During the last two decades of colonial rule, a wide gulf existed between policy and practice in Hong Kong's English-medium secondary schools: while English was the medium of textbooks, assignments and examinations, Cantonese and Cantonese-English mixed code were the dominant media of classroom communication. Although mixed-mode instruction was…

This paper presents an up-to-date overview of language policies and practices in Lithuania, paying particular attention to the latest developments that have taken place in national educational contexts. Against the background of recent sociodemographic changes in the three Baltic republics, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, it analyzes issues…

The widespread use of a local variety of English, Singapore Colloquial English, or Singlish, has become somewhat of a controversial issue in Singapore especially in the eyes of the Singapore government. For example, in 2002 the Singapore government launched The "Speak Good English Movement" (SGEM) with the objective of promoting the use…

This dissertation study sets out to take a close look at the complex mix of factors on the ground, which influence the appropriation of language and education policies by local education stakeholders at Lesotho primary schools. I argue that much of the research in language policy and planning (LPP) has focused too largely on the macro-level…

In South Africa, as in many parts of postcolonial Africa, English dominates the political economy and as a result is the medium of instruction chosen by the majority of South African schools, despite the fact that most learners do not have the opportunity to acquire English to the levels necessary for effective engagement with the curriculum.…

An overview of the field of language planning and an updated bibliography are presented. Language planning is defined as the planning of deliberate changes in the form or use of a language or language variety and viewed as a subdiscipline of sociolinguistics. Among the topics discussed are the scope of language planning, an ideal language planning…

The National Association for the Teaching of English have just produced a pamphlet on language across the curriculum. This article is a reprint of some of the suggestions they make for teachers hoping to get started on a language policy. (Editor/RK)

Presents a classification of 11 language planning functions or goals that academies, committees, and commissions have been engaged in since language planning began several centuries ago or could adopt in the future. Language planning is defined as deliberate, institutionally organized attempts at affecting linguistic or sociolinguistic status or…

Language emerges and changes primarily through communication; therefore communication technologies play a key role in the history of language change. With writing losing its earlier hegemony over communication, the question arises as to whether this will lead to the erosion of human language and thought. (Author/VWL)

In view of its plans to initiate a new program in the field of language engineering, the Commission of the European Communities discusses the importance of the underlying technical communication facilities, with special attention to smaller language communities. The comments are drawn from the Commission's "Strategic Study on Language…

A framework for language planning categorizes 22 language planning goals in terms of the intersections between 3 types (status, corpus, and acquisition) and 2 approaches (policy and cultivation) of language planning. The model helps literacy developers to answer the question of which literacies to develop for what purpose. (Contains 44…

Argues for the survival of the federalist language formula in the European (Economic) Community through a modified, more restricted form so as to be more functional and open to the demands of worldwide communication. It is suggested that, despite its weaknesses, it more adequately reflects the mosaic-like cultural heritage of Europe. (eight…

Describes three examples illustrating the nature and extent of contact-induced change in the Linxia dialect, relating to extensive lexicosemantic diffusion resulting in areal convergence, coexisting markers representing two different types of borrowing, and a postpositional conditional marker as an example of significant syntactic and phonological…

Reflecting on the situation in Quebec, this paper attempts to offer a fair solution to the problem of the languages of signage. It is suggested that individuals and groups have the right to show their linguistic identity as well as to express themselves in the languages of their choice, provided that the rights of the addressees are also met. (VWL)