Xinjiang has witnessed constant state attempts to reinforce the status of Mandarin Chinese as 'the Common Language' and to make local Turkic languages -- mainly Uyghur and Kazak -- more 'suitable' to the modern world. Official efforts to transform the linguistic landscape of Xinjiang have engaged in a complex interplay with Turkic speakers' own…

The Shiwiar are an indigenous nation of Ecuador and Peru, and they are one of five ethnic groups collectively known as the Jivaroan people. In stark contrast to the other Jivaroan groups, the Shiwiar have largely been overlooked by local governments until recently and are still popularly considered to be an offshoot of their closely related…

Compared with other countries in Asia, Japan is far behind in terms of introducing and delivering bilingual education, let alone effective immersion programmes. In order to make its citizens more bilingual, Japan has been introducing innovative measures including the implementation of the teaching of English in elementary education and a new…

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…

Discusses the status of the Same (Lappish) language which is distributed into six different dialect groups. Earlier research into the problems relating to the linguistic behavior of a Same group living in Finland and the position and use of their minority language is analyzed in terms of demographic, social structural, and political-legal factors.…

Discusses the assimilation process of the Kven (descendants of Finnish-speaking immigrants from Northern Finland and the Tornio River Valley in Sweden to Northern Norway) and the historical factors and government policies which has lead to their status today as an assimilated group speaking the majority language. (SED)

Discusses the role played by German schools in Denmark in the maintenance of the minority's identity and describes those constraints and tensions which are due to the symbolic value of German. The interrelationship of pedagogical problems and potential solutions with the perceptions fundamental to the minority group's identity are highlighted.…

This paper is an introductory survey of the evolution of multiculturalism in Britain and Germany over the past two centuries. The historical approach argues that the main determinants of difference between these nation states lie in their long-term traditional attitudes towards immigrants and ethnic minorities. It focuses upon the patterns of…

This paper suggests elements of an agenda for future sociolinguistics among minority groups, by seeing it as a mutual relationship that involves benefits to researcher and researched. We focus on two aspects of the relationship. One is the political, economic and social benefits that can accrue to a minority group as a result of the research.…

Discusses the politics of bilingual education for minorities in China. The article notes that such education has been provided in some minority schools as a part of the government's policy to improve relationships with ethnic minorities in China. (24 references) (Author/CK)

Shows how educational policies have been used to try to bring about a sense of unity while favoring a particular ethnic group in a culturally plural society. An historical account of colonial immigration and educational policies is given. It is argued that educational policy alone cannot elicit racial or cultural harmony. (Author/PJM)

Discusses (1) the linguistic reality of modern British society, (2) the bilingual issues posed by voluntary self-help education in mother-tongue teaching, (3) the main conclusions of research evidence on bilingual learning, (4) specific considerations for a strategy for change, and (5) an overview of official governmental responses to the…

Outlines social psychological approach to language and ethnicity which allows understanding processes underlying group members' desires to create distinctive ethnolinguistic varieties. Evaluates Gardner's and Clement's social psychological models of second language acquisition in interethnic contexts; proposes specific social psychological…

Urges the introduction of more courses in multiracial and multicultural education in training institutions in the United Kingdom, rather than blaming the teachers for being racist and/or ethnocentric. In addition, a survey of teacher training institutions indicates that little is done in comparative education which would change ethnocentric…

In an investigation into communicative behavior, Filipino-American students were studied during two student organization meetings and through subsequent surveys of their backgrounds and sense of ethnicity. Focus is on the communicative norms, notably the constant simultaneous talk. (Contains 28 references.) (Author/LB)