As an official language of newly-independent East Timor, the public role of Tetun has increased markedly since 1999. Its use is, however, hampered by a shortage of agreed, well-understood, technical terminology. This paper reports on a project by the Independent Electoral Commission and the United Nations Development Programme to develop a…

Minority languages in both industrialised and developing countries have seldom been considered as objects of serious study. The discussion recognises that linguistic minorities are not homogeneous in nature. Apart from their sociolinguistic settings, they also differ in their historical, cultural, and natural backgrounds which makes it difficult…

Bilingual education has been an extremely controversial and contentious topic in recent years among both educators and the general public in the United States. Long a bastion of what some writers have called "ideological monolingualism," the United States has not demonstrated either great sensitivity to or tolerance of linguistic…

This research explored the impact of the abrupt shift from heritage-language to dominant-language education on Inuit children's personal and collective self-esteem. Specifically, the following question was addressed: will early heritage-language education serve as an inoculation against the potential negative impact of being submerged in a…

Storybook reading research with monolingual families suggests that adult strategies used during shared reading provide greater opportunities for children's verbal participation while facilitating their language and literacy skills. Research of this type with linguistic minority children is relatively uncommon. In the present study, 16 primarily…

Identity formation among Haitian immigrants to the United States is explored in an effort to pinpoint the macro (external) and micro (internal) factors that shape the cultural identity of this particular immigrant community. The immigration experience that is revealed is one of a cultural and linguistic identity in transition. Part I presents a…

The Naz Foundation sponsors a project on HIV and AIDS education, prevention, and support among South Asian, Turkish, Irani, and Arab communities in Europe. As immigrants, ethnic minorities, and refugees, these people are not isolated from the societies in which they live, and are just as vulnerable as any other community to AIDS. A conference on…

Due to existing demographic trends, language minority students comprise an increasing proportion of students in the Southwest and in urban areas. For these language minority students, the lack of strong writing skills impedes academic performance at the university level and then later in the workplace. To test writing attitudes, a study involved…

This packet contains materials and lists resources to help those concerned with preventing students from dropping out of school. The packet begins with excerpts from a report prepared by the American Institutes for Research (Robert J. Rossi and others) on the "Evaluation of Projects Funded by the School Dropout Demonstration Assistance Program."…

The education of ethnic minorities in China is explored, addressing issues that relate to state schooling, ethnicity, and development. Minority religions, which traditionally provided much of the education outside of the family, are tolerated increasingly officially, but not really recognized in state schooling. Language is another major challenge…

Noting that the English-Only movement (which advocates that English be the official and only language used in the United States) dramatically influences the lives of language minority children, this Digest first examines the ideologies undergirding the English-Only movement. It then reviews the consequences of imposing this legislation on the…

Although a growing body of research points to the potential benefits of bilingual education, there are a number of commonly held beliefs that run counter to research findings. Based on current research, this digest clarifies some of the myths and misconceptions surrounding language use and bilingual education in the United States. The fallacies…

Research on the provision of vocational education and training (VET) for Australia's very culturally diverse work force with non-English-speaking backgrounds (NESBs) considers the extent and nature of the disadvantage. The current definition of NESB limits membership to those born overseas; a proposed two-pronged approach is based on "first…

Research shows that language-minority students both do poorly on standardized tests, and receive low academic ratings from their teachers (August & Hakuta, 1998). Explanations for the low performance, however, are limited. This is at least partially due to the fact that language-minority status is intimately entangled with issues related to…

As teachers encounter a wider variety of children and families than ever before, dealing with all the differences can be demanding. This book provides a collection of 45 readings reflecting the strong, continuing current of thoughtful work on teaching young children in a diverse society to help teachers and prospective teachers respond to the…