French colonies were created for the benefit not of the indigenous conquered peoples but of the home country. Their borders were set for political convenience and produced a jumble of ethnicities, languages, and cultures. Exploitation came first, and there was generally no attempt to find a workable educational solution to the local diversity.…

The present report is an expanded version of an earlier paper by the authors. Summing up last year's language maintenance study, it goes on to place the Study in its general context as a contribution to Navajo literacy. Following the report is a complete listing of the publications of the Study to date, with ED numbers and other information…

The author discusses three recently established organizations now taking an interest in bilingual education: ACTFL (American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages); ATESL (Association of Teachers of English as a Second Language, part of the National Association for Foreign Student Affairs); and TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of…

Successful bilingual programs depend on some understanding of the language situation involved, the possible strategies of bilingual education, the effects of these strategies, the assessment of community desires, the best ways to find and train teachers, the method of evaluating curriculum, the effect of learning styles, and the possibilities of…

The development of literacy in selected bilingual societies was investigated. Historical and comparative studies were conducted of medieval Jewish communities, the Navajo community, a northern New Mexico village, and the countries of Paraguay and Tonga. The goal of the case studies was to develop a model for the development of literacy in the…

One of the central questions in the study of bilingualism is the degree to which it is possible for a group to maintain their language even when accepting other cultural values. There are numbers of cases of peoples who have managed to develop a modern industrial society without giving up their national language; this is difficult, but possible. A…

Describes the linguistic situation in Israel and the language teaching policies and practices in Israeli schools. Policy is dominated by the ideological role and practical value of Hebrew, and is further driven by the large numbers of non-Jewish minorities, the status of English as a world language, and the political values of Arabic. (21…

This introduction to sociolinguistics is presented in four parts. The first part gives an overview of this branch of language study, its scope and principles of inquiry, and its basic and key concepts. This portion is written for individuals with no prior knowledge or expertise in the subject. Topics covered in this section include: the nature of…

It is the task of educational linguistics to describe and analyze language education in all aspects. With respect to the Navajo Reading Study, it is within the realm of educational linguistics to develop and make available information that will permit the Navaho people, working through their own institutions, to make informed decisions about…

Israel is fertile ground for research in multilingualism. Revitalization of Hebrew resulted in a tendency for ideological and instrumentally-motivated monolingualism to replace earlier multilingual patterns, even in the context of pressure for language shift by Arabic, Russian, Yiddish, and other languages, and Hebrew's competition with English in…