Most analyses of the sociolinguistic aspects of immigration focus on contexts where a single language is official and widely used. In bilingual Catalonia, newly arriving immigrants find themselves in a situation where the administration seeks to treat Catalan as a fully functional public language while large sectors of the local population still…

This paper examines how competing discourses about the ownership of the Irish language in an increasingly multiethnic Ireland and the extent to which it is associated with a sense of "Irishness" influence the formulation of recent Irish-language policy at institutional and national levels. As part of a broader study on the language…

This article discusses the problems related to the teaching of the state language, Rumanian, in the context of the Hungarian minority population in Szekler Land, Rumania, and the language ideologies connected to Rumanian on the basis of empirical research. On the one hand, it is argued that at present the methodology of state language teaching in…

In 2003, the Amazigh (Berber) language and the Tifinagh script were, for the first time in history, introduced as a subject for all students in public primary schools in Morocco. This study first investigates the language planning policy behind the introduction of the new Amazigh curriculum: selection, codification, standardization, curriculum…

Iceland's language policies are purist and protectionist, aiming to maintain the grammatical system and basic vocabulary of Icelandic as it has been for a thousand years and to keep the language free of foreign (English) borrowings. In order to use Icelandic in the domain of information technology, there has been a major investment in language…

In July 1997, the Language-in-Education Policy (LiEP) was introduced in South Africa. While the intention of this policy was to promote all 11 official languages and give individuals the right to choose the language of learning and teaching, the practical implementation has generally been fraught with challenges. However, language policy…

The language policies adopted, imposed, or rejected in minority language media highlight the complexities of multilingualism and its regulation or ordering in contemporary contexts. In this article, we discuss convergence and divergence in the language policing of three minority language media contexts, namely Basque, Irish and Sami. All of the…

Understanding language learners' strategy use from their own perspectives rather than according to researchers' preconceptions is essential for appropriate research and pedagogy. However, the literature on Chinese learners has tended to rely on anecdotal descriptions or Western constructs to portray Chinese learners' strategy use, and this results…

The connections between immigration and language policy and planning in Quebec and Canada are long established. With the continuing upward trajectory in levels of immigration to Canada and Quebec the linguistic integration of these new arrivals remains an important topic. In recent years, Asia has overtaken Europe as the leading source of…

This paper explores the implications of new patterns of migration (temporary, circular) for national and regional language policies in officially bilingual areas. Contrasting urban and rural sites in the UK (Wales), Spain (Valencia) and Switzerland (Grisons), it examines the dominant discourses regarding "national" (both in the formal…

Kiswahili is the medium of instruction in Tanzania for 7 years of primary education and thereafter, English takes over at secondary and tertiary levels. However, there has been a debate about the efficacy of English in Tanzania's education system with some researchers recommending a switch to Kiswahili as a way to ameliorate the situation. By…

This monograph provides an overview of the language situation in Hong Kong from a historical perspective. Hong Kong has evolved in the past 167 years from a small fishing port to an international financial centre which forms part of a financial network hailed by "Time Magazine" as Ny.Lon.Kong (i.e. New York-London-Hong Kong). Hong Kong…

The prestige accorded to standard language varieties, particularly within the field of education, together with language management role of schools with respect to the variety and the extent to which linguistic differences construct discontinuous relationships between the school and specific social groups provide the rationale for this paper. This…

Discontinuities are often found between top-down language education policies and local language policy enactments, as de facto language policymaking results from stakeholders' negotiation and interpretation of policy mandates. Teachers occupy a particular role in the execution of language education policies, as they are the "final…

The project "The educational value of various aspects of multilingualism in the classroom of the Basque Country and of Friesland" concerns a comparative study of the languages in the schools in the Basque Autonomous Community and in the Province of Friesland. It is part of the agreement between the general administration of the Basque…