A response to a critique of bilingual education by J. R. Edwards (1981) argues that our understanding of the nature of modern bilingualism must be broadened through a reading of the pertinent research in recent social science. This could lead to a grasping of the economic and social class dimensions of bilingualism in current urbanization and…

Discusses reasons for Black and Puerto Rican inner-city students' resentment toward learning and using Standard English. (BE)

Examines the contributions of bilingual schools to minority language maintenance and stresses the inadvisability of relying on schools alone for this task. Uses the concepts of "primary and secondary reward systems" to argue that scholastic achievements cannot have any lasting impact without the sociopolitical and economic rewards of the primary…

In the context of reflections on sociolinguistic research in Alsace, results are discussed of current studies which indicate the importance of the city/rural area distinction in use of French and Alsatian. The complexity of the actual linguistic situation in Alsace is described. (AMH)

Group bilingualism, the contact situations which lead to it, and the role of language in maintaining ethnic boundaries are examined. Emphasis is laid on minority languages in the United States, Canada, Europe, and South Africa. The insistence of these groups on maintenance bilingual education rather than the acceptance of transitional assimilation…

Ninety-eight children whose first language is Hawaii Creole English (HCE) acquired English without a formal language program while maintaining their first language. Learning the dominant variety of the language in a bicultural/bidialectal environment did not adversely affect performance in HCE. (PMJ)

Canadian Parents for French is an association of concerned parents supporting the French language programs, particularly immersion and core programs, in the Canadian school system. They are investigating solutions to problems in individual districts and are a force with which the government must reckon. (JMF)

Exploring the school's possibilities and limits in promoting multiculturalism through bilingualism, the article describes and discusses various bilingual education programs developed in Canada and the U.S.A. in the last decade, giving special consideration to the student populations involved, and discusses the implications of the bilingual…

Describes the Master-Apprentice Language Learning Program, which seeks to save endangered Native Californian languages by pairing speakers and nonspeakers and providing the pairs with materials, technical support, and personal support. Briefly discusses the history of American Indian genocide and language extinction in California. Includes…

Notes that North American French survives as a first language of home and community in three historic Francophone strongholds: Quebec, New Brunswick, and Louisiana. It is suggested that the dynamics of cooperation between the Quebecois, Acadians, Cajuns, and the global Francophone tell of a common cultural struggle toward a community of…

Parents in communities experiencing rapid language and culture change face particular discourse issues as they construct their homes' language and culture. This article discusses particular language decisions and influences faced by families from two Inuit communities in Arctic Quebec. In most homes, there were fluid boundaries with no conscious…

Overviews 20 years of language planning in Quebec and examines the effect of the province's institutional instability on the economy, language planning, and relations between ethnolinguistic groups. Elucidates the causes of Quebec's efforts to preserve its language and culture and concludes that the province needs its Anglophone population for the…

Nizipuhwahsin, or Real Speak School, on the Blackfeet Reservation in northwestern Montana, is producing the first fluent Blackfoot speakers in two generations. Based on the "language nest" strategy pioneered in Hawaii and New Zealand, the K-8 school and associated daycare center immerse students and toddlers in the language throughout…

With an advisory committee of native community members, elders, educators, and students, the Center for Hawaiian Language and Cultural Studies has successfully founded, within a mainstream institution with strong religious foundations, a cultural center that teaches native values and language. The center creates cultural/educational projects that…

Three local elementary school teachers in the Milne Bay province of Papua New Guinea are trying to determine their real culture and language in order t devise better ways to maintain them. Portrays the experience of these teachers' dilemmas and frustrations, as well as their joys throughout the process of innovation. (Author/VWL)