This article critically examines bilingual, intercultural education policies and practices in El Salvador and Mexico. In the context of legacies of assimilation and neoliberal homogenization, certain kinds of citizenship become prioritized over others. This is visible where performances of local identity clash with state mandates about educational…

There is difficulty in defining the profile of a Heritage Language Learner (HLL) due to the experiences with language that individuals face in their social and academic world. There are questions centered on whether a categorical distinction between the native speaker and the native user can be upheld; this is inherently problematic when there is…

Drawing on the work of Philip Deloria (2004) and recent explorations of "American Indian languages in unexpected places" (Webster & Peterson, 2011a), this article challenges received expectations of Native American languages and language users as "rural" and physically distant and of "urban" Indigenous language…

In this article we provide a discussion of present-day Khoisan activism in Cape Town, South Africa. The main actors in this movement are people whose heritage is complex: their history can be traced back to the early days of the colonial settlement, reflecting the interactions and cohabitation of the indigenous Khoisan, slaves and the European…

This article analyses how language laws favouring French improved the vitality of the Francophone majority relative to the declining Anglophone minority of Quebec. Part one provides a review of Canadian Government efforts to provide federal bilingual services to Francophones and Anglophones across Canada. Using the ethnolinguistic vitality…

Substantially less is known about the motivations of indigenous heritage language learners than the motivations of learners of colonial languages. This study explores the motivations of Maori indigenous New Zealanders and the identity-related motivations they have for learning their heritage language. Interviews with 19 Maori language learners…

The concept of "resilience" originated in both ecology and psychology, and refers to the propensity of a system or entity to "bounce back" from a disturbance. Recently, the concept has found increasing application within linguistics, particularly the study of endangered languages. In this context, resilience is used to describe…

This article explores Hispanics' concepts of cultural and linguistic identity. It is based on the findings of a recent study conducted by the author in Iglesia hispana de Cristo, a Hispanic church community in Western New York. Data come from ethnographic interviews conducted with 48 participants aged 13 to 80 years and with church leaders and…

Numerous studies have investigated the changing patterns of immigration, the growth of multicultural-multilingual societies, and the important role of language in identity construction. Unfortunately, the issue of identity construction is affected by a variety of factors such as language learning and acquisition underlying different contexts and…

Educational issues in relation to ethnicity and language education policies have been underexplored in Asian contexts. In particular, issues related to ethnic and linguistic minority students have not received much attention in the post-colonial context of Hong Kong. This paper highlights challenges and tensions faced by Nepali ethnic minority…

In the Czech Republic, Romani language planning has long been a controversial subject. The question informing the current research is whether the European Charter's goal of protecting, maintaining and invigorating Romani is attainable in a culture driven by standard language ideology, Czech society's aversion to multiculturalism and an overall…

Since the second half of the twentieth century, post-colonial governments have commonly sought to revitalize the indigenous languages their imperialist predecessors hoped to eradicate. Although the impetus to revitalize is shared, the question of excluding or including the non-indigenous majority in the revitalization process, and encouraging them…

This paper looks at aspects of Maori language revitalisation since the passage of the Maori Language Act, 1987 which gave official status to the language. It is a sequel to an article on Maori language in education published in this journal the following year [Benton, R. A. (1988). "The Maori language in New Zealand education."…

Australia is a country of high linguistic diversity, with more than 300 languages spoken. Today, 19% of the population aged over 5 years speak a language other than English at home. Against this background, we examine government policies and prominent initiatives developed at national level in the past 30 years to address the challenge of offering…

Using a life writing research methodology in this article, I seek to understand the complexities implicated in reading silenced narratives as a way towards reconciling internations relationships. To do so, I weave in the poetical "territories" of Josephine Bacon, Innu poet from Pessiamit, Quebec. I analyse how a poetic text has created…