Despite Nepal's huge linguistic diversity, maintaining minority languages and providing the mother tongue-based education to non-dominant language children are Nepal's two major obstacles. Scholars have pointed to a negative consequence of the standard language ideology on non-dominant language maintenance and mother tongue-based schooling. Using…

This article explores how language learning is an integral component of progressing linguistic reconciliation in contexts of war and conflict. Sri Lanka is a case where ethnolinguistic division and the devaluation of Tamil as a co-official language has led to linguistic injustice for Tamil people and users of Tamil. In the post-war landscape,…

Spanish in Israel has been the heritage language (HL) of some 130,000 Spanish speakers. The uniqueness of this immigrant community lays in the evolution, existence and maintenance of Spanish as the (HL). This study showcases Spanish speakers as an example of a well-integrated minority. The results of this study showed that the two first…

With this paper, I explore societal and institutional support for Chinese Heritage Language (HL) education through specific HL policies and practices in British Columbia (BC). Framed by power relations and societal attitudes, the paper intends to contextualize historical and contemporary marginalization enacted through HL-related legislatives,…

Following the invasion, or colonisation as some prefer to call it, Indigenous Australia has been characterised by plummeting populations, largely as a result of introduced diseases and the movement of peoples, following the theft of their lands and in response to colonial and subsequent Australian state and federal government policies. At times,…

This article explores the positioning of a sample of Arabic complementary language schools in the context of the UK government's discourse and promotion of so-called Fundamental British Values. While there is considerable social and political debate about radicalisation in Arab communities, teachers in the sample are deeply committed to a form of…

This article examines from a historical and contemporary perspective the political, educational and linguistic demands of Mapuche intellectuals and organisations and how they have been addressed by public policy in Chile. In particular, the article focuses on the Araucanía Region, part of the ancestral territory of the Mapuche people. We adopt a…

The author of this chapter observes that post-9/11 there has been a rapid and significant retrenchment of multiculturalism as public policy, particularly within education. This apparent retrenchment of multiculturalism as public policy has been bolstered by parallel arguments for a more "cosmopolitan" approach to education within an…

The Welsh language, which is indigenous to Wales, is one of six Celtic languages. It is spoken by 562,000 speakers, 19% of the population of Wales, according to the 2011 U.K. Census, and it is estimated that it is spoken by a further 200,000 residents elsewhere in the United Kingdom. No exact figures exist for the undoubted thousands of other…

Heritage learners of minority languages can play a lynchpin role in reversing language shift (RLS) in their families; however, in order to enact this role, they must first overcome certain barriers to re-integrate the minority language into the home domain. Using a combination of conversation and narrative analysis methods, we demonstrate how both…

This article introduces the concept of "nation-state/colonial governmentality" as a framework for analyzing the ways current language ideologies marginalize the language practices of subaltern populations. Specifically, the article focuses on the innate limitations of re-appropriating nation-state/colonial governmentality in an attempt…

Early federal government policies for American indigenous people alternated between extermination and assimilation. Imposing the colonists' and immigrants' language on indigenous people was important for achieving the latter. In the 1970-90's, federally funded grants for bilingual education for indigenous schools were offered to accommodate Native…

Discusses the historical perspective relating to current problems facing mother tongue instruction in Sierra Leone and examines post-independence policies to highlight the institutional bases of mother tongue education and to consider causes of inertia and negative attitudes towards it since independence. (Author/VWL)

Six papers presented at a conference on early childhood first and second language acquisition sponsored by the California state legislature's Child Development Programs Advisory Committee include: "Bilingual Development and the Education of Bilingual Children During Early Childhood" (Eugene E. Garcia); "An English-Only Preschool Program" (William…

This report of a British government task force investigates the educational and policy needs for public school native language instruction for ethnic minority groups in the United Kingdom. An introductory section examines the educational policy context, rationale for minority language instruction, needs assessment and recommendations for action,…