The following interview was conducted with Catherine Elder in spring of 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic. Cathie has had a varied career in language testing, including work at universities in Australia and New Zealand and at the Language Testing Resource Center in Melbourne. In this interview, Cathie shares some highlights of her somewhat…

In this chapter, the author reviews the legal trajectory of language rights in public schooling in the United States and how language has been intertwined with other policy issues in court cases aimed at expanding access and equity for minority students: desegregation and school finance. Most of these cases originated in the Southwestern United…

Increasingly, applied linguists have been working with counterpart teachers who are subject-matter specialists to develop innovative programs to integrate the teaching of language and content. In some places, integration of language and content instruction involves implementation of two-way bilingual (interlocking) immersion programs. Such work…

Gives the text of a speech to the FLEAT Conference in Tokyo (August 1981) in which the Joint National Committee for Languages (JNCL), the President's Commission, and recent congressional support are cited as reasons for continuing optimism on the future of the foreign language teaching profession. (EKN)

Describes the decline of foreign language study in the United States and lack of a national language policy. Encouragement has been fostered recently by the President's Commission on Foreign Language and International Studies, the Modern Language Association, and the American Council of Learned Societies Task Forces. (JMF)

Language-in-education planning is the field that exists between language policy making and the classroom curriculum. A survey of language-in-education planning in the 1980s focuses only on that part of language-in-education policy concerned with foreign language teaching and learning and areas of literacy and bilingual education. (118 references)…

Discusses the extent to which the Australian language policy "White Paper" meets the real needs of the Australian people, and the quality of Australia's on-going performance in and commitment to well-articulated language and language education policymaking relating to languages other than English. (GLR)

As concerns about educational planning mount, the perspectives of the foreign language teaching profession will come face to face with national policy agendas, and there may be conflict. The profession must be aware of perspectives other than its own at the same time that it sets and maintains its own goals. Public debate has arisen about the…

Reviews some issues which should be of concern to the President's Commission on Foreign Language and International Studies, and encourages language professionals to seize the opportunity to make the needs of the profession known to the commission. (AM)

Discusses the effects of new educational policies enacted by Proposition 227 (California) and Proposition 203 (Arizona) on English Language Learners (ELLs) and their teachers. Presents a conversation among the authors on convergence of reforms, high stakes assessment, scripted reading programs, language planning and policy, effective learning…

This statement, written by the Council of Chief State School Officers', includes the Council's observations and position on the international dimensions of education and presents a series of proposed action steps. The observations cover the areas of communication skills, international education, cross-national comparisons of educational data, and…

Explores questions related to who educational policymakers are in the United States, the policies that they make, and the implications of these policies for foreign languages. Six commentaries are provided in response to the topic. (Author/VWL)

Suggests that in light of the state of many of the minority languages within the European Union, there are numerous policy imperatives and implications that needs to be addressed in relation to further development of European language policy. Outlines briefly what these might involve by highlighting key principles and discussing these from a…

Analyzes the challenges to constructing a professional identity faced by foreign-trained teachers enrolled in the Upgrading Pilot Program for Foreign-Trained Teachers developed by the Faculty of Education at the University of Ottawa. Implications for language education, language testing, professional identity, and policy making are discussed. (JL)

Discusses the main language policies that have been implemented in the Peoples' Republic of China since 1949 and presents the learning experiences of six learners differing in age and language backgrounds. Suggests individual learning histories reflect the policy changes. (Author/VWL)