same language or languages?  For this reason, I agree with the dominant use of one language in a society.  However, the learning of other languages should be encouraged, not oppressed.