Family language policy refers to explicit and overt decisions parents make about language use and language learning as well as implicit processes that legitimize certain language and literacy practices over others in the home. Studies in family language policy have emphasized the ways in which family-internal processes are shaped by and shape…

Taking ecological language planning and policy as its conceptual orientation and interpretive policy analysis as its methodological framework, and following an embedded single-case study design, this study explores the role of English, as compared with the role of Chinese, in China's educational language planning and policy for higher education.…

Based on a series of official published documents and relevant research reports, the paper make a brief introduction to foreign languages education policies in China, which included national English teaching guidance, national English language textbooks, national English curriculum standard and the massive English teachers training program, etc.…

This article reports on the findings of a school ethnographic study of language-in-education policy implementation carried out during a time of intra-tribal conflict in the Sabaot language group. The conflict led to the displacement of significant numbers of Sabaot people from their homes in a linguistically homogenous Sabaot area. Several…

This monograph discusses South Korea's language situation in a language policy and planning context. This monograph consists of four parts. Part 1 presents a genetic, typological and sociolinguistic description of South Korea's national language, and an overview of minority languages, including English as well as other languages, recently…

This paper examines issues related to the important impact of language policy in the Basque Country in recent decades. Basque, a minority language that was not allowed in the public space until the late 1970s, is an official language along with Spanish in the Basque Autonomous Community. The development of Basque has been most significant in…

This paper deals with the role of researchers in the development of language policies for European minority languages. This question is placed in the context of a long-standing debate in sociology to which several authors have contributed; among them are Max Weber, Howard Becker and Alvin Gouldner. This article also briefly refers to the European…

This book evaluates the origins of processes of change in language teaching in China, and the factors influencing their success. Examining diverse experiences and drawing on the perspectives of academics from the top institutions in the country, the authors analyse the complex interplay between global and local influences on language policies.…

This chapter offers a situated account of English and vernacular literacy practices from a postcolonial perspective. Situated in ongoing endeavors in a variety of local contexts in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, where the author was raised and schooled, this chapter calls attention to some key educational sites through which these policy-related…

This contribution traces the development of an educational support program ("Förderunterricht") for immigrant children in the German Ruhr area, a region that has traditionally been strongly impacted by different waves of immigration. The program has grown out of what was originally a small-scale application of research results of a study…

Heritage learners of minority languages can play a lynchpin role in reversing language shift (RLS) in their families; however, in order to enact this role, they must first overcome certain barriers to re-integrate the minority language into the home domain. Using a combination of conversation and narrative analysis methods, we demonstrate how both…

The present study was carried out in the context of the recent (2012) introduction of Kreol in the primary school curriculum in Mauritius. The time-tabling of Kreol as an optional subject offered at the same time as the other existing ancestral languages, institutionalised Kreol as an ancestral language, despite its status as a national language.…

In this paper, we try to unravel some of the unintended and intended academic effects associated with post-Soviet educational reforms by focusing on three cases: Estonia, Latvia and Russia. We have chosen this comparison because a unique "natural experiment" in the three countries allows us to compare the changing academic performance on…

This study operationalizes Ruiz's language orientations framework (1984) and builds on his later work (e.g., 1997, 2008) by examining the ways in which local language policies influence the learning experiences of 12 multilingual youth and the teaching experiences of four of their classroom teachers. Using ethnographic and qualitative research…

Ramanathan (2013a, 2013b) urged scholars to expand the notion of citizenship beyond its typically bounded understandings, towards conceptualizing it as "being able to participate fully" (p. 162). This view highlights the "processual" aspects of citizenship, shifting away from the more categorical meanings that underpin the term…