Latest language policy proposals in education in the Valencian Country

Abstract

In this paper, the language policy proposals included in the election programmes of the political parties and coalitions which obtained representation in the Valencian Parliament after the 2011 May elections are analysed. Their consistency and coherence is studied from a sociolinguistic perspective. From a critical discourse analysis perspective, these sets of proposals are compared to the language perception which appears in them. The comparison of the proposals of the different groups represented in the Parliament complements the study of the past and present Valencian language policy. Although the real possibilities to access the government of the different parties are not analysed, by including the parties which now represent the government and the opposition, the maximum and minimum threshold for language policy development in the mid-term are established. To analyse the Valencian language policy, it is necessary to consider Spanish, the other official language and common to the rest of the Spanish state, and see whether there are direct or implicit references to it. Regarding the educational environment, the presence of English and its importance in the school curricula in a generalised discourse context which advocates for its learning can be determining in the design and use of the teaching languages in the Valencian educational system.