Explores alternative conceptions of literacy that emphasize economic, historical, transnational, technological, and other expanded notions of literacy that the author believes hold much more potential for improving access to literacy in a multilingual world. Suggests that educators should consider all of the possibilities that dual-language…

Examination of differences in the language-learning strategies of monolingual and multilingual adults found no clear evidence that multilinguals were superior in language-learning abilities overall, although they were more able to adjust their learning strategies according to language task requirements. (Author/CB)

This article examines the position of the Tamil language in Singapore. It is one of the four languages in Singapore but shows signs of decline in recent years relative to English, Chinese, and Malay. The reasons for this are explored. (Contains 24 references.) (JL)

To identify practical recommendations for effective ways to teach culturally and linguistically diverse student bodies, international school teachers (K-12) from the International School of Berne, Switzerland, were interviewed. Part 1 of this article, published in the November 1993 issue of "International Schools Journal," covered…

Discusses situations in which mother-tongue education may not be desirable. Separate sections discuss language in education systems, multilingual settings, mother-tongue education in the "Cosmopolis," determining the mother tongue, definition of a language, social and ethnic divisiveness of mother-tongue education. The final section…

Offers insight into English in the multilingual nation of South Africa at the turn of the new millennium. Describes the social history of English in South Africa to provide the background against which this special issue of this journal came about. Highlights features of each of the articles included in the issue. (Author/VWL)

Reviews the first conference arranged by the European Region of the Association for Business Communication from the point of view of the organizers. Reviews both of the activities of developing a theme and naming the tracks for which papers were invited. Suggests that it is important to consider how communicators make sense of a multilingual and…

Explores some issues associated with multilingualism and dyslexia. Makes reference to research reported at the British Dyslexia Association's first international conference on this topic (June 1999). Synthesizes broad guidelines and provides a framework of questions that are designed to facilitate a collaborative approach between teachers, parents…

Addresses the linguistic effects of an increased "Englishization" of Sweden. Focuses on English loanwords, the dominating role of English as a source language for translations, and losses of domains of usage to English. Reports results from an investigation of the use of Swedish within different European bodies. (Author/VWL)

The increase of multilingualism in both natural and formal contexts has provoked a number of studies which have concentrated on providing evidence of multilingual processing and finding out about the differences and similarities between second and third language learning. This paper deals with the use of metalanguage in multilingual students in an…

In this article, the author presents the approaches and strategies for culturally and linguistically responsive early education in an international preschool in Moscow, Russia. This international preschool, enrolling children from Russia, the United States, Germany, Italy, Israel, Argentina, Brazil, Sweden, and Japan, provides a multilingual and…

This article reports on a cultural studies course about Switzerland conducted within the German Studies program at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in 2005. It discusses the pluricentric concept of "Landeskunde" of the German-speaking region which informed the design of the course seminars and presents the main themes which were…

Throughout the 20th century, international communication has shifted from a plural use of several languages to a clear pre-eminence of English, especially in the field of science. This paper focuses on international periodical publications where more than 75 percent of the articles in the social sciences and humanities and well over 90 percent in…

Mauritius is a multilingual postcolonial island of the Indian Ocean. Although the French-lexified creole, Mauritian Creole/Kreol, is the native language of 70% of the Mauritian population, it is excluded from the education system. Kreol lacks prestige because it is seen as broken French and associated with the local Creoles, a socioeconomically…

Bilingualism and multiculturalism have for four decades been official ideologies and policies in Canada but, as is often the case, the implementation and outcomes of such government policies nationally are less impressive than the rhetoric would suggest. This article reviews the political, theoretical and demographic contexts justifying support…