Frisian, a unique minority language in the Netherlands, is in the middle ranks of threatened European minority languages in Europe. In recent decades a framework for language policy has been developed in which the educational domain is one of the spearheads. This article provides an overview of language policy and language rights for Frisian…

The vitality of most Indigenous languages in North America, like minority languages in many parts of the world, is at risk due to the pressures of majority languages and cultures. The transmission of Indigenous languages through school-based programs is a wide-spread approach to maintaining and revitalizing threatened languages in Canada and the…

This paper outlines work undertaken by FIPLV as an affiliate of UNESCO in the development of a document outlining linguistic human rights. The paper examines how subsequent drafts have been modified and identifies some of the difficulties experienced in developing the drafts. After more than two decades of work, the process is still incomplete.…

Supports the theory of language policy formulation in a "conflict" paradigm (involving value, resources, and power) with a case example of the development of Ontario's Native language policy. Research and theory were applied to policy formulation when there was significant consensus regarding both societal and educational goals. (CB)

Language role and language policy in education in Papua New Guinea (PNG) are discussed. First, the history of language policy since the turn of the century is chronicled briefly. The present policy of requiring initial literacy education in English is described and its critics cited, and current proposals to provide literacy education in each…

Discusses the relationship between research, theory, and policy in language policy formulation in the context of a "conflict" paradigm. In bilingual programs in the United States and Canada, the sociological context of the debate plays a major role in determining the choice of issues to investigate. (CB)

The multiethnic situation in American schools in the 1980s can be compared to that of Britain in the 1960s, when a sudden influx of non-English-speaking children in great numbers taxed the resources of an educational system dedicated to the English language. Arguments favoring multicultural education are increasing in both countries, and the need…