Outlines a framework for academic language learning that highlights the importance of focusing instructionally on meaning, language, and use. Reviews research that suggests that to develop students' academic language proficiency in bilingual or trilingual contexts, instruction must focus extensively on the processing of comprehensible input.…

Reviews the major features of participatory development, asking how far similar processes are applied in promoting the use of local languages. Argues that language development processes must figure into participatory approaches to develop multilingual environments and that attention to language must proceed along similar participatory lines. (CMK)

Discusses the language situation in the Ivory coast. Examines historical and sociopolitical processes and the language policies and language-in-education practices of the country. Shows that the debate on language policy over the last two decades has failed to lead to the adoption of a language plan that takes into account the current language…

Investigated the interplay between languages and cultures in the multilingual and multicultural neighborhood of Lombok/Transvaal in Utrecht in The Netherlands. Results confirm that because Turkish, Moroccan, and Surinamese immigrants differ with respect to immigration history, level of education, and Dutch proficiency, processes of exchange and…

Focuses on language choice in Eritrea within the broader context of language policy in multilingual states. Pre-colonial and post-colonial language policies are surveyed in relation to evolving linguistic and political nationalism. Post-independence language policy is examined from the perspective of the functional allocation of nine Eritrean…

Discusses the relationship between the terms psycholinguistics and applied linguistics, and in the process explores key issues in multilingual processing, such as the structure of the bilingual lexicon, language choice in production and perception, and the language mode. (Author/VWL)

Offers insight as to why children switch back to their mother tongue in mathematics classes. Discusses implications for teachers of mathematics in such settings. (Author/CCM)

Functional neuroimaging of bilinguals and monolinguals used in conjunction with experimental cognitive tasks has been successful in establishing functional specialization as a principle of brain organization in humans. Consistent results show that attained proficiency and possibly language exposure are more important than age of acquisition as a…

Introduces a special issue on the complex relationship between multilingualism and education in the Mediterranean region. Articles examine Maltese bilingual education; teaching English in Algeria; shifts in environmental literacy in Lebanon; multilingual education in Lebanon; cognitive-academic language proficiency and language acquisition in…

Algeria's educational system and language usage are politically controlled. As French loses its ground, English is being heralded as a solution to the country's problems. Popular vernaculars are banned. Language policy is the result of political takeovers. The introduction of English in elementary school appears to be an attempt to end the…

Investigates the design differences between Chinese and English language versions of Web sites based on evidence gathered from Chinese academic Web sites. Through surveying and interviewing university Webmasters from Mainland China and Taiwan, this study seeks to gain real-life insights into the design environment of multilingual Web development.…

Introduces this special issue of the journal. Examines why there is a focus on Sweden, perspectives on the role of first languages in Sweden, historical perspective on historical and territorial minority language policy in Sweden, and the debate on the role of English. (Author/VWL)

Discusses the consequences of the dominance of English for a small language like Swedish and a small country like Sweden. Presents a survey of contrastive studies, which reveal that texts and writing in the mother tongue differ between cultures. Discusses studies of the current situation in Sweden, which reveal a serious threat towards certain…

This article draws from an ethnographic research project looking at the communicative practices of children and parents in a multilingual area of London. One focus in the study was on participants' use of narrative to convey cultural identities. Narratives in the families were evoked through shared discussions of artifacts and objects displayed…

The story of School X started in South Africa in 1875. At that time, the school was built for white children only. More than hundred years later, the 1994 elections demarcated the end of the apartheid era and the school enrolled black Xhosa-speaking children for the first time. As a result, in 2004, 90% of the students were black Xhosa-speaking.…