Language planning and development aid: the (in)visibility of language in development aid discourse

ABSTRACT

Despite the essential role of local, regional, national and international languages in human development, there is little reference to language planning in development aid discourse. Beginning with definitions of development aid and language planning, the paper examines how the two were linked in pre- and post-colonial times, showing how language planning scholarship has responded to the overarching shifts in understandings of development over time. While we find that language planning maintains a low profile in human development documents, we note some positive signs in UNESCO’s and UNICEF’s continuing support for language issues. We contrast this support with the World Bank’s concern with measurable outcomes. We conclude with an analysis of how the contributions to this special issue exemplify some of the tensions inherent in language planning for development in a global age.

KEYWORDS:

• Language planning
• development aid
• millennium development goals
• sustainable development goals
• development discourse
• globalisation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Kerry Taylor-Leech is an Applied Linguist in the School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science at Griffith University, Queensland. Her research focuses mainly on language-in-education policy and planning in multilingual settings and the relationship between language planning, policy and identity, particularly in post-colonial and migrant contexts.

Carol Benson is an Associate Professor in International and Comparative Education at Teachers College, Columbia, New York. Her current work focuses on educational language policy and practice, gender and language, and multilingual curriculum development.

ORCID

Kerry Taylor-Leech http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6840-6838

Notes

1 https://www.britishcouncil.com.sn/sites/default/files/ldc_2017_dakar_concept_note_v3_en.pdf

2 http://www.lc.mahidol.ac.th/mleconf/2016/background.htm

3 See, e.g. http://www.lc.mahidol.ac.th/mleconf/2016/background.htm and https://www.britishcouncil.in/programmes/english-partnerships/research-policy-dialogues/language-and-development-conference-2015

4 See http://www.fragilestates.org/2012/07/04/language-policy-and-development-lost-in-translation/

5 See in particular volumes 11 (4), 14 (1–2), 16 (1–2) and 18(3).

6 http://www.caritas.org.au/learn/countries/australia

7 https://www.oxfam.org.au/what-we-do/indigenous-australia/

8 http://dfat.gov.au/about-us/publications/Pages/reaching-indigenous-people-in-the-australian-aid-program-guidance-note.aspx

9 Many of these bodies have become household names today and include Christian Aid, the Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE), Catholic Relief Services and the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief (after 1965 known as Oxfam).

10 Since the year 2000, however, debt relief has been minimal and creditors have dragged their feet. To date, only six countries have received any substantial write-off of debt under the initiative; almost a third of eligible countries are yet to see any benefit at all (Pettifor & Greenhill, 2003).

11 https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld/publication

12 Countries with historical ties to Portugal and the Portuguese language.