JoLIE 15:4/2022

 

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EAST OR WEST: POLITICS AND FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING IN ROMANIA

 

 

Anabella-Gloria Niculescu-Gorpin A green circle with white letters AI-generated content may be incorrect.

Romanian Academy, the Iorgu Iordan – Al Rosetti Institute of Linguistics

The University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures

 

 

 

Abstract

 

This article analyses the extent to which politics has determined foreign language teaching in Romania over time, presenting the language teaching policies implemented in various historical periods: the period before Romania turned into a nation state (1859), the pre-Communist period (1859-1945/1948), the Communist period (1945/1948 – 1989) and in the post-Communist period (the last three decades).

Before going into the actual analysis of relevant official documents, the study first discusses several concepts, i.e. foreign language, official language, national language, and mother tongue, emphasising the fact that such concepts embody ideological content.

The overall conclusion is that, over the centuries, Romanian foreign language teaching policies have wavered between the East and the West, thus affecting attitudes towards particular foreign languages, as well as towards the cultures of those languages, to some extent.

 

Keywords: Romanian foreign language teaching policy; Foreign language; Official language; National language; Mother tongue.

 

 

References

 

Avram, M. (1997). Anglicismele în limba română actuală. București: Editura Academiei Române.

 

Bunescu, Gh. (Ed.). (2004). Antologia legilor învățământului din România (revised edition). București: Institutul de Științe ale Educație.

 

Niculescu-Gorpin, A.G. (2013). Influențe cultural‐lingvistice asupra evoluției recente a limbii române în context european şi mondial. București: Editura Muzeului Național al Literaturii Române.

 

Niculescu-Gorpin, A.G., & Vasileanu, M. (2018). Acceptability and diffusion of luxury Anglicisms in present-day Romanian. Pragmatics & Cognition, 25(1), 86–121. doi: https://doi.org/10.1075/pc.18007.nic.

 

Stoichițoiu‐Ichim, A. (2001). Vocabularul limbii române actuale. Dinamică, influențe, creativitate. București: Editura All.

 

Stoichițoiu‐Ichim, A. (2006). Aspecte ale influenței limbii engleze în româna actuală. București: Editura Universității.

 

van Dijk, T. (1995). Discourse analysis as ideology analysis. In C. Schäffner, & A. Wenden (Eds.), Language and Peace (pp. 17-33). Dartmouth Publishing.

 

Wrigth, S. (2012). Language policy, the nation and nationalism. In B. Spolsky (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Language Policy (pp. 59-78). Cambridge University Press. 

 

Webliography

 

Eurobarometer:  Europeans and Their Languages. 2012.  Retrieved May 2021, from https://europa.eu/eurobarometer/surveys/detail/1049.

 

Galiță, A., & Zamfir, G. (2013). 2 august 1969 – Prima vizită oficială în Romania a unui președinte al Statelor Unite ale Americii. Institutul de Investigare a Crimelor Comunismului și Memoria Exilului Românesc. https://www.iiccmer.ro/carusel-stiri/2013/2-august-1969-prima-vizita-oficiala-in-romania-a-unui-presedinte-al-statelor-unite-ale-americii/

 

Oxford University Press. (n.d.). Oxford English Dictionary (OED). Retrieved May 2021, from https://www.oed.com

 

Muzeul Primei Școli Românești. (n.d.). Prima tiparniță românească. https://www.primascoalaromaneasca.ro

 

Study in Romania. (n.d.). History of education. http://www.study-in-romania.ro/historyofeducation.htm

 

Guvernul României. (1974). Legea nr. 3 din 28 martie 1974 privind organizarea administrativ-teritorială a României. Retrieved May 2021, from https://legislatie.just.ro/Public/DetaliiDocumentAfis/338

 

 

How to cite this paper: Niculescu-Gorpin, A.-G. (2022). East or West: Politics and foreign language teaching in Romania. Journal of Linguistic and Intercultural Education – JoLIE, 15(4), 77–100. https://doi.org/10.29302/jolie.2022.15.4.5

 

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