Spatializing language policy pluralities: A Comparative Case Study of two Estonian Upper Secondary Schools

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 7:45 am - Gold 2
  In Roundtable Session: International and Comparative Perspectives on Language Education

Abstract

This paper examines language policy pluralities through a comparative, longitudinal, ethnographic study of two newly established state upper secondary schools in Narva, Estonia. We conceptualize language policy as a dynamic, spatialized, and practice-based process shaped by multilingual realities, institutional reforms, and everyday negotiations. Drawing on three years of fieldwork—including 100+ observations and interviews, we find four central, school-connected language spaces -- ceremonial, curricular, informal, and informational -- and develop a conceptual framework based on this. Our analysis challenges reductive binaries (e.g., formal/informal, Estonian/Other) and highlights the importance of spatial and relational approaches to language policy. We argue for an emic, plural methodology that highlights school-based complexity and repositions multilingualism as central to understanding education policy in diverse, transitional contexts like in northeastern Estonia.

Authors

• Kara D. Brown, University of South Carolina

• Kadri Koreinik, University of Tartu