ABSTRACT
In this chapter we look at how the meaning of a text is constructed by the reader or hearer. Moreover, meaning is constructed differently by different hearers/readers, on a continuum from dominant to critical (or resisting) readings. Which position a particular hearer/ reader chooses to occupy on this continuum depends to a large extent on the degree to which she or he shares the underlying assumptions, or discourse models, upon which the text is based. In the second part of the chapter, we discuss some key discourse models about language, which are widely held beliefs or ideologies about how language works and how it is used. The main language ideologies include the belief in a hierarchy of languages, the standard language ideology, the one nation-one language ideology, the mother tongue ideology and the ideology of linguistic purism. In chapter 3, we will see how taking into account these language ideologies potentially alters the traditional understanding of multilingualism.
