Critical discourse analysis of the media debate on the language testing for citizenship in Sweden
Research question: How does media discourse about citizenship testing in Sweden portray unequal power relations (e.g. related to gender, the immigrants and the majority)?
Layout:
1) A short presentation of a problem, purpose and the research question that the empirical analysis is intended to answer.
This part is already written, you can use it:
Citizenship tests are currently being carried out in almost all Western countries, and there is an increasing convergence of civic integration policies in the European Union member states (Joppke 2007: 3). In 2019, Sweden still deviates from this trend and remains one of the few EU countries not having any language or civics testing for citizenship (The Local 2019). The absence of citizenship testing in Sweden is tied to the country’s official ideology of multiculturalism, egalitarianism and the inclusion of immigrants (Piller 2001: 265). So far the Swedish government has rejected the proposals for the introduction of citizenship tests a number of times. However, the discourse about language testing has recently started to change. Some of the largest political parties in Sweden previously objecting the introduction of citizenship testing now speak in favor of it. On 29 October 2019, the Swedish government launched an inquiry about the introduction of language and civics tests for gaining citizenship in the country. Taking into account a growing interest in this issue in Sweden, especially among immigrants, it is important to trace whether, over the last few years, the Swedish debate was close to the EU’s trend of civic integration policy convergence.
The overall aim of this research is to uncover the role of media discourse in the maintenance of unequal power relations and to discuss it in line with the social context. Thus, the following research question is developed for further study:
How does media discourse about citizenship testing in Sweden portray unequal power relations (e.g. related to gender, the immigrants and the majority)?
In order to examine the media discourse about language testing for citizenship in Sweden, this study will employ the method of critical discourse analysis using Fairclough’s framework for the analysis of discourse as social practice. Critical discourse analysis provides theories and methods for the empirical study of the relations between discourse and social developments (Jorgensen and Phillips 2002: 60). The model for critical discourse analysis constructed by Fairclough focuses on three dimensions: linguistic features of the text, discursive practice (processes related to the production and consumption of the text), and social practice to which the communicative event belongs (Jorgensen and Phillips 2002: 68).
2) Arguments for if it is most advisable to pre-construct an analytical framework or whether to work more inductively.
3) A structured summary of the main tentative results produced by processing and analysing the empirical material (see all of these texts in the attached document), with a selection of empirical parts (extracts from texts) that underpin and reinforce the results.
4) Conclude with a reflexive discussion about the different steps of your analysis and the main difficulties you have faced throughout the analysis.
References
Books about theories of critical discourse analysis:
Main source: Chapter 3 in Jorgensen, M., & Phillips, L. (2002). Discourse analysis as theory and method. London: Sage Publications.
Wodak, R., & Meyer, M. (2001). Methods of critical discourse analysis (Introducing qualitative methods). London: SAGE.
Additional articles:
Blackledge, A. (2006). The Magical Frontier between the Dominant and the Dominated: Sociolinguistics and Social Justice in a Multilingual World. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 27(1), 22-41. (view that immigrants should be responsible for their own integration p.30; the argument of language demands benefiting women as concerns equality)
Borevi, K. (2014). Multiculturalism and welfare state integration: Swedish model path dependency. Identities, 21(6), 708-723.
Byrne, B. (2017). Testing Times: The Place of the Citizenship Test in the UK Immigration Regime and New Citizens’ Responses to it. Sociology, 51(2), 323-338. (view that immigrants should be responsible for their own integration p.334; the idea of citizenship as a ‘reward’ p.328; the concept of the ‘super citizen’ p,334)
Joppke, C. (2007). Beyond national models: Civic integration policies for immigrants in Western Europe. West European Politics, 30(1), 1-22.
Milani, T. (2008). Language testing and citizenship: A language ideological debate in Sweden. Language in Society, 37(1), 27-59.
Piller, I. (2001). Naturalization language testing and its basis in ideologies of national identity and citizenship. International Journal of Bilingualism, 5(3), 259-277.
