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Linguistic entrepreneurship as affective regime: organizations, audit culture, and second/foreign language education policy

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Abstract

Conceived as the act of aligning with the moral imperative to enhance one’s worth in the world through a strategic management of language-related resources (De Costa et al. in Asia Pac Educ Res 25(5–6):695–702, 2016), linguistic entrepreneurship is used as a framework to guide this paper that examines the growing influence of neoliberalism within the broader ecology of second and foreign language education policy. To illustrate its influence, we focus on organizations that are under intense pressure to improve the linguistic capabilities of their members. In particular, the paper expands on the notion of affective regime to show an increasingly pervasive audit culture that has resulted in some languages and identities being assigned greater value over others. By foregrounding these inequity concerns which arise from quantitative technologies that emphasize standards and measurements, we extend the affective turn in language policy scholarship and demonstrate how it contributes to the growing body of language policy research that has critiqued the commodification of language education. We close with a call for a critical engagement with the ideological mechanisms that underlie language education policy so that our resistance towards neoliberalism can focus on undoing their effects.

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Notes

  1. http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/cadre1_en.asp; accessed 1 July 2016. All quotations from the CEFR are from this website.

  2. CEFR-based Framework for ELT in Japan, http://www.tufs.ac.jp/ts/personal/tonolab/cefr-j/english/whatis.html; accessed 3 January 2018. All quotations regarding the CEFR-J are from here.

  3. The ideological nature of the valuing of particular languages and using it as a basis for distributing limited and highly sought-after resources is exemplified by the Ebonics controversy that erupted in 1996 in the US. In the debate, the Oakland School Board’s decision to recognize Ebonics (African American Vernacular English) as a distinct language from English, which would warrant additional resources to support African American children, was situated against the struggle over access to state support available to second language learners of English (Lippi-Green 2012).

  4. Pearson English; http://www.globalenglish.com/purchase/business; accessed 16 September 2014.

  5. Yahoo! Finance, 23 April 2013, http://finance.yahoo.com/news/globalenglish-releases-business-english-index-120300860.html; accessed 16 September 2014.

  6. EF Education First. www.ef.com/epi; accessed 16 September 2014.

  7. GUESS WHAT! Malaysians are the BEST English speakers in Asia’, 19 December 2013, no author. http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=202652:guess-what-malaysians-are-the-best-english-speakers-in-asia-ranking&Itemid=2#ixzz3DG7q2CoK; accessed 14 September 2014.

  8. Coughlan, Sean. 2013. How Pisa became the world’s most important exam. BBC News, 23 November 2013, http://www.bbc.com/news/business-24988343.

  9. Kim, Daeyeong. 2007. Hanguk topeul sunwiwa yeongeo gyoyuk. Yonhap News Agency, 18 April 2007.

  10. No, Jeongyong. 2010. Hangukin topeul seongjeok 71wi, sunwi sangseung. malhagineun 121wi. Financial News, 2 April 2010, http://www.fnnews.com/news/201004021501044631.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Michigan State University, B-257 Wells Hall, East Lansing, USA

    Peter I. De Costa

  2. National University of Singapore, AS5 7 Arts Link, Singapore, 117570, Singapore

    Joseph Park & Lionel Wee

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  1. Peter I. De Costa
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Correspondence to Peter I. De Costa.

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De Costa, P.I., Park, J. & Wee, L. Linguistic entrepreneurship as affective regime: organizations, audit culture, and second/foreign language education policy. Lang Policy 18, 387–406 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-018-9492-4

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