This study reports on an investigation into the perspectives of different stakeholders (e.g. administrators, teachers, students, and parents) towards motivations for introducing English as a medium of instruction (EMI) policy in low-resourced public schools, serving minoritized students, and language ideologies that form its practices. Framed…

This case study investigates how a cohort of Myanmar ethnic minority students' language ideologies shape their Putonghua learning and educational trajectories at government schools and Chinese supplementary schools in the borderland next to China. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews and from the participants' autobiographies…

In mainland China, most ethnic minority students today face the challenge of learning three languages in schools, namely, their home language (L1), Mandarin Chinese (L2) and a foreign language, usually English (L3). Research into trilingual education for minority groups has been most active since the turn of the twenty-first century. This paper…

Educational issues in relation to ethnicity and language education policies have been underexplored in Asian contexts. In particular, issues related to ethnic and linguistic minority students have not received much attention in the post-colonial context of Hong Kong. This paper highlights challenges and tensions faced by Nepali ethnic minority…

The Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) is one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse nations in Southeast Asia. The post-1975 government's policies regarding ethnic minority peoples are often considered to represent an ideological shift from earlier monocultural orientations to a discourse of interethnic equality and solidarity.…

Language education for ethnic majority and minority students alike has recently received much policy attention in the People's Republic of China. An outcome of this policy attention is the Chinese-English bilingual education initiative which turns on the use of English as a medium of instruction for Han majority students at the primary and…

Australia's language and multicultural policies have constructed the intercultural dimension of Australian identity and practice in a number of different ways relating to different community groups. This paper traces the evolution of multicultural policy from the 1970s until the present through the main national policy documents in order to…

European Community initiatives in language management include educational models involved in promoting mastery of at least three languages. The Luxembourg model outlines a trilingual program for the whole school population; the European School model, a complex multilingual program; and the Foyer Project, plans for immigrant minorities to move into…

Examines neo-Marxist and poststructural critiques of classical language planning (lp) for relevance to lp on behalf of minority languages. Criticisms suggest lp is conducted by elites governed by self-interest, reproduces rather than overcomes sociocultural and econotechnical inequalities, inhibits multiculturalism, espouses worldwide…

Discusses the minority Ainu people and language of northern Japan, focusing on the current locus of Ainu speakers and ethnic Ainu, the former extent of Ainu speech communities, publications on and in Ainu, and recent actions by the Ainu people to assert their linguistic and political rights in Japan. (168 references) (MDM)

Presents a detailed study of the language planning situation in Sweden with particular emphasis on minority languages. Suggests Swedish language policies towards minorities have been nationalistic, reluctant, and directed towards assimilation. (Author/VWL)

EU accession negotiations have impacted on and generated ongoing interest in Baltic language and citizenship legislation. There is however no detailed knowledge of prevailing language attitudes amongst mainstream and minority populations in Lithuania. This paper investigates attitudes to minority language use and to the (officially reinstated)…

Because Yugoslavia is a multinational, culturally pluralistic, and multilingual society, one of its educational aims is to develop the motivation for the equal use of its languages, so that the languages of national minorities/nationalities become appropriate instruments for communication in public and social life and are not restricted to usage…

Provides data on the acquisition of Basque in the Basque Autonomous Community (Spain). Reports recent data and results of research studies on bilingual education and the use of Basque, and then focuses on one of the language plans developed by the Basque Government: the "Basquisation" of civil servants. Analyzes results of this plan and…

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)