Neutrality as an analytical lens on language curricula? A data-based conversation on policies, discourses and their sociohistorical origins in Switzerland and South Africa

Abstract

In this article, we analyse language education policy in two officially multilingual countries, Switzerland and South Africa, where the role of English has evolved vis-à-vis local “national” languages since the 1990s. Our focus is on language policy as a manifestation of social struggles and, with a particular emphasis on English, we explore current policy documents in these two very different contexts. Using “neutrality” as an analytical lens, we show that language policy goes beyond curricula and in-/exclusion of languages, and instead neutralises societal ideas in line with the vision of a “successful” future at a given sociohistorical juncture. Finally, we reflect on neutrality as a component of language ideologies, whereby specific languages are authorised for contingent and changing political goals, leading to consequences such as in-/exclusion of certain languages in education policy and unequal distribution of knowledge, resources and authority.