For many years Denmark has had a reputation for being laissez-faire in language matters. There is no explicit language legislation, and the Danish Language Council has mainly descriptive functions. However, there is a powerful standard language ideology, and in other societal domains such as education or immigration, language is heavily regulated.…

Private educational activities designed to enhance student outcomes outside the formal schooling system are increasingly referred to as shadow education. In Japan, shadow education traditionally consists of for-profit cram schools or "juku." "Juku" take many forms in Japan, yet their primary function is to offer students extra…

This paper addresses 'distractions' in the way English language education is discussed and practiced in one of the most debated systems of education in the world today: Finnish primary education. Distractions are considered as 'makers of disturbance' in educational ideologies by the authors. Examining the 2014 National Core Curriculum and…

Focusing on language education policies in Bangladesh, this article shows how the policies have distracted people's attention from the harms inflicted on the country's Indigenous communities and their languages. I discuss two factors that have contributed to policy distractions in this context: a strong form of Bangla linguistic nationalism and a…

This study suggests a conceptual framework for policy-driven test development and validation, using the Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK) as an example context. By linking the literature on policy analysis and argument structure in the validation of testing, the strong relationships between policy and testing are illustrated. This rationalizes…

The aim of this chapter is to take a critical and decolonial stance towards the experiences of Indigenous people in the urban diasporas of Brazil. We do this by discussing ethnographic data that provide insights into the impact of this migration on the construction of the identities of Indigenous Brazilians who move to urban spaces and consider…

Following the invasion, or colonisation as some prefer to call it, Indigenous Australia has been characterised by plummeting populations, largely as a result of introduced diseases and the movement of peoples, following the theft of their lands and in response to colonial and subsequent Australian state and federal government policies. At times,…

In 1999, devolved governance was established in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland which altered the contours of language recognition in the United Kingdom. Whilst much focus has been placed on how devolution improved the status of Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, and Irish, less attention has been placed on those minority vernaculars with 'contested'…

This paper contributes to the building of a sociolinguistics of the south by considering the nature and significance of contemporary language-in-education policy processes in Timor-Leste, and by tracing the ways in which these processes have been shaped by its specific colonial and post-colonial history. In presenting this account, I draw on…

We frame multilingualisms through a growing interest in a linguistics and sociology of the 'south' and acknowledge earlier contributions of linguists in Africa, the Américas and Asia who have engaged with human mobility, linguistic contact and consequential ecologies that alter over time and space. Recently, conversations of multilingualism have…

An increasing number of multilingual organisations such as multinational corporations (MNCs) choose to address linguistic diversity through corporate language policies, for example by adopting a common corporate language. Although a common corporate language may improve efficiency of communication at the front-line level, previous research has…

This paper discusses how the political interplay between English-in-society and English-in-education policy in the Global South(s) facilitates what I term 'English as a subtle technology of policy distraction' in postcolonial spheres that were colonised by languages other than English. 'English as a subtle technology of policy distraction' is…

Language Policy and Planning is currently a significantly diversified research area and thus it is not easy to find common denominators that help to define basic approaches within it. Richard B. Baldauf attempted to do so by differentiating between four basic approaches: (1) the classical approach, (2) the language management approach (Language…

As Indigenous scholars committed to Indigenous education in Oklahoma, we use a decolonizing approach to consider how the 39 Indigenous Nations in Oklahoma assert educational sovereignty to sustain Indigenous high school students' linguistic and cultural identities. Seeking to promote education models that sustain and revitalize Indigenous…

This paper discusses the contributions to this special issue in the context of the African Renaissance and the subsequent need to re-define educational development from a multilingual, multicultural and pan-African perspective. Each contribution offers a different angle to the discussion: a critique of Arabization in Morocco, with questions about…