Most academic discussion on the role of language in education in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) supports the extended use of African languages as media of instruction (MoI), while most practice preserves a monolingual role for European languages. Many ministries of education maintain the belief that African languages are not appropriate as MoIs beyond…

While most primary school education in Hong Kong (China) is in the native language, Cantonese, and most university-level instruction is conducted in English, the language of secondary school instruction has begun to shift from English to Cantonese. The decision to increase Cantonese use is controversial. Four studies of this situation are…

This paper is based on findings of two recent surveys on the language(s) used as the primary medium for the teaching and assessment of cultural modules. They were conducted between March 1999 and March 2000 in language departments in UK universities: the first among staff (146 replies), the second among language students (704 replies). Comparing…

This study explored the functions of literacy in the Hawaiian language that may be realized in an indigenous language immersion program when the indigenous language is a second language with severely restricted use in the wider community. It also examined the connections between Hawaiian language use, the local culture in Hawaii, and development…

The PEBIMO project was designed to determine whether bilingual education could improve the quality of primary education in Mozambique, recognizing that Portuguese is not the native language of the majority of Mozambican students. The project began in 1992 with 8 cohorts of first grade in 2 provinces; during this investigation, students were in…

The local-language-medium schools of North Solomons Province are described and evaluated. The Viles Tok Ples Skuls (VTPS) provide education in both the indigenous languages (tok ples) and English as a means of integrating the past with modern development, as is preferred by the local people. The report contains seven chapters. The first gives the…

A study addressed educational and psychological issues raised by the phenomenal growth of Irish-medium pre-schools ("naionrai"). Data were gathered in surveys of almost 2,000 parents, over 170 teachers and advisors, and 225 children in 25 Irish-medium pre-schools in both "Gaeltacht" (Irish-speaking districts) and…

The roles of first and second languages were studied, using ethnographic methods, in a middle school two-way bilingual education program that served Mexican-background students. The primary stated program goal was to develop bilingualism and biliteracy in both minority and majority language students. Classes were taught using English and Spanish…

This report describes an experimental intensive core French program for grades 5 and 6 at Churchill Alternative School in Ottawa (Canada). The aim was to improve the oral French skills of core French students by providing a period of intensive exposure to French and by increasing the total number of hours in French during one program year from 120…

The position taken in this paper is that the basic debate concerning the effectiveness of bilingual education has been totally "socially naive." A study investigated the concept that the ethnolinguistic vitality of a community determines the quality and quantity of linguistic contacts with one's own linguistic group and with other…