This volume marks the 2022 centenary of the first National Programme for Education in the Free State. Central to the outlook of the new educational programme was the position of the Irish language as a marker of Irish national identity and culture. Education was to be the means to revitalise the language and cultural nationalism eroded through…

In order to distinguish between language-related ideologies, Ruiz (1984) proposed three language orientations, namely 'language-as-problem', 'language-as-right' and 'language-as-resource'. Although this typology has been applied to various countries and regions around the globe, relevant research in China, a multi-ethnolinguistic country, remains…

Histories of colonization conjointly with the current economic global climate have enabled English to become a dominant global language. The desire for citizens to attain English language proficiency on a nation-wide level is a common pursuit in developing countries, including the island nations of the South Pacific where English competency is…

Increasing societal and linguistic diversity poses significant challenges to formative categories of language policies. We make this point via an examination of Singapore's management of its most linguistically diverse ethnic group, the Indians. While heterogeneity has always been Singapore's defining feature, the nature and scale of recent…

The language in education policy in Kenya recommends mother tongue education in primary school learning. The purpose of this study was to explore the development of mother tongues as academic languages at the lower primary section in which the languages are supposed to be used. The exploration was on the functions they play in classroom…

The Asia-Pacific region hosts the largest number of refugees and displaced people in the world, and is the place of origin for nearly half of all international migrants. However, data related to the unique language-in-education needs of refugee and migrant children in and from this area is sparse. The report aims to create a stronger knowledge…

This edited collection explores the immense potential of translanguaging in educational settings and highlights teachers and students negotiating language ideologies in their everyday communicative practices. It makes a significant contribution to scholarship on translanguaging and considers the need for pedagogy to reflect and embrace diversity.…

This paper discusses structural and ideological challenges to mother tongue-based multilingual education (MTB-MLE) which has in recent years been gaining ground in many educational contexts around the world. The paper argues, however, that MTB-MLE is set against these challenges - referred to here as inequalities of multilingualism - which prevent…

In discussions of Africa in the global North, the term "development" is one of the most often used--though its meaning can be remarkably difficult to pin down. The sustainability of development processes and outcomes is also of current concern in development discourse. If sustainable development can be described in terms of ongoing,…

Despite critical literacy being identified as a desired outcome of South Africa's new curriculum statement, in reality this does not seem to be occurring (DoE 2002, pp. 5, 11). Critical literacy is one way in which spaces of contestation and resistance can be opened up. In order to do so it is necessary to provide students with basic literacy…

This article analyses issues pertaining to language policy in Zimbabwean education beginning with the establishment of formal education under colonial rule. English is the official language of business, government and education, and the dominant language in the media. Official policy, before and after independence, has been characterised by…

In this paper a comparative analysis of the status of four types of languages present in the Serbian compulsory education system is presented: (1) Serbian as L1; (2) Serbian as L2 (for ethnic minorities); (3) minority languages; as well as (4) traditionally designated "foreign languages", such as English, French, Russian and German,…

This paper examines recent attempts by the Malawi government to introduce local languages into the primary school system and other secondary domains of national life, breaking more than 30 years of Chichewa/English monopoly. In a country where the language policy has essentially established the hegemony of English over indigenous languages, the…

A discussion of the current state of education in Nigeria looks at two systems of education introduced in different post-colonial administrations (universal primary education and the 6/3/3/4-year scheme) and examines language policy in education, particularly the provisions concerning use of native language as the medium of instruction under the…

Two policy documents supporting education for ethnolinguistic or socioeconomic minorities in Catalonia are examined, identifying underlying assumptions and the views of cultural diversity implicit in them. It is concluded that the policy is formulated vaguely, incorporates contradictory statements, and neglects learners' first languages. Further…