Language policy, globalization and development: Buzzwords, political economy and the ‘use’ of English worldwide

In this lecture, I will provide an overview of the field of language policy as a whole, as well as bring the insights of language policy research into conversation with critical sociolinguistic perspectives on the increased commodification of language in late modernity, and the  intersection/s of language with contemporary neoliberal political economy. I aim to provide a wide-ranging description of the ways that the past few decades of social and economic globalization are reinforced by (and continue to reinforce) linguistic ideology, as played out in language policy at a national and supra-national level. Alongside, I aim to demonstrate, albeit briefly, how the social and economic upheavals that typify globalization are realised through discourse; e.g. how discourses of ‘development’ impact on the writing of constitutions, the drafting of international trade policies, and the forging of new national identities in post-colonial and post-conflict societies. I do so with reference to insights from scholars working across language policy, political science, international relations and critical sociolinguistics, and across contexts such as East Timor, South Africa, the Philippines, and New Zealand.