Discusses the arguments frequently made against bilingual education: equal opportunity and public identity. The assertion is made that the opportunity and public identity that we hold out for individuals of other cultures can be broadened to allow them to bring the strengths of their own cultures with them. (SED)

Explores the status of the Zamboangueno dialect, discusses the various stages of decreolization in the direction of Spanish, and suggests possible avenues for the continued introduction of elements from an acrolect which, for all intents and purposes, is no longer generally available to residents of Zamboanga, Philippines. (Author/CB)

Attempts to tackle theoretical and empirical problems of measurement in the study of linguistic minorities from sociological and demographic perspectives. The operations of a language community, the growth of a language group, language shift, and language maintenance are addressed in terms of language community membership, current language…

Preliminary results of an extensive study of 50 native Yugoslav students who migrated to Denmark but still attended mother-tongue classes indicated that most had mastered the Danish language and used it with their peers and most learned their native language from their parents and continued to use it with them. (Author/CB)

Compares two different types of bilingual education programs--the Canadian immersion programs, designed primarily for foreign language enrichment, and the European School bilingual education program, designed primarily for language maintenance. Achievement scores for both approaches were comparable, pointing to the importance of environment and…

Discusses some current developments in mother tongue teaching in Great Britain and the United States. British approaches to bilingual education, curricular materials, and teaching methods are highlighted in the description of the Mother Tongue Project and are compared with American projects and studies. Considers the controversy surrounding mother…

Presents point-counterpoint opinions on bilingual education, regarding (1) effects on children of different language groups, (2) best methods for teaching English as a second language, (3) school's role in maintaining native language skills and culture, (4) segregation of students, (5) selection of students for programs, and (6) issues raised by…

Using Hindi and Urdu as examples, illustrates the shortcomings in the definition of South Asian languages that has been attempted in Britain so far. Argues that description and definition of a language have to include aspects of culture, religion, script, politics, and the speakers' own perception of their language and language choice. (SED)

The status of French in Morocco is ambiguous: it is neither an official language nor a foreign language, and it would benefit greatly from an official definition that would allow a variety of language conflicts to be resolved. (MSE)

In view of the confused status of French in relation to Arabic in the Maghreb countries, it is proposed that the best educational direction is to emphasize productive language and the recognition of written text in French language instruction. (MSE)

This paper synthesizes ideas expressed in 25 papers from the 1997 Fourth Annual Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Symposium (Flagstaff, AZ) on teaching indigenous languages and argues that American Indian languages in particular should be maintained through the schools, not at the expense of the learning of English and not simply for archival…

This book offers an ethnographic account of language socialization practices within Mexican-background families residing in California and Texas. It illustrates cases where language is used by speakers to choose between alternative self-definitions and where language interacts differentially with other defining categories (ethnicity, gender, and…

Early vocabularies of a language can help indigenous communities retrieve lost or forgotten vocabulary. Currently, there are very few fluent speakers of Tuscarora. As in other native communities, efforts are underway to reverse the decline in native language usage. One advantage the Tuscaroras have is that, since 1700, numerous researchers have…

The co-directors of the 1998 Annual Symposium for Language Renewal and Revitalization describe how they came up with a focus and presenters for the symposium. They began by discussing their concern over the loss of indigenous languages and cultures, then decided to honor tribal elders by choosing one to represent them all as the symposium's…

Examines various perspectives on the issue of French language training for adult immigrants held by French informants, many of whom are engaged in such training. (EKN)