The main indicator of the priority directions of the state language policy is state language development programs. State language development programs directly affect the identification and formation of linguistic identity, especially the linguistic identity of youth. This article discusses the impact of state programs on the development of the…

Montreal, the largest city in the province of Quebec, Canada, is where most newcomers settle down. Many will attend one of the 'francization' (French as a second language) courses offered by the provincial government. Learning French and its adoption as a common language are essential conditions to gain social inclusion through participation in…

This paper examines the intersection of heritage-language education advocacy with anti-racist activism in the 1970s and 1980s in Toronto. The province of Ontario initiated the Heritage Languages Program in 1977. By focusing on discontinuities in the policy's implementation, the paper identifies multiple strategies that Black anti-racist activists…

French immersion programs in Saskatchewan have traditionally served to further the goals of additive bilingualism between Canada's two official languages, French and English. Whereas these programs have historically consisted of predominantly Anglophone populations, recent trends in immigration have contributed to the increasingly diverse…

This study presents the outcome of the implementation of a process-oriented model of an intercultural competence (IC) and English as a lingua franca (ELF)-awareness development syllabus to prepare government-sponsored Turkish international sojourners for global communication in English L1 countries. Based on social constructivist research…

Language policies in any country exist within socio-historical contexts--embedded in history and influenced by socio-political factors. In Canada, such factors were the impetus to the formation of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, which was grounded in an English/French partnership and recommended that Canada become an…

This study explores middle-level administrators' perceptions of the implementation of English as a foreign language curriculum policies in the Chinese tertiary context. Drawing on data collected from interviews with the department heads of six universities in a north-western city in China, the article examines their perspectives on the national…

In a surprise announcement in December 1996 in a speech at the Nigerian Institute for International Affairs, the late Nigerian Head of State, General Sani Abacha said "Nigeria is resolutely launching a programme of national language training that will in a short order, permit our country to become thoroughly bilingual". General Abacha's…

In Canada, education in French as a second language (FSL) offers students the opportunity to learn a second official language. Is such an opportunity appropriate for allophone students who are still in the process of learning English? This literature review provides a fourfold consideration of the issue. Section 1 examines the political response…

A report is presented of work in syllabus construction and language planning in Finland from the middle of the 1960s to the present. An introductory chapter describes Finland's parallel educational systems, which provide for speakers of the two official languages, Finnish and Swedish, and for instruction in the other national language as well as…

This study attempts to give an account of the position of English in Finland, where both Swedish and Finnish are official languages and taught in the schools of both Swedish and Finnish areas of the country. To provide a better understanding of the position of English, a brief historical sketch is provided, with emphasis on the development of…

A ten-member commission on French as a Second Language (FSL) was established by the Canadian Teachers' Federation (CTF) in July 1978, with a three-year mandate. One of the commission's tasks was to review the national scene in the area of FSL education. A process was initiated to survey CTF member organizations, to review education acts and…

These papers on the subject of the Swiss German language examine the status and attitudes of the Swiss German speaker, the reaction of other linguistic communities to Swiss German, and the necessity and/or possibility of learning Swiss German. The following articles are included: (1) "Le 'Schwyzertutsch': ecran ou lien? (Is Swiss German a…

This publication, an update of previous reports of the same title, provides information on language programs in Canada under the following headings: (1) programs in the nine provinces (excluding Quebec) including a description of minority language and second language education as well as French immersion programs; and (2) programs in Quebec,…

Examines how structural change in the international system during the past 150 years affected the rise and decline of language courses in the curriculum. Data analysis showed rapid decline of classical languages and increased study of national languages and modern foreign languages. Maintains that the rearrangement of hegemonic powers has a strong…