Monolingualism in Iceland – Icelandic Language Planning III

Previously…

National language planning is made up of three elements: status planning, corpus planning, and acquisition planning.

The spread of Icelandic

The dissemination of the linguistic pattern is part of the acquisition planning.
The spread of the linguistic pattern typically occurs through education and the media. Thus, these serve as instruments and vehicles for disseminating the pattern.

At one point, in Iceland, there was an emphasis on learning foreign languages, this because it was the understanding of the Icelandic people that communication beyond their borders required the learning of other languages. However, the perception that Icelandic could be put in danger due to the dominance and preponderant influence of English, gave rise to efforts for the protection, preservation and full functioning of the Icelandic language. These efforts were mainly aimed at education and the media. Quoting Hilmarsson-Dunn and Kristinsson (2010): “Icelandic language policy-makers have deemed it necessary to strengthen official language-planning measures, urging schools, universities, and the media to increase their teaching and use of Icelandic to counteract the influence of English.”In this regard, in 2009, the Icelandic parliament approved a new language policy: Íslenska til alls (Icelandic for all).

Education is probably the most effective dissemination instrument, especially because we are currently witnessing the generalization of education. Therefore, let us now analyze the measures that are part of the Íslenska til alls language policy aimed at education. We are interested in analyzing the measures aimed at mandatory schooling levels, as these measures allow us to characterize the Icelandic education system and analyze whether it encourages monolingualism or multilingualism.

Iceland legally stipulates that instruction in schools must take place in Icelandic. Instruction in other languages ​​is, however, permitted, if only when the discipline in question makes it necessary. Languages ​​other than Icelandic are used only when the subject in question makes it necessary, that is when the content of the study so requires. The use of other languages ​​is also allowed when the content is specifically intended for students who are not proficient in Icelandic, or for students who intend to study (or have studied) abroad for a significant part of their educational career. The focus of the Icelandic education system is therefore on the acquisition by students of a high level of proficiency in the Icelandic language.

However, despite the huge emphasis on instruction in Icelandic, Iceland is plagued by a conflict, a conflict between the need to educate a population in foreign languages, so that they are able to communicate beyond their borders, and the desire to keep the national language intact and fully functioning. Thus, Iceland currently has a foreign language teaching policy.
The model that characterizes the Icelandic education system is the regular model, which stipulates that students must receive education in their own mother tongue. This teaching model can be associated with two linguistic profiles: monolingualism or limited bilingualism. Limited bilingualism only occurs in cases where foreign languages ​​are taught as a second language. However, the European model of education is the regular model, but which results in limited bilingualism. To clarify, in the European model of teaching, the education of students typically takes place in the national language of the country in question. However, two more non-native languages ​​are also taught. Foreign languages ​​are interpreted as curricular subjects and the result of their teaching can be a very limited fluency, hence the term “limited bilingualism”. The Icelandic teaching model conforms to the European teaching model.

Bibliography

● Alves de Fraga, L., 1992. Reflexões Sobre A Identidade Nacional;
● Amanda Hilmarsson-Dunn & Ari Páll Kristinsson (2010) The language situation in Iceland, Current Issues in Language Planning. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14664208.2010.538008;
● B. Kaplan, R., 2013. Language Planning;
● Haugen, E., 1959. Planning for a Standard Language in Modern Norway. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/30022188;
● Joshua A. Fishman (1974.) Advances in Language Planning;
● Valencich Frota, S., 2016. O Papel Simbólico Da Língua Na Construção Das Identidades Nacionais: O Caráter Identitário Da Discussão Sobre O AO90 Em Portugal. Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa;