A British Columbian Native teacher education program is guided by a team of First Nations educators and elders, university faculty, a representative of the teacher federation, and students. Aboriginal languages are incorporated into a Native cultural studies course using a holistic approach based on the Medicine Wheel that empowers students to…

Examines federally funded bilingual education programs for American Indians and Alaska Natives from a language planning perspective. It is argued that federal programs represent an exoglossic (externally orientated) policy that can contribute to language loss. Indigenous communities need to develop endoglossic (community-orientated) policies that…

Investigates the real-time costs of sentence processing in early Spanish-English bilinguals. Bilinguals use an amalgam of monolingual strategies in choosing the agent of a sentence. The reaction time data reveal a larger language-specific component than the choice data. (37 references) (Author/CK)

Reviews research on maintaining and revitalizing American Indian languages, focusing on the interrelationship of language and culture; Fishman's theoretical paradigm for reversing language shift; national and tribal language policies; and examples of native language instruction at the early childhood, elementary, secondary, and tribal college…

Surveys 320 Japanese families residing temporarily in the United Kingdom about their language use and language needs and the priorities they attach to their children's learning of English and Japanese. Examines English and Japanese in the children's linguistic environment, including language used with parents, siblings, and care givers;…

Two groups of Japanese students, 40 university students (aged 18-25) and 34 high school students (aged 13-15), assessed their own English language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) after having lived in an English-speaking country for at least a year before returning to Japan. This evaluation was compared with objective listening…

The report describes an Ontario (Canada) project to establish standards for the written and oral languages of its natives, including two language families and 13 languages still present in the province. The project has two streams: (1) a series of language conferences intended to establish consensus within an entire community regarding standard…

This collection of 10 papers focuses on multilingual education programs and policies in Europe, concentrating on publicly-funded, non-elitist programs. The papers include: (1) "Bilingual Education in Wales" (Colin Baker); (2) "Catalan and Basque Immersion Programmes" (Josep Maria Artigal); (3) "Bilingual or Bicultural…

The subject of bilingualism is especially important in Bruni, a country with a multilingual population and a bilingual education policy, and it was felt that an international conference which examined bilingualism and bilingual education in a variety of 'development' contexts would be useful in reviewing and fine tuning of Bruneis' already…

A vocabulary and list of important words in the Yurok language includes the history of a community project directed toward collecting and preserving the vanishing language and culture of Northwestern California Indians. An alphabetical vocabulary list presents English terms with Yurok equivalents in Unifon spelling and definitions in English.…

Speech, language, and composition professionals should take a leadership role in working toward a national public policy on language. The declining rates of literacy and educational achievement in AfroAmerican communities serve as evidence that such a policy is needed. However, the policy would govern language teaching and language use throughout…

A survey of the status of language usage in Mexico begins with an overview of language distribution among the population, mono- and multilingualism, changes in patterns of usage between the 1970 and 1980 censuses, and linguistic issues related to assimilation of the Indian population and the role and philosophy of the Instituto Nacional…

A survey of the status of language usage in Tanzania begins with an overview of the three levels of language use: (1) Swahili, the national and official language, used in public life; (2) English, used in international affairs and in technical and intellectual matters; and (3) the over 120 vernacular languages used in family and religious life,…

A survey of the status of language usage in Liberia begins with an overview of the distribution of the 16 languages and dialects spoken natively there that are recognized by the government. These include, in order of number of native speakers: Kpelle, Bassa, Gio, Kru, Mano, Lorma, Krahn, Gola, Mandingo, Kissi, Vai, English, Gbandi, Mende, Belle,…

A survey of the status of language usage in Chad begins with an overview of the usage patterns of four languages. They include: French, designated the official language as a practical necessity; Chadian Arabic and Sara, important popularly spoken languages in their respective regions; and Toubou, a less prevalent language but one that is spoken by…