This paper provides a background to recent developments in language planning in South Africa. Following a historical review, it focuses on a Bill of Rights in the new constitution which has, since 1993, demanded a shift towards rights-based language policy within a liberal framework. Debates within the Pan South African Language Board (PANSALB)…

This paper discusses language planning measures in Guernsey, Channel Islands. The indigenous language is spoken fluently by only 2% of the population, and is at level 7 on Fishman's 8-point scale of endangerment. It has no official status and low social prestige, and language planning has little official support or funding. Political autonomy has…

Kuot is a language in a critical situation. Most adults of lower middle age and older are full speakers but children are not learning it. In other words, it will become extinct in a few decades if nothing is done; but it is not too late if the community decides to turn it around, and do so fast. Thus far, the community has shown little interest.…

This article reports on a study which investigated the language lives of Afrikaans-speaking South African immigrants in New Zealand. Particularly, it focuses on their awareness of and attitudes to language policy in both South Africa and New Zealand, and how these influence their own and their family's language practices. Narrative interviews with…

This paper describes a survey that assessed the attitudes toward English among university students in Macao five years after it reunited with the People's Republic of China and ceased to be a Portuguese colony. A group of 144 Macao-born and 197 Mainland-born Chinese students studying in a university in Macao were surveyed using a 22-item…

This paper sets China's education of English majors within the changing global and national context. It examines the impact of accelerating globalisation and the rise of global English, the adjustment of China's English language policy, the growth of the education of English majors and the challenges faced by this sector of education. To adapt to…

This study describes the effect of enlightenment on attitudes of the Nigerian elite to the roles assigned to English and indigenous languages in Nigeria. From the results of a preliminary investigation into the attitudes of undergraduate students in a Nigerian University, it was presumed that enlightenment of citizens on the importance of…

This paper examines recent attempts by the Malawi government to introduce local languages into the primary school system and other secondary domains of national life, breaking more than 30 years of Chichewa/English monopoly. In a country where the language policy has essentially established the hegemony of English over indigenous languages, the…

The debate in Hong Kong over which language (Cantonese, Mandarin or English) should be used as the teaching medium in publicly funded educational institutions predates the city's transition from colony to Special Administrative Region in 1997. In the past nine years it has been presented as the cornerstone of the ongoing educational reform…

This report provides an overview of bilingual education in the Basque area of Spain over the last 10 years. Since 1982, a government decree established that public education was to be conducted following 1 of 3 models of bilingual education: 1) instruction is basically in Spanish, with Basque taught as a separate course; 2) content instruction is…

This paper examines the linguistic and legal framework in Spain and its attempts to define nationhood and a collective identity that encompasses its three major linguistic minority groups. The four major language groups of Spain are discussed with regard to official language policy and legislation. Article 3 of the 1978 Spanish constitution was…

Two dangers to linguistic and cultural pluralism are examined: (1) that the growing power of the major national languages threatens the very existence of less commonly spoken languages, and (2) that the spread of English as a universal lingua franca threatens even the major national languages. Much attention is given to the first issue, but less…

A national survey conducted in November-December 1983, similar to one in 1973, investigated attitudes toward, competence in, and use of Irish among adults in Ireland. Of the 1,131 individuals interviewed, all aged 18 or over, about 420 were under age 30. The report summarizes preliminary results. The first section reports general attitudes toward…

Metalinguistic awareness is discussed in terms of the new national curriculum in English language education in Great Britain. A chronology is presented of events surrounding national curriculum legislation that prompted controversy in Britain concerning the teaching of the English language. One result of this legislation has been the creation of…

Policy and planning concerning the minority languages of immigrants are discussed, focusing on three countries receiving many immigrants: England, France, and Germany. First, similarities and differences in the immigration histories of the three countries, and in their policies concerning education of immigrants, are examined. Then policy…