Language policy is a mechanism determining the uses of language generally; here it examines the role of the English language in the emerging USA. Inspired by Spanish riches deriving from the "New World" during the sixteenth century, the first English people to settle permanently in North America hoped for similar riches. In North…

Language-in-education policy (decision taking) and planning (decision implementation) are complex processes requiring a number of decisions to be taken and implemented if they are to be successful. While there is research that suggests the factors that lead to successful outcomes, these are often either ignored or too difficult for polities to…

Primary school second/foreign language (SL/FL) programmes in Asia, as well as in other parts of the world, are becoming more common, with many targeting English as the SL or FL. The pressures for such English language programmes come from top-down notions that in a globalised world English is required for societies to be competitive, especially…

Discusses the history of the relatively new field of language policy and planning. Focuses on language ecology and illustrates schematically the various forces at work in a linguistic ecology from a language-planning-activity perspective. (Author/VWL)

Data indicate that the ability of Hungarian scientists to be heard beyond Hungary can be differentiated on the basis of their relative English proficiency. Additional data show that 40 years of required Russian study in Hungarian schools has not disseminated Russian through the Hungarian population. Implications for developing nations seeking…

A discussion of language policy formation and planning in New Zealand focuses on the need for a national languages policy and governmental human resource development planning. It includes "unplanned" language planning; the multilingual/multicultural situation, including Maori, Pacific Islands, other, international, and English languages;…

Various groups of Native American peoples and other non-English speakers are required to become literate in English and are promised that literacy will solve their social, economic, and political problems. Yet, having achieved some level of English literacy, many of these people find that not much has changed. The educational system attributes…

Fundamental issues in language policy and planning are discussed: language death, language survival, language change, language revival, language shift and expansion, language contact and pidginization or creolization, and literacy development. (Contains 21 references.) (LB)