Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides a stronger theoretical and empirical understanding of agency in language policy and planning (LPP), guided in part by the notion that agency is the “capacity to act, combined with the contingencies of the environment within which such action occurs”. It focuses on family language planning (FLP) and how Azerbaijani-speaking parents view their FLP efforts in Tabriz, Iran. The book examines how individual agency is expressed through beliefs about language use, through LPP agents’ reflections on Singapore’s official language planning policy. It also examines how individual agency is expressed through beliefs about language use, through LPP agents’ reflections on Singapore’s official language planning policy. The book also provides a comprehensive autoethnography of their experiences in the implementation of bilingual education policies in Nunavut in the Northwest Territories of Canada.