The ideology of monolingualism prevails throughout society, including within minority ethnic communities who are bilingual and multilingual. Some minority ethnic communities in Britain believe that the response to the dominance of English language is to replace it with other languages. Complementary schools--language and culture classes organised…

Reports on interviews in representative areas of Galicia, Spain, with both open-ended and standardized items on usage of the minority language (Galician) and the official language (Spanish). The findings revealed that upper age, low social status, and rural residence were associated with minority language choice, and that during adolescence,…

Defines the general area of France where Occitan is spoken and the area where the information was collected. States that Occitan monolingualism has almost totally disappeared and describes the relationship between Occitan and French as one of bilingualism with diglossia, with the distribution of Occitan speakers being strongly influenced by…

A collection of selected papers from the March 1981 Language Proficiency Assessment Symposium, a component of the National Institute of Education's Assessment of Language Proficiency of Bilingual Persons project, are presented. Papers include: "An Overview of Communicative Competence" (Cynthia Wallat); "Some Comments on the Terminology of Language…

Examines two approaches to official bilingual programs in Canada, personality and territorial, applying economic analysis to language planning. Territoriality is suggested as a means of protecting threatened linguistic minorities and assisting them in retaining their cultural identity. (Author/OD)

Controversies surrounding approaches to language revival could be reduced if a clear distinction were recognized between two possible goals of language revival: the process of restoration and the process of transformation. A survey of methods adopted by various revivalists supports the conclusion that achieving transformation is more likely.…

This handbook provides an introduction to research findings related to bilingualism in minority-language children, and describes the implications of these findings for issues of current concern in Canadian education. Bilingualism is defined as the production and/or comprehension of two languages by the same individual. The phrase…

A review of research reveals little attention paid to the problems of a comparative approach to the analysis of bilingual education (BE). This paper explores some of the functions and problems of a comparative study of BE to clarify the question of whether BE research can be generalized. While problems of comparative research are common to all…

A panel discusses possible futures for second-language study, instruction, learning, and research, touching upon the need for an interdisciplinary perspective, the teacher-researcher relationship, bilingualism, research dissemination, teacher training, and the need for more information regarding linguistic minorities. (CB)

Describes the first research project in England to focus on the importance of societal bilingualism in the development of education policies. A more comprehensive database on patterns of bilingualism and language learning both in and out of school is suggested in order to facilitate further research on linguistic minorities. (SL)

This report discusses trends in the study of Athapaskan, concentrating on language maintenance and bilingualism. It presents both the potential richness and the actual poverty of studies of sociolinguistic aspects of the Athapaskan languages. Noted are two trends--(1) There is a greater interest among linguists in the studies of language in use:…

Reports on a survey of mother tongue teaching and support for primary age pupils in England and Wales, undertaken as part of the Schools Council Mother Tongue Project. The analysis indicates that the majority of local education authorities now have a multilingual school population, and that bilingual pupils can communicate in a wide range of…

The belief that bilinguals are an asset to their country is not held by most bilinguals today, much less the general public. This paper describes on-going research into the discovery that many bilinguals conceal their linguistic skill in the home language when in an English-speaking environment, passing as English-speaking monolinguals. Data are…

This is a study of cultural-linguistic self-maintenance efforts, rationales, and accomplishments of non-English speaking immigrants in America. Trend analyses, contrast of separate cultural and linguistic groups, internal comparisons, and the examination of language maintenance and language shift phenomena contribute in the major effort to reveal…