Today's world has been embracing social, political, and economical changes that result in the replacement of people for immigration and citizenship purposes. Those waves of change cause some countries to receive the movement of new people, which requires the countries to take precautions. In doing so, in the citizenship context various mechanisms…

A feature of language assessment internationally is its role in the enforcement of language policies established by governments and other educational and cultural agencies. This trend has led to the near-universal adoption of curriculum and assessment frameworks, the clearest example of which is the Common European Framework of Reference for…

In spite of important differences in some of the resources immigrant parents have to invest in their children, and in immigrant selection rules and settlement policies, there are significant similarities in the relative positions of 4- and 5-year-old children of immigrants in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Children…

In this article we focus on two specific cases illustrating how similar issues have been addressed differently. Flanders, a federal state of Belgium, and the Netherlands share Dutch as an official language, yet remarkable differences in assessment traditions and policy development exist between them. These differences are most obvious with regard…

This article discusses citizenship policies in Israel within the context of language, ideology, and nationalism. According to the "Law of Return", Jewish immigrants are entitled to be granted citizenship with no prior conditions; Arabs who were living in Palestine in 1948 (the time the state was founded) and their children are entitled…

This paper contextualizes language tests in relation to educational and national language policies by demonstrating how these language measures may be used as mechanisms for affecting "de facto" language policies. This phenomenon is of special relevance given current controversies in nation states between multilingual and multicultural realities…

A descriptive review of research on language-in-education policy and planning is offered. It covers national languages (North America, Southern Africa, Central Asia); minority languages (New Zealand, North America); European minority languages and language policies in the European Community; testing and evaluation; teacher education; and literacy.…

A discussion of language policy making and its place in a nation's economic and social development uses Australia's experience as a case study. In particular, it reviews the factors such as multiculturalism and international relations that have led to the development of a national language policy, and examines the interim documents and the…