Discussion of languages in Australia looks at the multicultural makeup of the society, the role of English, dynamics of language contact situations (community language change, intergenerational language shift, other factors in maintenance and shift), societal and individual multilingualism, and support for multilingualism (language policies,…

Offers reasons and suggestions for involving Asian immigrant college students in classroom talk (by initiating informal conversations, involving more students in discussions, and structuring small-group communication). Cautions against pressuring them to adopt American speech habits that may threaten their Asian-language identities. Includes…

Outlines a framework for analyzing the spread of English in eight areas: the sciences, business and industry, culture and media, daily life, education, language contact phenomena (codeswitching, linguistic borrowing), attitudes toward English, and language policies. Specific focus is on the situation in France, but provides a perspective…

Outlines the emergence of English as a Second Language in continental Europe, demonstrating a continuous trend in second language instruction in both eastern and western Europe. Examines the status of English language instruction today and what differentiates it from instruction in other languages, and looks more closely at English instruction in…

Challenges teachers' assumptions that language and literature are neutral fields of study and suggests alternative nonsexist approaches to education. Discusses how female children are disadvantaged in school by the hidden curriculum. Makes note of stereotyped expectations held by teachers rewarding females for passive behavior. (NL)

Discusses how discourses construct teaching, by examining "the Literacy Letters," a correspondence between pairs of middle-class teachers and working-class women enrolled in an adult basic education course. Challenges the ideology that class, race, and gender differences, while present in American society, are absent from American…

Examines the lexical and syntactic choices made by men and women in 29 separate hour-long interactions within 29 groups, each consisting of 2 men and 2 women. Data analysis reveals that, although women use intensifiers more than men and men use more hedges, their overall language use does not reflect any difference in social power. (42 references)…

Examines the growing influx of English loan words in Japanese, describing the structural and semantic changes that English loans go through in their Japanization process and the roles that they are expected to play. The social factors that drive the influx are also examined. (seven references) (MDM)

Discusses the Arabic language and the motivation to acquire the language within the Israeli setting. Examination focuses on the judicial status of Arabic and its communicative functions within the community, linguistic policy of the Israeli political center and the status of Arabic within the educational system, and attitudes toward Arabic and its…

A survey of 55 Chinese students and scholars visiting the United States investigated attitudes toward the spread of Putonghua, the standard variety of Chinese. Results indicate six categories of attitude, five supporting its spread. They also show a correlation of attitude with age, birthplace, current residence, and parents' occupation.…

Constructing an arch of social dreaming means developing a politics of difference that actively contests the devaluation of persons relegated as "others." In this connection, features of critical pedagogy, the role it plays in the struggle against current neoconservatism, and the importance of language are considered. (SLD)

Summarizes current theoretical and practical issues of second-language learning and teaching in the national curricula of Singapore, Malaysia, and Brunei Darussalam. Postcolonial developments in each country influence the theory and practice of first- and second-language acquisition. Of importance also are the attitudes and expectations of…

It is argued that universities are pervasively and necessarily engaged in regulation of speech, which complicates many existing claims about hate speech codes on campus. The ultimate test is whether the restriction on speech is a legitimate part of the institution's mission, commitment to liberal education. (MSE)

Argues for a redefinition of terms and reconsideration of methodology in research on language attitudes, suggesting that mentalistic definitions of attitudes be replaced with social ones and experimentation using the matched-guise technique be replaced by discourse-analytic research. A qualitative study on Finnish college student attitudes toward…

Focuses on the issue of Black native languages in the educational system in the context of curricular reforms emanating from the multicultural education movement. Examines how multicultural education has dealt with the needs and concerns of African Americans and Haitians. Looks at well-publicized African American and Haitian educational events in…