Language policies and pedagogical practices in Catalonia and Quebec

Abstract

The majority of Canada’s Francophones reside in Quebec, where French is the main language of education and where English-speaking students are entitled to receive instruction in English only under specific circumstances. Similarly, the policy for bilingual education implemented in Catalonia in 1983 provides that students should receive their primary education in Catalan, while the acquisition of Castilian, the official language of the state and co-official in Catalonia together with Catalan, is also required. This paper goes beyond the scope of comparing these two territories as districts defined by their language, aiming to provide a trifold consideration of the language planning issue in both regions by taking into account: a) what language planning programmes have been implemented in the autonomous community of Catalonia and in the province of Quebec; b) what kind of goals language planning aims to achieve in Catalonia and Quebec; and c) in what ways the motivation behind language policies in these territories differs.