One college teacher's experience with teaching Chinese literature in Chinese is described, focusing on the value of teaching literature in its original language and on the interdependence of language and literature. The course was offered to students with 3 or 4 years of college-level Chinese language instruction. Several considerations in…

The history of language in South Africa is characterized by linguistic inequality, European domination and imperialist ideology, suppression and denigration of indigenous languages through non-recognition, and entangled interrelationships among education, race, language, and identity. Official policy enforced mono- or bilingualism through the use…

This report provides information designed to encourage those working in international education to directly confront "language problems" by considering the effectiveness and feasibility of initial education in the mother tongue or local language. It serves as a bridge between applied linguistics and developmental education, exploring…

While most primary school education in Hong Kong (China) is in the native language, Cantonese, and most university-level instruction is conducted in English, the language of secondary school instruction has begun to shift from English to Cantonese. The decision to increase Cantonese use is controversial. Four studies of this situation are…

The idea that an individual's basic perceptions and experiences can create a resistance to learning is applied to native and second language instruction. It is suggested that general pedagogy and language pedagogy be decompartmentalized and, similarly, that native and second language instruction be decompartmentalized to expose their commonality…

Presents results of a survey on the content, organization, staffing, participants, and perceived effectiveness of 14 bidialectal language arts programs (those that use a child's indigenous dialect in the instructional process, usually to demonstrate contrasts with standard English). Suggests that more guidelines for developing and evaluating such…

Argues that the World Bank Education Sector Policy Paper (1980) presents a confused and simplistic view of the role of language in education. Advocates a more research-based approach, including cost-benefit analysis of language policy options. Part of a theme issue on the Policy Paper and Third World development. (SJL)

Those aspects of bilingual education particularly relevant to the teaching of mathematics are examined. The discussion includes a brief overview of bilingual education and consideration of languages of instruction, appropriate cultural referents, and cognitive styles. (MK)

After outlining an ideal, the author examines the reality of the response by governments of the major host countries of Europe to the educational needs of migrants' children to determine how far they have been met and to suggest some factors which may have determined the nature of this response. (Author/SJL)

Studies the attitudes toward deaf society of two new deaf Gallaudet students who had been raised in an "oralist" tradition with biases against deaf culture. Their attitudes are compared with those of a deaf graduate oralist who had become acculturated into the deaf community. (PJM)

A qualitative approach explored the unique instructional conditions and practices used by five Mexican American mothers when teaching their preschool children the letters of the alphabet. In contrast to the dyadic novice-expert model, these interactions at home were influenced by maternal decisions about social organization (sibling activities)…

Provides a critical analysis of the language-in-education situation in Tanzania, documenting how teachers and learners perceive English as a resource for personal development. Argues that knowing English is viewed by Tanzanians as an essential symbolic attribute of being an educated person. (Author/VWL)

Analyses of how African communities use language show that indigenous languages coexist with metropolitan languages in complex configurations of speech practices. Argues that these practices should suggest a rethinking of the purpose, function, and methodology of teaching languages in developing African contexts, building on the ways that local…

Although English shares official language status with French in Vanuatu, enrollments in English-language schools have increased dramatically at the expense of French-medium schools. Bislama, an English-derived pidgin, has become a compromise language between the two colonial languages that have divided the country. (Author/CB)

Examines the role of language policy in South African education. An historical overview of language planning is presented, and then several examples of current language policies are discussed, including the "Mother Tongue Principle," the introduction of Black languages into White schools, and the creation of a lexicon for the deaf. (CFM)