Conference Agenda

In its role as a policy actor, the media interprets language policies and influences language ideologies, in part through specific de/legitimation strategies that shape public perceptions of language (Gao & Shao, 2018; Kelly‐Holmes, 2012).

In this study, we focus on the media’s role in the historical context of the Heritage Language Program (HLP) in Ontario. This program was established in 1977 by the Ontario Ministry of Education to support teaching of non-official languages in elementary schools outside of regular school hours. In 1984, local and national newspapers reported extensively on a teachers' boycott against an initiative of the Toronto Board of Education's to incorporate heritage language programs into the regular school day. How did the media as a policy actor interpret the HLP at the time of the teachers’ boycott? What do conflicting ideological stances in news coverage reveal about the power, but also the limits, of the media as a policy actor?

Based on historical records from the Globe & Mail, the Toronto Star, and the Toronto Sun, we conducted a critical discourse analysis (Martín Rojo, 2017) to understand how media shaped discourses around the HLP. This paper focuses on the Sun because of the conflicting ideological stances it took. As a right-wing tabloid, it has long been (and continues to be) explicit in its hostility to teachers’ unions. In this case, however, the Sun sided with the union in its boycott of daytime heritage language classes. Our paper adopts a raciolinguistic perspective (Flores & Rosa, 2015) to analyze how discourses surrounding a long-standing racialized hierarchy of languages in Canada (Haque, 2012; Haque & Patrick, 2013) trumped anti-labour discourses otherwise dominant in the Sun. We conclude by discussing how this historical analysis helps us reconsider our understanding of present representations of heritage language education in the media and beyond.

This paper delves into the intricate web of media language policies in Africa through a robust theoretical lens grounded in political economy. Africa’s linguistic diversity has long been a defining characteristic of the continent, shaping its socio-political and media landscapes. This study sheds light on how political and economic forces intersect to influence media language policies across the African continent, focusing on the theoretical underpinnings that drive these policies.

Drawing from critical media studies, postcolonial theory, and political economy, this paper explores the dynamics that have shaped media language policies in Africa. It examines how historical legacies of colonization, globalization, and neoliberalism have impacted the choices made by media organizations regarding language usage in the media. The theoretical work employed in the study unravels the power structures, economic interests, and cultural dynamics that underlie these policies.

Furthermore, the paper analyses case studies from various African countries to illustrate the practical implications of these theoretical perspectives. Examining instances of language policies in media ranging from linguistic inclusivity to linguistic exclusion provides insights into how these policies intersect with issues of identity, power, and access to information.

This paper contributes to understanding the complex relationship between politics, economics, and language in African media landscapes. It highlights the need for a nuanced and context-specific approach to African media language policies. It underscores the significance of considering the broader power dynamics that inform these policies. Ultimately, this research aims to inform policymakers, media practitioners, and scholars working in media studies about the multifaced challenges and opportunities presented by language choices in African media.

This study explores the evolvement of language-in-identity mapping in Hong Kong’s media space under the changing sociopolitical circumstances. Hong Kong, a post-colonial Chinese city under the special regime of “one country, two systems”, has two official languages- Chinese and English. In practice, its language situation can be best described as “biliteracy and trilingualism”: “trilingualism” refers to three main spoken languages - Cantonese, English and Putonghua; “biliteracy” refers to English and written Chinese with traditional characters .

Against the changing sociopolitical background, how do language issues play a part in different identity expression and identity building process? What implications for stakeholders in language policy and learning? In this study, we explore the representation of Cantonese, Putonghua, simplified characters and traditional characters in Hong Kong’s press media from 2017 to 2022, with a focus on several salient public events.

Through content analysis assisted by corpus linguistic methods, the study unveils the complexity and heterogeneity of language ideology as well as new trends of the language-in-identity configuration in Hong Kong today. While Putonghua and simplified characters are commonly associated with resistance identity vis à vis Mainland China, Putonghua is also increasingly connoted with national identity and patriotism. Meanwhile, Cantonese and traditional characters have identity connotations at local, regional and national level, which are being deployed by various social agents for conscious identity work.