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Issue 43. Autumn 2027

Thematic section: Negotiating language policies: agency and practices in multilingual educational contexts

Editors of the thematic section: Inmaculada Gómez Soler (Dublin City University) and Ronald Fuentes Cadenas (International University of La Rioja)

Important dates

- Deadline for article submissions: 30 August 2027

- Notification of review or acceptance: 30 October 2027

- Publication date: November–December 2025

Call for proposals

Language policies are not shaped or implemented solely through institutional documents, legislation or official regulations. For decades, research into language policy and planning has highlighted the need to move beyond an exclusively top-down conception of these processes and to focus on the interaction between different levels and actors (Ricento & Hornberger, 1996; Shohamy, 2006; Spolsky, 2004). From this perspective, language policies are not merely decisions adopted by governments or institutions, but dynamic processes that acquire meaning through their interpretation, appropriation and implementation in specific social and educational contexts (Johnson, 2013; Menken & García, 2010).

Multilingual contexts are particularly relevant settings for analysing these processes. Teachers, pupils, families, school leadership teams and other stakeholders in the educational community are not merely recipients of pre-established policies, but actors capable of interpreting, negotiating and adapting them and, in certain circumstances, questioning or transforming them (Menken & García, 2010). Their practices may contribute to the reproduction of dominant language policies and ideologies, but they may also open up spaces for multilingual practices and for the recognition of languages and repertoires that receive limited institutional support (Hornberger, 2002; Johnson, 2013).

This perspective places agency (Priestley et al., 2015) at the centre of the analysis of educational language policies. A focus on agency allows us to explore how different actors respond to the possibilities and constraints generated by the institutional structures and socio-political contexts in which they operate. It also enables us to examine the relationships between policies formulated at national or regional level and those that are constructed and negotiated within educational institutions, classrooms, families and communities. Language policies can therefore be understood as processes that unfold across multiple interrelated levels, in which local actors actively participate in the interpretation, negotiation and implementation of these policies (Ricento & Hornberger, 1996; Johnson, 2013).

These dynamics take on particular significance in educational contexts characterised by growing linguistic diversity, migration and mobility, as well as by the presence of minority, marginalised and heritage languages. In such settings, tensions may arise between institutional policies, dominant linguistic ideologies and the language practices of teachers, pupils, families and communities. At the same time, these actors can create spaces for negotiation in which the relationships between language, identity, belonging and educational participation are redefined.

Although recent research has paid increasing attention to the relationship between language policy and educational practice (Gómez Soler & Fuentes, 2021; Fuentes & Gómez Soler, 2023; Le, Nguyen, & Burns, 2021), there remains a need to explore in greater depth how different educational actors exercise their agency within the political, ideological and institutional conditions that shape their scope for action (Gómez Soler & Fuentes, 2025; Varghese & Fuentes, 2020). It is equally important to analyse how practices developed in local contexts relate to broader political and social processes, and to what extent they contribute to reproducing, reinterpreting or transforming existing language policies.

The aim of this thematic section of the Nebrija Journal of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching (RNLAEL) is to bring together research analysing the relationship between language policy, agency and educational practices in multilingual contexts. We are particularly interested in studies that examine how different actors interpret, negotiate and implement language policies, and how these processes manifest themselves in linguistic and educational practices, as well as in the experiences of language speakers and learners.

Possible thematic areas include, but are not limited to:

● teacher agency and the negotiation of language policies;

● language policy and multilingual education;

● language policies and education in heritage, minority or marginalised languages;

● language policy in contexts of migration and mobility;

● implementation, appropriation and reinterpretation of language policies in educational institutions;

● linguistic ideologies and educational practices;

● translanguaging and language policy;

● language, identity and language policies;

● inclusive language practices and education policy;

● language policy and teacher training;

● pupils’ agency in relation to language policies;

● family and community agency in the negotiation of language policies;

● tensions between institutional language policies and educational practices;

● relationships between local, regional, national and transnational language policies.

Contributions based on different theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches will be accepted, as well as research conducted at various educational levels, in different sociolinguistic contexts and geographical areas. Priority will be given to empirical studies of a qualitative, quantitative or mixed nature, whilst the nature of the journal does not consider accounts of teaching experiences or reflections not based on empirical data to be suitable for publication. Papers must contribute to advancing the understanding of the relationships between language policy, agency and educational practice.

Particular value will be placed on research that establishes explicit links between the political, social and educational dimensions of language policies and their interpretation and implementation in specific contexts. Furthermore, authors are invited to submit papers focusing on languages, communities and contexts that have received comparatively less attention in research on language policy. This journal is multidisciplinary and multilingual in nature; therefore, articles may be submitted in English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French or Italian.

Through dialogue between different educational, linguistic and geographical contexts, this thematic section aims to contribute to an understanding of language policies as dynamic and negotiated processes, and to highlight the role of different educational actors in shaping and transforming multilingual educational contexts.

References

Fuentes, R., & Gómez Soler, I. (2023). Instructors’ navigation and appropriation of gender-inclusive Spanish at a US University. Current issues in language planning, 24(5), 534-553.

Gómez Soler, I., & Fuentes, R. (2021). Navigating a policy vacuum in the New Latino Diaspora: Teaching Spanish as a heritage language in Tennessee high schools. Foreign Language Annals, 54(1), 91-113.

Gómez Soler, I., & Fuentes, R. (2026). Spanish language teaching and ideological tensions in the New Latino South. Journal of Spanish Language Teaching, 13(1), 64-79.

Hornberger, N. H. (2002). Multilingual language policies and the continua of biliteracy: An ecological approach. Language Policy, 1, 27–51.

Johnson, D. C. (2013). Language policy. Palgrave Macmillan.

Le, M. D., Nguyen, H. T. M., & Burns, A. (2021). English primary teacher agency in implementing teaching methods in response to language policy reform: A Vietnamese case study. Current Issues in Language Planning, 22(1–2), 199–224. https://doi.org/10.1080/14664208.2020.1741209

Menken, K., & García, O. (Eds.). (2010). Negotiating language policies in schools: Educators as policymakers. Routledge.

Priestley, M., Biesta, G., & Robinson, S. (2015). Teacher agency: An ecological approach. Bloomsbury Academic. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781474219426

Ricento, T., & Hornberger, N. H. (1996). Unpeeling the onion: Language planning and policy and the ELT professional. TESOL Quarterly, 30(3), 401–427.

Shohamy, E. (2006). Language policy: Hidden agendas and new approaches. Routledge.

Spolsky, B. (2004). Language policy. Cambridge University Press.

Varghese, M., & Fuentes, R. (2020). College capital and constraint agency: First-generation immigrant English language learners’ college success. Teachers College Record, 122(1), 1-54.