Ideology

Ideologies, as shared beliefs about what is acceptable or valued in a society, are present in various aspects of everyday life, including education, public discourse, and popular culture. Applied linguistics research has increasingly used the concept of ideology to examine the intersection of language and social structures, including the social norms, contested value systems, and imagined representations of the social world, both in concrete practices and as discourses operating more broadly. In this entry, we provide an overview of the concept of ideology in applied linguistics, with a specific focus on language ideologies. After presenting a historical account of the concept of ideology and its interpretations across different academic disciplines, we examine the relationship between ideology, power, and social structures, highlighting how ideologies are (re)produced and enacted through language practices and discourses. We highlight different theoretical tools used to examine ideologies, including indexicality, iconization, fractal recursivity, erasure, chronotope, and ideological becoming. These conceptual tools have proven useful to examine language learning, identity construction, and language policy and help demonstrate the role of language ideologies in mediating second language acquisition, multilingual literacy practices, and the appropriation of school language. Overall, the entry provides a comprehensive overview of the concept of ideology and its relevance to applied linguistics, particularly in relation to language use and social structures.