This article explores policy and practice in relation to support for speakers of community languages in Northern Ireland primary schools against the backdrop of the broader UK context, with reference also to the Republic of Ireland and wider European and international experiences. After an initial discussion of the educational, social and…

In 1966, the Singapore Government implemented the English-knowing bilingual policy which made it mandatory for all Chinese students to study English as a "First Language" and the Chinese language (CL) as a "Mother Tongue Language" in Singapore schools. Using key literature relevant to Singapore's bilingual educational policy…

One of the dangers that we should be aware of when we study issues of language policy and planning is the fragmentary perspective by which they can be approached. Reality, by contrast, is interrelated and overlapping. This is why a complexity perspective stresses the importance of studying the contexts of phenomena, that is to say, their external…

Romani media and language planning gained importance as a consequence of the political emancipation of the Roma, which is mainly based on the idea of a European Roma nation with its own culture and language. Meanwhile the study of Romani has developed from an exotic into a more or less established scientific field. However, with respect to media…

This article examines the various language ideologies and cultural models that inform Hawaiian-language learners' experiences, language practices, and socio-ethnic identity as they attempt to become speakers of their heritage language. While Hawaiian-language education is often noted as a revitalization success story, and certainly is in terms of…

In this paper, we analyse the cultural models (or folk theory of language) that the Mapuche intellectual elite have about Mapudungun, the native language of the Mapuche people still spoken today in Chile as the major minority language. Our theoretical frame is folk linguistics and studies of language ideology, but we have also taken an applied…

The aim of this paper is to explore the practice of English-medium-of-instruction (EMI) education in Indonesia implemented within the backdrop of a governmental macro-language planning policy known as International Standards Schools (ISSs) between 2007 and 2013. Twelve teachers teaching at two candidates of ISSs were interviewed to examine their…

The recent political transformation of Nepal from a constitutional monarchy to a federal democratic republic and from a Hindu polity to a secular country has brought about some crucial changes in language planning. The Interim Constitution of Nepal has not only recognized the multilingual and multicultural reality of the country but has also…

While advocacy of minority language rights (MLR) has become well established in sociolinguistics, language policy and planning and the wider human rights literature, it has also come under increased criticism in recent times for a number of key limitations. In this paper, I address directly three current key criticisms of the MLR movement. The…

Names function as a people's cultural heritage that links the present to the past. Hence I propose that a comprehensive study of LP for naming needs to take into account socio-political context critically. My discussion of the case of Taiwan covers two social domains affected by LP for naming. In the public domain, I examine the change in the…

Naming has been a central focus of feminist language planning. The initial emphasis was on reforming naming practices for women in public spheres (work, education, media). More recently public discourses about work/life balance have drawn together the public and private, shaping the naming practices for women and men in these domains. This paper…

Studies of African naming practices focus almost exclusively on the meanings and etymology of names and details about the circumstances surrounding how such names are assigned. Such research has not examined the implications naming has for language planning, ideologies of language, and language shift. Focusing on names and naming practices in…

This monograph examines the language planning situation in Sri Lanka with particular emphasis on the planning of Sinhala as an official language of the country. It explores the historical, social, ideological and political processes, changes in language policy decisions, as well as the complexities of the language policy and planning situation in…

This paper analyses the national policies on foreign language in primary schools in the People's Republic of China (PRC). It begins with a brief introduction to the changes in foreign language education policy and the main motives for those changes in the context of socio-political circumstances. It then examines foreign language education in…

The recent decision of Poland to introduce a mandatory starting age for early language learning from the very beginning of schooling can be viewed as part of both a global and a specifically European trend. Current statistics indicate that since 1990 approximately 60% of the nation-states of the European Union have reduced mandatory starting ages…