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Article published In:
Language Problems and Language Planning
Vol. 43:3 (2019) ► pp.262–285

The legal rights of Aragonese-speaking schoolchildren

The current state of Aragonese language teaching in Aragon (Spain)

 | University of Lleida, Spain
 | University of Lleida, Spain
 | University of Lleida, Spain
 | University of Lleida, Spain
Aragon is an autonomous community within Spain where, historically, three languages are spoken: Aragonese, Catalan, and Castilian Spanish. Both Aragonese and Catalan are minority and minoritised languages within the territory, while Castilian Spanish, the majority language, enjoys total legal protection and legitimation. The fact that we live in the era of the nation-state is crucial for understanding endangered languages in their specific socio-political context. This is why policies at macro-level and micro-level are essential for language maintenance and equality. In this article, we carry out an in-depth analysis of 57 documents: international and national legal documents, education reports, and education curricula. The aims of the paper are: (1) to analyse the current state of Aragonese language teaching in primary education in Aragon, and (2) to suggest solutions and desirable policies to address the passive bilingualism of Aragonese-speaking schoolchildren. We conclude that although Aragon is a trilingual community, education policy actually does not reflect this reality. There is also a need to implement language policies (bottom-up and top-down initiatives) to promote compulsory education in a minoritised language. We therefore propose a linguistic model that brings to the forefront minority languages. This study may contribute to research into Aragonese-Castilian bilingualism in contexts of possible language loss.
Keywords: Aragonese language, language policy, minority language, Aragonese teaching, minoritised language, Aragon, Spain
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.General Spanish legal framework
  • 3.Autonomous communities with their “own languages”: The case of Aragon
    • 3.1The Statute of Autonomy of Aragon and its “linguistic modalities”
    • 3.2The language acts of 2009 and 2013
  • 4.Sociolinguistic data and evolution
  • 5.Overview of the teaching of the Aragonese language
    • 5.1The evolution of education laws
    • 5.2The Aragonese language curriculum
    • 5.3The reality of classrooms in early childhood and primary education
    • 5.4Training for Aragonese language teachers
  • 6.Discussion and conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 3 December 2019
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https://doi.org/10.1075/lplp.00045.tor
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