Linguistic integration and linguistic justice in a multilingual world: On the benefits of a normative language policy approach

Abstract This article invites mainstream language policy research to discover the potential of normative political theory to help stimulate new thinking on matters of linguistic justice, specifically in the context of the linguistic integration of newcomers in a multilingual world. Further developing the “normative language policy” framework, devised to bridge empirical research in sociolinguistics and applied linguistics and ethical debates in normative political theory, it examines three key questions: (i) To what extent should host societies’ language policymaking take the interests of newcomers into account?; (ii) How might the demands of linguistic integration be reconciled with efforts to protect and promote established minority or minoritised languages?; and (iii) Is there a legitimate role to be played by English as a lingua franca (ELF) to facilitate integration in non-anglophone contexts? Aiming to foster the development of shared epistemologies related to language, power and ethics, the article makes the case for a new interdisciplinarity in language policy research, with a view to offering a constructive, practical and principled pathway for devising more just language policies in integration contexts and beyond.