Focusing on language education policies in Bangladesh, this article shows how the policies have distracted people's attention from the harms inflicted on the country's Indigenous communities and their languages. I discuss two factors that have contributed to policy distractions in this context: a strong form of Bangla linguistic nationalism and a…

This paper reports on an inquiry that explored how a group of Nepali secondary school students discursively reconstructed and interpreted their English learning in Hong Kong. In the study we collected data from 30 participants through participatory observation, in-depth unstructured interview and taking field notes in two secondary schools. The…

Drawing on the ethico-political framework of hospitality, this paper investigates the communicative practices of three administrative support staff as they attempt to manage the twin challenges of working in adherence to state and institutional language policies while communicating ethically in an internationalising workplace. Academic…

The management of bilingualism in the Spanish autonomous community of Navarre is a source of tension. The implementation of English medium of instruction in the public educational system has clashed with attempts to break with the linguistic territoriality regime by promoting Basque schooling. This paper brings together ideologies on English and…

Sámi University of Applied Sciences (SUAS) in Norway is one of few institutions of higher education worldwide that mainly operates in an Indigenous language. According to the institution's vision, Indigenous peoples' values stand at the centre, and the Sámi language is heard and read daily. However, as an academic institution operating nationally…

Language policy and planning in Nepal has been contested due to the co-existence of multiple contradictory discourses concerning teaching and learning of local, national, foreign, and international languages. Recently a multilingual policy was issued to create space for the once-banned ethnic/indigenous languages in public schooling, further…

The medium of instruction (MOI) has been a contested issue in multilingual polities globally, as English medium of instruction (EMI) has seen unprecedented growth, threatening the use and sometimes very survival of local/indigenous and even national languages. While the struggles to address related issues have been well researched, how and why…

In the early 1990s, the government of Papua New Guinea (PNG) enacted educational reform. It officially abandoned its English-only policy at elementary school level, in favour of community languages. In response, the Kairak community of East New Britain Province developed a vernacular literacy programme. This paper, based on original fieldwork…

This monograph discusses South Korea's language situation in a language policy and planning context. This monograph consists of four parts. Part 1 presents a genetic, typological and sociolinguistic description of South Korea's national language, and an overview of minority languages, including English as well as other languages, recently…

This paper analyzes the ideologies and practices of local languages as the medium-of-instruction (MOI) policy in a multilingual school in Nepal. Grounded on the notion of language policy as a locally situated social practice, this critical ethnographic study investigates challenges--both ideological and implementational--that local languages MOI…

This monograph provides an overview of the language situation in Hong Kong from a historical perspective. Hong Kong has evolved in the past 167 years from a small fishing port to an international financial centre which forms part of a financial network hailed by "Time Magazine" as Ny.Lon.Kong (i.e. New York-London-Hong Kong). Hong Kong…

Language access mandates in the USA, which require that governmental services be provided in any needed language, have been largely ignored since their first enacting. However, the past decade has seen an increase in the number of national, state, and local efforts to accommodate limited English-proficient individuals. This article provides an…

Debates surrounding linguistic heritage in Northern Ireland have primarily centred on Irish (Gaelic) and Ulster-Scots. However, closer analysis suggests that there have long been other languages spoken in the region. Cantonese, Mandarin, Polish, Lithuanian and Portuguese are all spoken throughout Northern Ireland as the region experiences…

This monograph discusses the language situation in Japan, with an emphasis on language planning and policy. Japan has long considered itself to be a monoethnic and therefore monolingual society, despite the existence of substantial old-comer ethnic minorities, and this--with the instrumental exception of English--has been reflected in its language…

This monograph examines the language situation in Cameroon, a Central African country where fewer than 20 million people speak close to 250 languages. Specifically, the monograph addresses the issues of language use and spread, language policy and planning, and language maintenance and prospects. The study is divided into five parts. The…