This monograph examines the language planning situation in Sri Lanka with particular emphasis on the planning of Sinhala as an official language of the country. It explores the historical, social, ideological and political processes, changes in language policy decisions, as well as the complexities of the language policy and planning situation in…

This paper qualitatively documents and analyses the attitudes and identities of female students from the urban disadvantaged social class towards English and Hindi in the city of New Delhi. These attitudes include not only instrumental views of English but also the impression that it creates a new personality for an individual. English is part of…

According to the Medical Council of Malawi, one of the conditions for a licence to be granted to an individual who wants to practise medicine in Malawi is the practitioner's ability to speak and write English fluently. This means that the expatriate medical practitioner is not required by law to demonstrate fluency in Chichewa (the national…

Singapore is unique in that it has not only embraced English as one of its official languages, but has made the language of its colonizers the "de facto" working language of the nation and the sole medium of instruction in all its schools, while assigning its other three official languages, Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil, an L2 status in the…

The evaluation of bilingual education in the Basque Country has gone through different stages during the last 25 years. From 1983 onwards, language models of schooling A, B and D were developed, according to parental choice. Model A is not considered a bilingual education model, since L2 is taught as a subject only, while models B and D are…

Shows the importance and spread of Spanish as a world language by surveying the countries in which it is the official language and listing many instances in which Spanish has been chosen as the means of communication throughout history. (Text is in Spanish.) (TL)

The insights of 12 foreign scholars and language scientists into the battle over making English the "de jure" official language of the United States are presented. The opinions come from England, Canada, the Philippines, the People's Republic of China, Australia, Belgium, India, and the Federal Republic of Germany. The consensus of these…

The concepts and roles of motivation and attitude in relation to second language learning are examined. Motivation can be characterized as primary or derivative, and intrinsic or extrinsic. Attitude is a motivational factor generated by context. Motivation and attitude play an important role in all situations which are not natural, such as school…

THE AUTHOR POINTS OUT THE PROBLEMS INHERENT IN USING ENGLISH AS AN INTER-ETHNIC MEDIUM OF COMMUNICATION AND INSTRUCTION IN THE PHILIPPINES AND THE VARIOUS COUNTRIES THROUGHOUT ASIA. UNESCO'S PROJECTION OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT IN ASIA ANTICIPATES A STEADY AND FIRM EMPHASIS ON NATIONAL LANGUAGES, WITH SECONDARY INTERESTS IN THE WORLD LANGUAGE (THIS…

Discusses the history, nature and current context of diglossia in Greece. (RM)

Portions of the law designed to ensure the pre-eminence of French in Quebec are presented. (Text is in French.) (CDSH/CLK)

Discusses the policies of Sri Lanka concerning the status of Sinhala as official language and the status of Tamil and English. The first independent government relegated English to unofficial status as a language of special domains, but it has recently been suggested that it be recognized as a neutral link-language. (SED)

This paper focuses on Turkish language policy. Seven sections look at the following: (1) "Historical Background to Turkish Language Policy," (between the 10th and 20th centuries, the status of the Turkish language did not increase in line with the political and military power of the Turkish State, and as Turkey became more multilingual…

States the need for placing greater emphasis on writing and less on translation, particularly in a country such as Canada where two official languages require many translations and where the French language is constantly threatened by the overwhelming pressure of English. Sees translation quality as largely dependent on quality writing.…