Lecture by Joseph Lo Bianco, March 8, 2000

Planning Peace and Human Capital: Sri Lankan Language Policy

by Joseph Lo Bianco, Chief Executive, Language Australia:  The National Languages and Literacy Institute of Australia, The Australian National University, Canberra

The paper will discuss divergent tendencies and initiatives in Sri Lankan language policy.  On the one hand a historically unprecedented policy of national bilingualism involving the teaching of Sinhala and Tamil to speakers of other languages as part of the national policy of reconciliation has been commenced.  On the other hand English, once deprecated for its damaging effects on local communication practices, local languages, and social arrangement now predominates in public esteem within a new discourse of economic globalization and human capital.
The talk will address these patterns of language planning with specific attention to teacher education, language planning theory and intercultural education.

Wednesday, March 8, 2000