Language ideologies in chilean education programmes : the case of english and mapudungun as second languages

Abstract

As the influence of language ideologies is notedin a number of social fields involving different aspects of language, these have caught the attention of researches. This study intends to look into the language ideologies underlying the official education programmes of English and Mapudungun in Chile, so as to find the motivations behind these programmes. The analysis consisted in the review and categorization of main language ideologies found in Ministry and interviews with the authorities of the education programmes. The main results showed two different language paradigms regarding each language. On the one hand, English is usually conceived under a rationalist model focusing on its functional value, while Mapudungun on the other hand in commonly conceived under a romantic model focusing on its cultural and historic value. These ideologies help to explain the reasons for the language initiatives currently being carried out in Chile in terms of education programmes.