This publication seeks to offer educators and policy-makers guidance on strategies that have been effective in instructing English language learners (ELLs). The authors begin by outlining key contextual factors that decision-makers should take into account when making instructional choices for English language learners, then follow with a brief…

This paper presents the findings that explored from the discourse practices of the mathematics teacher educators in initial teacher training colleges in Malawi. It examines how mathematics teacher educators construct a multilingual classroom and how they view code-switching. The discussion is based on pre-observation interviews with four…

India's rich multilingual, multicultural society creates a complex challenge to the Government as it attempts to address the educational needs of its tribal communities. Although access to schools has increased and enrolment rates are improving, the dropout rates are still alarmingly high and achievement levels are low compared to their non-tribal…

Mother tongue education in separate schools has been in the norm for several of China's large minorities since 1949. In recent years, however, the shift in minority parental demand, media focus on low educational outcomes of mother tongue education combined with government concerns about separatism have led to the development of mixed schools for…

The socio-cultural settings of English-language and English-medium classrooms are intrinsically bi/multilingual and bi/multicultural as both learners and teachers bring their multiple identities and home-community languages and sociolinguistic practices into the classroom. However, more often than not in such contexts, monolingual ideologies are…

This study examined opinions about some theoretical and practical tenets of bilingualism and bilingual education, as well as about the instructional use of English language learners' (ELLs) native languages in the classroom, of 77 teachers from Spain working in California as part of the California/Spain Visiting Teachers Program. In their…

The number of international ESL students completing their degree programs in Australia has risen dramatically in the past decade. One factor that may be motivating students to undertake tertiary studies in Australia is the expectation that this form of immersion will lead to improved English language skills. However, existing research, such as…

This paper presents an historical overview of issues around the language of instruction and the curriculum of mother-tongue education for the Swedish-speaking minority in Finland during the half-century after the establishment of the public school in 1866. In a linguistic- and culturally-diverse society like that of Finland it has not been…

This paper focuses on the use of Basque as the language of instruction. In the first part of the article the situation of Basque in the Basque Country is briefly described and the different possibilities regarding the language(s) of instruction are explained: model A with Spanish as the language of instruction and Basque as a subject; model B with…

Modern computer-based molecular modelling opens up new possibilities for chemistry teaching at different levels. This article presents a case study seeking insight into Finnish school teachers' use of computer-based molecular modelling in teaching chemistry, into the different working and teaching methods used, and their opinions about necessary…

This study reports on the uneasy compromise in language and education policies in the post-Soviet Republic of Moldova since its first moves toward independence in 1989. Taking an approach that posits language policies as needing to be anchored in both international norms and the idiosyncrasies of local conditions, the discussion explores the…

In this article, I argue that emancipatory possibilities for Maori, the Indigenous people of New Zealand, rely on structural changes that enable them to have control over resources, decision making, and meaning, and that emancipation is a journey traveled by oppressed groups as they exercise their collective agency. The 1990s development of…

Georgia, along with a number of other former Soviet countries, is rapidly reforming its higher-education system. Russian is being replaced by English in classrooms and textbooks. Western-trained professors are flooding campuses with new methods of teaching and liberal-arts courses are replacing vocational training. This change is part of broader…

During the nineteenth century, educationists, professors and politicians in many European countries struggled with the question of whether secondary school teachers should be trained at the university, or in separate teachers' colleges, where they would receive a proper vocational training. This article explores the development of the training of…

In this paper we will present the main principles behind language planning in the Ikastolas (Basque medium Schools), where a plurilingual school model has been developed as a way of promoting minority languages in a globalised world. We will start by contextualising the Ikastolas' language policy, briefly tracing their history from their…