Language Planning for Social Inclusion.
Richard B. Baldauf Jr. and Md. Obaid Hamid
Language planning, sometimes classified as a part of sociolinguistics or as applied linguistics, had as one of its foundational concerns in the 1960s the way language serves to reproduce social inequality, and this continues to be the focus of more recent developments in critical language planning (as opposed to classical language planning, domain language planning and language management studies). This paper provides a brief overview of the discipline, and the disciplinary approaches, and then looks at the extent to which linguistic diversity and social inclusion are being addressed in language planning research at present, both more generally in the literature, and more specifically in Australia. From this perspective, the paper focuses on language planning for both dominant (English) and non-dominant (minority) languages in education and other social domains. Specific attention will be given to issues around medium of instruction (overseas) and English language variation in Australia and their potential impact on language policy development. The paper highlights that whether language planning focuses on majority languages, minority languages or language variations, the relationships between linguistic diversity and social inclusion are complex and a desirable achievement in diversity and inclusivity has to engage both macro policy and community agency.

Richard B. Baldauf Jr. is Professor of TESOL, School of Education, University of Queensland. He has published numerous articles in refereed journals and books, is co-author of Language Planning from Practice to Theory (1997), Language and Language-in-Education Planning in the Pacific Basin (2003), and Planning Chinese Characters: Evolution, Revolution or Reaction (2008). He is executive editor for Current Issues in Language Planning, and co-editor of 11 volumes of polity studies on language policy and planning in 35 polities from around the world (Multilingual Matters; Routledge).

Md. Obaid Hamid is a lecturer in TESOL Education at the University of Queensland, Australia. He is interested in English as a second/foreign language; English-in-education policy in the context of national development; and the sociology of English learning. He has published his work in Current Issues in Language Planning, TESOL Quarterly, Language Learning Journal, ELT Journal, English Today and International Journal of Research and Method in Education.