With the globalization of human activities, profound foreign language skills are of increasing importance. Bilingual lessons are a promising opportunity to enable pupils to acquire greater foreign language competence within the school context. In Germany, however, a foreign language is rarely used as a learning and working language in mathematics…

This study examined the impact of implementation of the Ghanaian government's mother tongue language policy, noting whether bilingual/mother tongue education would lead to improved academic achievement of elementary school students or would reinforce the marginalized position of linguistic minority children in developing countries. Data came from…

This article reports on aspects of an ethnographic study carried out in six newly integrated schools in post-apartheid South Africa. It presents evidence that these schools are sites of struggle between competing discourses that construct, maintain, and change social identities in those communities and the wider society. It suggests that South…

This paper argues for the use of indigenous languages as languages of teaching and learning, focusing on Zimbabwe. It describes the language situation in Zimbabwe, which has three national languages (all of which enjoy some prominence under the current Education Act) and fourteen minority indigenous languages. English plays a central role in…

This booklet presents a clear and succinct description of the educational needs of francophone students, families, and communities, and how this all fits into the constitutional requirements of Canada as directed by the 1982 Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and all subsequent amendments and Canadian Supreme Court rulings. It identifies the…

The number of languages spoken throughout the world is estimated to be 6,000. Although a small number of languages serve as important link languages or languages of wider communication around the world, these are very often spoken as second, third, fourth, or later-acquired languages. Fewer than 25% of the world's approximately 200 countries…

Investigated relationships between physics achievement and language of instruction where instruction was in the second language of both students and teachers. Grade 10 subjects (N=176) studied light/sound in either Chinese (N=90) or English (N=86). No differences in achievement, students' motivation, and time spent in physics were found.…

Gives an overview of the issue of English medium and Chinese medium schools in Hong Kong. The issues addressed are: (1) the two official languages in Hong Kong; (2) government policy; (3) selection of language of instruction; (4) problems in the use of English as medium of instruction; and (5) a suggested solution. (AMH)

Since Australia is experiencing major shifts in ethnic composition, this study sought to examine the extent of change in value orientation toward cultural/linguistic pluralism, using data from a parent survey in all Catholic secondary schools in South Australia. Responses of parents from different ethnic backgrounds are considered. (SJL)

This paper considers the declining use of Irish (Gaelic) as a language of instruction in both Ulster and the Republic of Ireland in this century. Policy statements are analyzed. Tables list percentages of primary and secondary schools conducted in Irish, English, or bilingual modes over the decades. (SJL)

Significant because of deliberate attempts to manipulate the use of two languages in the instructional process, the role of language in the bilingual classroom has been studied from four main points of veiw, each of which is examined in terms of implications for bilingual education. (SB)

This paper examines educational policies in certain culturally plural South East Asian societies in relation to hypotheses concerning differences in educational policies resulting from the threat felt by the dominant elite and the effects of educational and national language policies on the assimilation or alienation of different ethnic groups.…

The author briefly traces the change in educational policy for foreign-speaking students from English-only in the 1930s to bilingual education today. While noting the promise of bilingual education, she points out attitudinal and administrative problems which need correction. (SJL)

Australian education was strictly monolingual until 1970 when the implementation of the Commonwealth Child Migrant Education Program provided special English instruction for immigrant students. Immigrants' languages are now offered as school subjects, but the growing awareness of multiculturalism has not affected English as the language of school…

Reports the preferences and attitudes held by English- speaking primary school children in Hawaii toward Hawaiian Creole English (HCE) and Standard English (SE). Findings indicated that, while those from a lower socioeconomic strata initially favored HCE, SE was preferred by all by the end of grade 2. (PMJ)