This paper provides a historical account of post-war state language policy within education in France, examining in particular the position and status of Corsican, one of the country's regional heritage languages. This paper outlines the treatment of Corsican by the French State and how this language management impacted upon the language beliefs…

Africa's educational systems are undergoing a quiet revolution. As these systems move away from working exclusively in the old colonial languages, usually English or French, bilingual schools which use local indigenous languages are springing up in many regions of Africa. This paper points out the historical processes driving the bilingual…

A sociolinguistic approach and ethnographic information are essential to the development of successful French native language instruction in Alberta and other francophone minority settings in Canada. Teachers should develop an appreciation of the local French and the sociocultural context to enhance students' motivation to learn and maintain their…

A small working panel of scholars met to determine the major research issues and gaps in heritage language education. General research issues identified include data collection, stakeholder involvement, contextual considerations, underlying attitudes and motivations, and assessment. Specific research questions were organized into seven main areas:…

Among American Indian Pueblo tribes, community-based language revitalisation initiatives have been established in response to a growing language shift towards English. This has been most prominent among school age children, prompting some tribes to extend tribal language programmes into local public schools. For centuries, the transmission of…

A synthesis of research on the Franco-Ontarian school environment focuses on the maintenance of French by Franco-Ontarian students, their French language proficiency, and their native language instruction. The relevance of these issues in other French language minority settings is discussed. (MSE)

Outlines moves to preserve and protect America's native languages. Discusses the positive and negative roles that schools can play. (Author/VWL)

Orchestrating an Indigenous language program for Indigenous peoples within any academic environment is no easy task. In most cases, Indigenous languages are taught by a recognized community expert, in the community; teaching that same language in a university environment is much more challenging. This article responds to Mindy J. Morgan's…

Testimony concerning Senate Bill 1595 includes statements submitted by Senator Daniel Inouye, from the Select Committee on Indian Affairs, and S. Timothy Wapato, Commissioner, Administration for Native Americans, Department of Health and Human Services. The bill in question aims to preserve and enhance the ability of Alaska Natives to speak and…

This paper discusses the use of metaphors in describing relationships with indigenous languages, focusing on native and newly-fluent speakers of Maori in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Data come from interviews with male and female Maori speakers age 19-44 years who discussed their commitment to becoming fluent speakers of Maori and used a range of…

The present language situation among Alaskan natives and the prospects for maintaining the traditional languages are such that in order to plan for a continued native language presence, it must be recognized that: (1) the shift to Engish is a natural result of a set of social conditions, with no single factor or group to blame; (2) the decline of…

Preliminary results of an extensive study of 50 native Yugoslav students who migrated to Denmark but still attended mother-tongue classes indicated that most had mastered the Danish language and used it with their peers and most learned their native language from their parents and continued to use it with them. (Author/CB)

Discusses some current developments in mother tongue teaching in Great Britain and the United States. British approaches to bilingual education, curricular materials, and teaching methods are highlighted in the description of the Mother Tongue Project and are compared with American projects and studies. Considers the controversy surrounding mother…

Using Hindi and Urdu as examples, illustrates the shortcomings in the definition of South Asian languages that has been attempted in Britain so far. Argues that description and definition of a language have to include aspects of culture, religion, script, politics, and the speakers' own perception of their language and language choice. (SED)

This paper synthesizes ideas expressed in 25 papers from the 1997 Fourth Annual Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Symposium (Flagstaff, AZ) on teaching indigenous languages and argues that American Indian languages in particular should be maintained through the schools, not at the expense of the learning of English and not simply for archival…