Terminology is a central theme of debate about language shift in Malaysia's judicial system--sometimes seen as the last bastion of the colonial language. Advocates of more Malay in courtroom argument and professional practice often point to the Institute of Language and Literature's creation of thousands of terms to equip the national language for…

This article corrects the assumption that "indigenous women and feminist issues remain undertheorized," by demonstrating that they do theorize their lives, but that they theorize differently, meaning, indigenous women do not rely solely on Western tools, worldviews, or epistemologies as methods of interpretation. One tool indigenous…

Parental and community involvement play a key role in the Chinese American students' fight for their rights. In order to understand the reasons behind the parental and community support of Chinese students, a survey was conducted among Chinese parents to assess what they know about language loss, power, knowledge, and democracy. The results…

This anthology of sociolinguistic/anthropologically-oriented articles on ethnic bilingualism and bilingual education seeks to understand bilingual education outside of the methodological-pedagogical issues involved, that is, from a theory and research, rather than classroom, perspective. Bilingual education is seen as the result of societal…

This comprehensive text examines various aspects of the Native American languages of California, including historical perspectives, daily usage, language domains, language maintenance, men's and women's language, and counting systems. Chapter 1 surveys the Indian languages spoken in California and shows how many people speak each one. Part 2 is a…

In response to problems encountered in teaching Spanish to native speakers who had learned Spanish as their first (oral) language but because of their schooling were literate only in English, a study was conducted to explore issues related to development of native-language literacy skills after acquisition of second-language literacy. Two adult…

In a case study, a child's acquisition and maintenance of Chinese (as a first language) and English (as a second language) were documented. The child brought to the United States at age 3.5, acquired English in 2 years and was encouraged to maintain his Chinese skills through a family-based education program. For 6 months the boy was given Chinese…

A study investigated cognitive, social, and psychological aspects of language and literacy among five young adult Ethiopian students who had emigrated to Israel. The subjects were four males and one female aged 18-25, enrolled in an Israeli university's pre-academic program. All had come to Israel a number of years previously, when their…

This book introduces the general reader to the mosaic of American Indian languages and cultures as they exist in time and space, and supplies limited technical linguistic orientation to encourage further exploration of language interrelationships, cultures, and other ways of knowing. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the status, diversity, and…

There is much that can be done in early childhood education programs to foster second language learning in young children. The research literature on early childhood bilingualism clearly indicates that children can learn two languages simultaneously without apparent effort, without cognitive strain or interference in learning either language…

A number of Arab countries, particularly those in which English is a foreign language, have gone to considerable lengths to stress and ensure the use of Arabic as a medium of instruction and expression for all branches of higher education. Progress in Arabicization has been accompanied by a diminishing role for the teaching of English to Arab…

This summary of a dissertation reports results of a study of teachers providing bilingual education at a Navajo border town school. History, demography and geography, socioeconomics, and politics all affect cultural knowledge to be taught and teachers must study these subjects. However, teaching Navajo language and culture in a bordertown school…

This study describes rules of code-switching (choice between languages) in four six-year-old Spanish/English bilinguals in a school setting, to show that bilingualism is a sociolinguistic competency. Data included 306 episodes of situational code-switches and 64 episodes of conversational code-switches. The children consistently applied the…

This study was undertaken to examine the suspicion that a young Greek girl in the short time span of two years had become more fluent in a second language (English) than in her native tongue. To provide a basis of comparison the tests used in this study were also given to the child's older brother who had been in the United States for…

A study based on two hypotheses: (1) The cognitive and academic effects of bilingualism are mediated by the levels of competence attained in the first and second languages, and (2) the development of skills in a second language is a function of skills already developed in the first language. (AMH)