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Language testing and citizenship: A language ideological debate in Sweden

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2008

TOMMASO M. MILANI
TOMMASO M. MILANI
Affiliation:
Centre for Research on Bilingualism, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden, [email protected]
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Abstract

This article explores a public debate that took place in Sweden in 2002 in relation to the Swedish Liberal Party's proposal to introduce a language test for naturalization. On the basis of textual analysis of relevant policy documents and newspaper articles, it examines the explicit and implicit facets of an ideology of language testing. It is argued that a seemingly liberal, anti-racist, and anti-discriminatory ideology is emerging, which, in its explicit facet, calls for the introduction of a language test for citizenship as a practical way of diminishing social differentiation. However, drawing upon Bourdieu's notion of rites of institution, it is shown that such a test would actually contribute to, rather than challenge, the reproduction of social differentiation, thereby legitimizing the exclusion of certain groups from both the civic and symbolic domains of Sweden as a nation-state.I want to acknowledge that the research that resulted in the present article was conducted at the Centre for Research on Bilingualism, Stockholm University. However, my current affiliation and address for correspondence is Department of Linguistics and Phonetics, School of Modern Languages and Cultures, University of Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK; email: [email protected]. I also want to take the opportunity to thank Kenneth Hyltenstam, Sally Johnson, Barbara Johnstone, Ingrid Piller, and two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments on previous drafts of this article.

Keywords

BourdieucitizenshipCritical Discourse Analysisiconizationlanguage ideologylanguage testingSweden
Type
Research Article
Information
Language in Society , Volume 37 , Issue 1 , February 2008 , pp. 27 - 59
Copyright
© 2008 Cambridge University Press

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