This paper examines the alternate use of Arabic and English in the context of a university classroom, where a policy to use the former language in place of the latter was being implemented. Analysis of a sample of recorded university lectures of English and Arabic medium classes in sciences and humanities reveals that teachers use code switching,…

Universities throughout Europe are engaged in a process of harmonization through the Bologna process, which aimed to create a European area of higher education by 2010, making its higher education more compatible and comparable, competitive, and attractive for students and scholars within Europe and from other parts of the world. Given the…

This research review examines trends in recent scholarship concerning primary school literacy instruction in Southern Africa. Past scholarship, particularly that which originated from western researchers, focused on technical or structural issues facing literacy instruction in the region, such as language of instruction, school conditions,…

In this article, data from the Reading Literacy study conducted in 2000 and 2001 as part of the OECD "Programme for International Student Assessment" (PISA) were analysed in order to explore equivalence issues across the 47 test adaptations in various languages of instruction that were used by the participating countries. On average,…

The concept of "English only" as the best teaching-learning method in English as a foreign language classrooms has been promoted in Taiwan over the last decade. During that time, the concept has been queried and debated. Teachers and learners have come to realise that for beginners and slow language learners, the use of codeswitching in…

English has always occupied the most privileged position in the South African economy, yet legislative and material provision emphasised bilingual or trilingual education prior to political change in 1994. Educational changes since this time have been accompanied by ambiguous stances towards languages other than English in the classroom. Whilst…

From the beginning of the 1990s, the Swedish society has been affected by various changes at various levels. This modified social, political and economic context led to several reforms implemented in the educational arena. These reforms dealt with decentralization, choice, use of market forces and privatization. All these aspects had an impact on…

This paper sets out to review 14 years of developments in language policy and practice in South Africa under its new, democratic Constitution. The paper begins with an overview of language policy developments since 1994, with particular reference to the role of English, of indigenous African languages and the learner in the classroom. It examines…

It is widely acknowledged that globalization has made a considerable impact on multidimensional aspects of human life including the language policies of many countries. This article examines the adjustment of Turkey's language policy in response to the global influence of English at different levels of Turkish national education, including its…

In this position article, we explore what happens when school district policies regarding desegregation, accountability, and foreign language immersion education collide. Specifically, we contrast 2 immersion programs that experienced distinct outcomes as a result of the conflicting agendas underlying these 3 policies. One program, originally…

Each edition of the IDRA Newsletter strives to provide many different perspectives on the issues in education topics discussed and to define its significance in the state and national dialogue. This issue focuses on Parent and Community Engagement and includes: (1) Principles of Family Leadership in Education--Putting Principles into Action…

A separate full report also was published. Austin Independent School District served 5,450 pre-K students in 2009-2010. Approximately 70% of sampled English-speaking pre-K students and 74% of sampled Spanish-speaking pre-K students had faster than the expected growth rate on an assessment of receptive vocabulary.

This qualitative case study explores one young adolescent's transitional schooling from an American context to a Chinese context. Although the student was bilingual and bicultural, she experiences multiple struggles, triumphs, and dilemmas across the two educational settings. These findings have implications for those adolescents and parents who…

This article reports on year-long critical ethnographic study conducted in a Singapore school and examines how the standard English language educational policy is interpreted by a Secondary 3 (Grade 9) female student from China. She is a member of an exclusive group of academically able students who has been carefully recruited by the local…

Radio is one of the most affordable educational technologies available for the use in education and development in developing countries. This article explores the use of school radio broadcast to assist teachers and pupils to learn and improve English language both written and spoken in Kenyan primary schools. English language occupies a central…