The disproportionate representation of culturally and linguistically diverse students in special education has been a persistent problem in education for more than four decades. The core issue concerns the possibility that some students may be misidentified, thereby receiving inappropriate educational services and being unnecessarily placed…

English-only policies and the expiration of the "Bilingual Education Act," which is now replaced by "No Child Left Behind," make it clear that English is the official language of schools in the United States with the emphasis moved from the goal of maintaining students' home languages while learning English to a focus of ignoring minority…

This working paper introduces an assessment rubric for a Structured Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP[R]) lesson plan. The paper begins with a brief review of the context of the assessment rubric, including the background of SIOP, the need for authentic assessments for language minority students, and the usefulness of rubrics to measure…

This study contrasts growth trajectories in English reading for 2 groups of language minority (LM) learners--those who enter kindergarten with limited oral English proficiency and those who enter kindergarten proficient in oral English--with that of native English speakers. Fitting a multilevel model for change to longitudinal data on a nationally…

The Mongolian language in Ningcheng county is in a state of endangerment. In endangered Mongolian (Harqin dialect) communities, the family is the mother-tongue source, whereas society is the Han-language source, and under normal circumstances the actual language use by members of the community approaches the median of the use of both languages.…

The ideology of a monolingual and monoracial Japan is being challenged by increasing language diversity in communities where Ainu, Ryukyuan, Chinese, English, Japanese Sign Language, Korean, and other languages are spoken. Government policies and school textbooks still resist the notion of a multilingual Japan. (SK)

Describes recent research on language maintenance to provide broad, worldwide coverage of different language contact situations. Surveys various countries in which research within ethnic and minority language communities illuminates language maintenance or shift, or revitalization, for that group. (Author/VWL)

Traces the effects on Australian language policy of a changing sociolinguistic situation--increasing multilingualism--and a weakening of a monolingual ideology. Analyzes the country' s emergence from an assimilationist past to its embracement of a more multicultural approach with special reference to young Cambodian-Australian's educational…

Juxtaposes postmodernist discourses on language, identity, and cultural power with historical forms of language inequalities grounded in the nation-state. Focuses on mixed legacies of language-state relations within the pluralist nation state, colonial and post-colonial language policies. Examines the concept of linguistic minority rights beyond…

Discusses the Asmara Declaration, a declaration about linguistic rights of African languages and their speakers drafted by African scholars and writers at a conference in Asmara, Eritrea. Suggests that there is a problem in the quality of much of the work committed to language rights. (Author/VWL)

This article is a summary of findings from an extensive review of literature of research on educational reform originating at or being supported by various systemic levels. The goal of this review was to gain a better understanding of the factors influencing the improvement of education for racially and linguistic minority youth. We report…

"Studying Diversity in Teacher Education" is a collaborative effort by experts seeking to elucidate one of the most important issues facing education today. First, the volume examines historically persistent, yet unresolved issues in teacher education and presents research that is currently being done to address these issues. Second, it…

The fifth edition of this bestselling book provides a comprehensive introduction to bilingualism and bilingual education. In a compact and clear style, its 19 chapters cover all the crucial issues in bilingualism at individual, group and national levels. These include: (1) defining who is bilingual and multilingual; (2) testing language abilities…

This paper defines and provides examples of a category of linguistic minorities that we call extrinsic minorities. Three case studies are summarised to illustrate the spectrum of linguistic heterogeneity of extrinsic minorities, and the linguistic consequences. These cases show a continuum of how they fit into our definition of extrinsic…

Preparing the next generation of global citizens is a daunting challenge. Leaders across the nation agree that young people today need to become lifelong learners with specific competencies to identify and solve problems, utilize resources wisely, organize and manage information systems, communicate effectively in several languages, generate new…