Since 2019, Taiwan has implemented native language education for 'new immigrants' from Southeast Asian countries. This paper argues that the new educational provisions reflect the Taiwanese government's desire to appropriate new immigrants' cultures and languages to promote a multicultural vision of Taiwanese identity. It analyses the 12-year…

This paper focuses on the issue of language of instruction, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, and considers the persistent preference for monolingual learning environments in multilingual societies. The perception that the use of African languages in education interferes with the acquisition of a global language is shown to be incongruous with…

In 2014, UNICEF commissioned a review of language policy and education quality in the 21 countries of UNICEF's Eastern and Southern Africa Region. This paper examines findings from the review, related to the role of English and local languages in current education practice in the region. National language policies and implementation practices are…

This paper reports on a rigorous literature review of research into medium of instruction in Ghana and India, whose language-in-education policies represent two contrasting models of use of local languages and the development of competence in English. The paper begins by briefly overviewing the language-in-education policy in these two countries…

Most academic discussion on the role of language in education in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) supports the extended use of African languages as media of instruction (MoI), while most practice preserves a monolingual role for European languages. Many ministries of education maintain the belief that African languages are not appropriate as MoIs beyond…

The article seeks to formulate a comparative framework that explains the uneven development of schooling in Cyprus and Singapore during the British colonial rule. It specifically focuses on the moment of transition to independence and on the role played by ideas and the interaction of ideas in the evolution of social institutions. The overall…

Increasingly, there is a growing move towards using global languages such as English as media of instruction. Does one swim against this growing tide or does one look at strategies to accommodate English in multilingual contexts such as prevail in South Africa? In this article I examine the debates in South Africa about the role of English in…

As discourses of globalisation and the knowledge-based economy become increasingly influential in both policy-making and in public debates about education, employability and national competitiveness--the choice of language in the classroom takes on a strategic importance. The paper employs a critical realist Cultural Political Economy lens to…

The article considers how language-in-education policy in low-income, postcolonial countries may be better understood from a social justice perspective and some of the implications for policy, practice and research that arise from this. The article starts with a critical overview of the two dominant approaches towards conceptualising…

The 2030 education goal privileges "relevant learning outcomes" as the evaluative space for quality improvement. Whilst the goal was designed for global level monitoring, its influence cuts across different scales. Implementation of the goal involves reinterpreting "relevant learning" at the local level. One way that small…

This article puts forward the argument for language supportive learning for learners in English medium instruction (EMI) classrooms based on the findings from a mixed methods study in Rwanda. The article first reviews the relevant literature and research which looks at the concept of language support, focusing on textbooks and pedagogy in…

Despite its multilingual nature Cameroon's educational system provides for full immersion into either French-medium or English-medium education from the first year schooling. Following political tensions in the early 1990s the country decided to reaffirm its commitment to promote bilingualism in the educational system with the outcome being the…

The collapse of the Communist bloc in 1989 and then of the Soviet Union in 1991 has presented unique challenges to the educational systems in place during socialist times, and the ensuing transition in Ukraine is no exception. The introduction of Ukrainian as the sole state language when a high number of citizens still prefer to use Russian has…

This article approaches the phenomenon of the continuing influence of French and English pedagogical cultures in Africa relying on post-modern notions of time and space. It reports on a project carried out in Cameroon where both cultures are in contact and where the teachers from two primary schools were observed and interviewed over a period of…

In the Republic of Moldova, language education policy has shifted since independence from an uneven Soviet policy, in which minority Russian dominated, towards somewhat more equitable European norms. Although many reforms in language education have been beneficial in producing a more balanced bilingualism, official policy has at times tended…