Schooling transnational speakers of the societal language: language variation policy-making in Madrid and Toronto

A cross-national comparative study in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and Madrid, Spain examines educational policies and practices that target immigrant students for whom the language variety normally spoken in the host country represents a second dialect. Policy contexts and schooling environments of the two urban centres were analyzed to gain deeper understanding of how language variation policies were generated and enacted at various levels within the societal climates surrounding the integration of bi-dialectal students. The tripartite structure for educational provision and the discursive framings of educational policy in the Ontario context were found to be more responsive to the development of school-based practices that address the learning needs of transnationals, although neither context evidenced educational initiatives that promoted awareness of language variation issues at the macro, meso, and micro levels and systematically encouraged acceptance of bi-dialectalism. A contribution to engaged language policy in the form of social critique, the article concludes with an enlightened scenario for language variation policy-making committed to principles of transnationalism, inclusion, and human rights.