This study investigated the changing patterns of language use and language attitudes of younger generations of Mauritians over the last two decades. This article discusses the shift in language attitudes of students in secondary education with special emphasis on Kreol, taught since 2012 in primary schools and from 2018 in secondary schools. A…

Indigenous children living in the more remote areas of Australia where Indigenous languages continue to be spoken often come to school with only minimal knowledge of English, but they may speak two or more local languages. Others come to school speaking either a creole, or Aboriginal English, non-standard varieties which may sound similar to…

In 2009 the Philippines introduced a mother tongue-based multilingual education language policy requiring the "mother tongue" as the language of instruction (LOI) in kindergarten through grade 3. Using teacher classroom language data collected from four LOI groups in 2019, we compared the frequency of teachers' use of the target LOI in…

Schools in the United States have historically conducted language policing in favor of standardized American English. The current study examines links between language policies in eight immigrant families in relation to educational language policies of two public elementary schools operating under an English-only policy in Massachusetts. The study…

The diversity of language in Australia in pre-invasion times is well attested, with at least 300 distinct languages being spoken along with many dialects. At that time, many Indigenous people were multilingual, often speaking at least four languages. Today many of these languages have been lost, with fewer than 15 being learned by children as a…

Using Jamaica, a former British colony where Jamaican Creole (JC) is the mass vernacular but Standard Jamaican English is the official language, as an illustrative case, this critical ethnographic study in three Jamaican schools examines the theoretical and practical challenges of language education policy (LEP) development and implementation in…

This article aims at a deeper understanding of the importance of native languages in education and development, with Haiti as a case study. About half of Haiti's population is illiterate. Among ten children who enter the first grade, at most one (10%) will graduate from high school; a large proportion will drop out of school at an early age.…

Language-in-education policies are developed and implemented within contexts of great complexity. Where policies appear less than perfect on paper, this presents a valuable opportunity to examine the contextual factors that have led to their development, helping policymakers to understand the conditions under which policy change must take place.…

Negotiating their double identity as Mauritians and Muslims in multilingual and in multiethnic Mauritius, Mauritian Muslims have been socialised into reading and writing in Kreol in madrassahs, while they have never been exposed to Kreol literacy in mainstream education. At the point where Kreol is being introduced as an optional school subject,…

Despite Colombia's official recognition of its ethnic and cultural diversity, it has yet to develop in practice an inclusive educational vision involving the recognition of diversity, as well as promoting the country's insertion within the global market. Garcia et al. acknowledge the importance of "cultivating" students' diverse…

While the extant literature has highlighted the important contribution of home literacy experiences to early literacy development, limited research has been carried out among children living in postcolonial contexts, where there is a mismatch between the home and school language. Such is the case of Mauritius. The present exploratory case study…

Indigenous children growing up in the remote regions of Australia live in multilingual communities which are often undergoing rapid language shift. In these communities, children are exposed to a range of language input, including the traditional language of the area, a local creole and Standard Australian English. The extent to which the…

Since the introduction of the Education for All policy of the Government Assistance for Tuition Expenses (GATE) in Trinidad and Tobago, more tertiary level classrooms have been furnished with mixed linguistic and academic abilities and have accommodated more non-traditional tertiary-level entrants into the educational system. The expansion of the…

This study analyzes the connections among multilingual language practices, multilingual literacy practices, and social identities in two Sunni madrassahs in Mauritius. The study is framed by sociolinguistic and poststructuralist perspectives on language and identity, and social practice views of literacy. Data collection and analysis involved…

Mauritius is a linguistically diverse island: most people on the island are native speakers of Mauritian Creole, a French-lexified Creole; English is the written medium of instruction in primary schools and French is taught as a compulsory subject. The discontinuity between the home language and the school languages is viewed as problematic by…