Language Ideology and Its Educational Impact: Insights from Vietnamese Community Language Schools

Drawing on Gal and Irvine’s (1995), (Signs of difference: Language and ideology in social life. Cambridge University Press, 2019) concept of linguistic differentiation, this chapter examines if and how teachers, principals and stakeholders at Vietnamese community language schoolsCommunity languages schools (CLSs) in Australia were engaged in linguistic differentiation and the extent to which their engagement influenced their decision-making and classroom practices. Thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews demonstrates that the participants were actively engaged in noticing and justifying linguistic differences. Language-in-education planning wise, it is argued that the teaching of Vietnamese at the CLSs under study was, to some extent, politicized, evidenced by the participants’ language standardization and low interest in resources developed inside Vietnam.