Canada depends on a steady flow of immigrants to maintain a viable workforce within an aging population. Without immigration, Canada's dependency ratio--the number of employed versus non-employed individuals--would grow dangerously unbalanced. In recent years, most immigrants have come from countries where the spoken language is not English or…

In 2002, Massachusetts voters passed Question 2, a law similar to its predecessors in California (Proposition 227) and Arizona (Proposition 203) to replace bilingual education with structured English immersion (SEI) programs. Using Ruiz's (1984) framework for language planning as an analytical lens, this study examined how three Massachusetts…

The promise of dual language education has spurred a movement in the field of bilingual education to shift from remedial programs to enrichment forms of bilingual education. Although research supports the effectiveness of such programs, many programs do not maintain their level of implementation and quickly revert to their original remedial form.…

The case against a "remedial" view of English as a Second Language (ESL) is presented, and an alternative approach is offered: an "enhancement" account of programs that aim to improve students' command of English in the course of an English-medium college or university education. The transition from "remedial" to…

A major controversy in education in Papua New Guinea (PNG) has been the choice of language for initial literacy education. It is now generally accepted by academics, education leaders, and politicians that this should be a language already spoken by the learner. Research suggests that this will contribute to better, not worse skills in English at…

The survey questionnaire and a description of the coding system used for analyzing the data collected in a survey of Cherokee language and education are presented. The survey was designed to study language use, bilingualism, and education in the Cherokee community. The survey encompassed 198 Cherokee children between the ages of 5 and 14 who…

Methodological problems associated with the research cited by the Baker DeKanter Review of Bilingual Education (1981) are reported. The review concluded that there is little evidence supporting the need for bilingual instruction for language minority children. Given the widespread legal, fiscal, policy, and media implications of this conclusion,…

This investigation arose from concern about the linguistic and educational development of several dozen students aged 12-14 from the English comprehensive secondary schools in Gibraltar. These students, whose dominant language was Yanito-Spanish (the local vernacular), were administered a series of assessment measures. These included: (1) a word…

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…

Discusses and illustrates the characteristics and significance of the language used by parents to teach writing to their children. Considers the effects of such language on children's writing behaviors. (BB)

Surveys completed by 1,760 teachers of hearing impaired students revealed an overwhelming preference for English over American Sign Language as the language used in classroom communication. Signs appeared to be used most consistently in residential and day schools. (CL)

The article suggests that English literacy can be acquired by deaf children through developmental reading and writing activities that refelct principles of first language acquisition as students relate these activities to experiences which they have already linguistically represented. (Author/CB)

The status of French in Morocco is ambiguous: it is neither an official language nor a foreign language, and it would benefit greatly from an official definition that would allow a variety of language conflicts to be resolved. (MSE)

An experiment on the role of the language of instruction in mediating responses to social pressure was conducted with a sample of 41 Russian-born adolescents who had recently immigrated to Israel. (Editor)

Presents statistical data from a survey of Russian culture courses taught at institutions that offer Russian language instruction. Includes data on total number, length, and language of instruction, which, while substantiating the widespread assumption of a culture course explosion, point to the large proportion of courses that are taught in…