Language is a crucial factor for the academic achievement of minority people. Speaking the mother tongue in school increases self-confidence and thinking skills, and conveys freedom of speech. Mother tongue is an inseparable element of his or her culture and that everyone has the right to learn his or her mother tongue. The main objective of this…

The paper considers whether bilingualism has an economic value in Slovenia's two ethnically mixed regions, or whether its value is more related to identity, and restricted primarily to the personal, educational and cultural spheres. Specifically, it asks whether bilingualism is rewarded on the labour market and what local people think about this…

A vast amount of literature addresses issues surrounding English and French in colonial and post-colonial communities. However, relative to the spread of English and French language ideology, a limited amount of literature exists on Lusitanization (i.e. the spread of Portuguese colonial ideology by Portugal during colonialism and the role of…

This article offers an analysis of four Norwegian policy documents on inclusion of minority language pupils. The main concepts of this policy will be reconstructed and re-described, applying Niklas Luhmann's systems theory at different levels of the analysis. Luhmann's theory about society as a conglomerate of self-referential social systems…

This paper overviews some of the domains of application of micro-level language planning approaches to foster multilingual education. It examines the language planning of local agents and the contexts in which their work contributes to multilingual education, either to expand or limit educational possibilities. It identifies four broad contexts of…

In this paper, we discuss the characteristics of microaggressions based on minority language(s) as a form of discriminatory practice against non-dominant students in the mathematics context. Microaggressions are subtle, brief, and commonplace verbal, behavioral, or visual negative slights or insults toward people of color. We extend the concept of…

Three former Soviet republics occupy Central Asia's Ferghana Valley, a region of serious transborder environmental problems, especially ones that involve water and energy. Most news organizations in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan provide little in-depth coverage of these issues. Journalists in one country usually do not seek news sources…

The present paper investigates the relationship between objective ethnolinguistic vitality, individual networks of linguistic contacts (INLCs) and perceived vitality among German-speaking (N = 415) and Italian-speaking (N = 379) adolescents in South Tyrol, Italy. Supporting our hypothesis, we found that INLC has a greater effect on perceived…

Four-year-old (n = 20) and five-year-old (n = 22) bilingual children were tested twice in six months on Armenian (minority language) and English (majority language) picture identification and picture naming tasks to examine receptive and expressive vocabulary growth in both languages. Parental education, Armenian/English language exposure, and…

Dual language education programs are highly beneficial for literacy and academic language development with all students, especially those who are English learners. School districts nation-wide are attempting to expand K-12 dual language programs, yet teaching and learning for biliteracy development are highly complex processes, especially with…

Previous research examining the reading achievement of immigrant children has often grouped English learners into one broad category, referred to as ELs, thereby creating an "either-or" dichotomy regarding whether or not these students need school language supports. The present study examined the theoretical contention regarding the…

The Hakka people, the largest ethno-linguistic minority group in Taiwan, have found their ethnic language retention diminishing. Using the data collected by the Taiwan Education Panel Survey and Beyond in 2010, we are the first to study its reason for decrease. Results indicate that out-marriage amongst Hakka people and losing ethnic concentration…

Maintaining children's heritage language (HL) is a challenging task for linguistic minorities around the world. While many Japanese heritage children in Sydney attend weekend HL schools, they typically discontinue attendance before, or during, secondary school. To date, no longitudinal study has investigated what happens to their HL maintenance…

Singaporean students generally perform very well in international tests of mathematics and science. Nonetheless, in multi-cultural Singapore, there exist gaps with the Malays, a minority group in Singapore, systematically lagging behind the other ethnic groups of the Chinese and Indians in many educational performance indicators. While there have…

This article is based on long-term participant observation and interviews with pupils and graduates of the Diwan immersion high school in Brittany, France. With reference to the theory of "communities of practice," this article shows how the education in the Breton immersion school can influence a knowledge of the minority language and…