Texts for media discourse analysis (see all of these texts in the attached document):
Edwards, C. (2019, July 31). How international residents feel about Swedish tests for immigrants. Retrieved November 20, 2019, from https://www.thelocal.se/20190731/reader-voices-should-swedish-language-skills-be-a-requirement-for-citizenship
Fredriksson, J. (2019, August 7). Swedish – A New Requirement for Citizenship. Retrieved November 20, 2019, from http://www.swedishpress.com/article/swedish-%E2%80%93-new-requirement-citizenship
Löfgren, E. (2018, September 7). Election Q&A: Do you want Swedish tests for would-be citizens? Retrieved November 20, 2019, from https://www.thelocal.se/20180907/election-qa-do-you-want-swedish-tests-for-would-be-citizens-sfi
Radio Sweden. (2009, August 4). Debate over Language Tests. Retrieved November 20, 2019, from https://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=2054&artikel=3010564
Radio Sweden. (2019a, January 25). Government to push tests for new citizens. Retrieved November 20, 2019, from https://sverigesradio.se/artikel/7141932
Radio Sweden. (2015, January 28). Liberals re-launch citizenship language test proposal. Retrieved November 20, 2019, from https://sverigesradio.se/artikel/6078985
Radio Sweden. (2019b, January 24). Radio Sweden Weekly: Sweden finally has a government. What’s the first day like in Parliament afterwards? Views on citizenship language test. Retrieved November 20, 2019, from https://sverigesradio.se/avsnitt/1221528
Roden, L. (2018, May 28). ‘It’s so unfair to these students’: Swedish for Immigrants teacher quits in protest over poor standards. Retrieved November 20, 2019, from https://www.thelocal.se/20180528/its-so-unfair-to-these-students-swedish-for-immigrants-teacher-quits-in-protest-over-poor-standards
Roden, L. (2017, November 17). Things you can (and cannot) do without a Swedish personal number. Retrieved November 20, 2019, from https://www.thelocal.se/20171117/things-you-can-and-cannot-do-without-a-swedish-personal-number
Semko Gonzalez, R. (2019, January 17). Lost in Translation: Required Language Tests for Citizenship Perpetuate Barriers, Not Integration. Retrieved November 20, 2019, from https://medium.com/@renee.s.gonzalez/lost-in-translation-required-language-tests-for-citizenship-perpetuate-barriers-not-integration-2b27f54bba05
The Local. (2017a, June 5). Opinion: Why it’s time for Sweden to fully accept English in the workplace. Retrieved November 20, 2019, from https://www.thelocal.se/20170605/opinion-why-its-time-for-sweden-to-fully-accept-english-in-the-workplace
The Local. (2016, May 17). Report reveals gender gap in Swedish learning. Retrieved November 20, 2019, from https://www.thelocal.se/20160517/report-immigrant-women-take-longer-to-learn-swedish
The Local. (2018, April 24). Study Swedish or lose welfare, Swedish Democrats propose. Retrieved November 20, 2019, from https://www.thelocal.se/20180424/study-swedish-or-lose-welfare-swedish-social-democrats-propose
The Local. (2014, June 11). Swedes: Please let us speak Swedish with you. Retrieved November 20, 2019, from https://www.thelocal.se/20140611/dear-swedes-please-let-us-speak-swedish-with-you
The Local. (2019a, October 29). Swedish citizenship reforms: Plan to introduce language tests for new Swedes. Retrieved November 20, 2019, from https://www.thelocal.se/20191029/swedish-citizenship-reforms-prove-your-language-skills-to-become-a-swede
The Local. (2017b, September 7). Swedish conservatives propose stricter rules for citizenship. Retrieved November 20, 2019, from https://www.thelocal.se/20170907/swedish-conservatives-propose-stricter-rules-for-citizenship
The Local. (2017c, December 15). Swedish opposition leader: ‘In Sweden, we speak Swedish’. Retrieved November 20, 2019, from https://www.thelocal.se/20171215/swedish-opposition-leader-in-sweden-we-speak-swedish
The Local. (2019b, October 29). What we know about Sweden’s potential language tests for new citizens. Retrieved November 20, 2019, from https://www.thelocal.se/20191029/what-we-know-about-swedens-potential-citizenship-tests-so-far