Scholars have long critiqued points of view in which monolingual perspectives are seen as normative in research on multilingualism. In relation to this "monolingual orientation," however, in which monolingualism is perceived to be the implicit norm, less work has been dedicated to methodological challenges. As disciplinary perspectives…

The Indian Constitution and the Directive Principles for State Policy (DPSP) aspire that individual states with Indigenous Tribal Minority (ITM) populations take special care to promote education and economic interests of the ITM communities. Despite Art 350(a) which explicitly guarantees (only) the ITM child education in its mother-tongue, the…

The current study examines how and why speakers of English from multilingual contexts in Asia are identifying as native speakers of English. Eighteen participants from different contexts in Asia, including Singapore, Malaysia, India, Taiwan, and The Philippines, who self-identified as native speakers of English participated in hour-long interviews…

The unavoidability of language makes it critical that language policies appeal to some notion of language neutrality as part of their rationale, in order to assuage concerns that the policies might otherwise be unduly discriminatory. However, the idea of language neutrality is deeply ideological in nature, since it is not only an attempt to treat…

This paper qualitatively documents and analyses the attitudes and identities of female students from the urban disadvantaged social class towards English and Hindi in the city of New Delhi. These attitudes include not only instrumental views of English but also the impression that it creates a new personality for an individual. English is part of…

There have been few Australian studies of language maintenance amongst immigrant languages from the Indian subcontinent. The present study focuses on Tamil speakers in Melbourne from Sri Lanka or India, who are Hindus or Christians. Tamil is a pluricentric language that has been under the domination of English in these countries, at least amongst…

Aims at providing a basis for reviewing cultural transmission in learning English as a second language. What is contended here is that language learning is culture learning, and cultural competence consists of the ability to draw from any culture, native or other, with a sense of discernment and purpose. (SED)

Reports two studies which examined the social identity of Hindu and Muslim subjects under three frames of reference: self, own group, and outgroup evaluations cross-nationally. Findings are examined in relation to the interplay of specific socio-contextual experiences in the differential pattern of social identity processes. (SED)

Explores parts of the phenomenon of the support for, and hostility toward, the use of English in education in Asian bilingual systems. The article then sketches an educational alternative capable of making the language a shared resource for all its stakeholders. Tsui's response addresses the question of whether educational solutions are capable of…