Multilingual educational language policies in Switzerland and Sweden

This paper discusses some of the issues involved in developing a multilingual language policy in education in South Africa: the influence of the historical context, the language demography and patterns of language use in South Africa, the attitudes of learners, parents and teachers towards the multilingual language policy in education, the range of multilingual education models operating in other countries and the influence of resources in the debate. It draws on two research projects carried out in KwaZulu Natal and in North West Province. The paper argues that for a multilingual language policy in education developed at government level within a national framework, there needs to be the flexibility for each province and each school and classroom to implement the policy to meet the needs of their learners within their resources.

This article argues that identity and language issues exert a powerful influence on the politics and policies of education in Switzerland. Regional and local linguistic and cultural differences affect the education policies of the Swiss federal government, the 26 Swiss cantons, and the more than 3000 Swiss communities. Switzerland's highly decentralized political system and its mechanisms of direct democratic citizens' participation force educational policy-makers at the national, regional, and local level to take into account not only their own locality's culture and language, but also that of their neighboring towns, cantons, and regions. The article uses the example of the introduction of second language instruction as a case study to illustrate why and how education policy at all levels of the polity reflects Switzerland's cultural and linguistic diversity and the strong local and regional identities of the Swiss citizenry.

Ten Thousand Democracies: Politics and Public Opinion in America's School Districts – By Michael Berkman and Eric Plutzer School's in: Federalism and the National Education Agenda – By Paul Manna

BackgroundFrom the early empirical research results, we found the special methods and dimensions of education policy performance evaluation. These studies transition to outcome assessment and process assessment. Recent work has combined performance evaluation and education policy evaluation, and combined them. This study reconsiders the structure and measurement criteria of education policy performance in Tibet. To understand the current situation and characteristics of the implementation of educational language policy in Tibet and the changes of emotional behavior.Participants and MethodsA questionnaire survey was conducted among 945 middle school students in Ganzi Prefecture. Based on the results of Wang Shiying's questionnaire survey in Taiwan and the suggestions of the members and leaders of the research group, this study compiled a self-made Tibetan language education language policy scale. There are two types of balances, one is closed and the other is open. From the perspective of item reliability, structure reliability, alpha, ave and partition validity, this study makes an item analysis and reliability analysis on the four dimensions of language acquisition, policy attitude, policy awareness and policy satisfaction. Statistical software package amos21. 0 for confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).ResultsThe results show that the structural model of Tibetan educational language policy has been supported by the local government, which shows that the Tibetan educational language policy is effective. From large to small, the performance dimensions of educational language policy are: satisfaction with Tibetan educational language policy > Tibetan ability > Tibetan use > Tibetan educational language policy awareness. The standard deviation of each dimension from large to small is: Tibetan use > Tibetan ability > satisfaction with Tibetan educational language policy > recognition of Tibetan educational language policy. At present, the average value of the average performance evaluation of education policy in the questionnaire analysis is 3.6150 ~ 4.0595, which is equivalent to the degree of “above average”, and the overall performance is ideal. The correlation between Wittenberg coefficient and UCA was 0.81; The correlation between emotional language table and it is 0.59. Consistent with the expected results, language function is related to the evaluation of various policies; Emotional factors are related to the evaluation of the relationship between language recognition. (most correlation values are 0.30-0.70). From the perspective of discriminant validity, the correlation between social and emotional language items of Russell et al is only 0.170. As mentioned above, their correlation with other variables is also different. The correlation between Wittenberg's social and emotional language subscales is 0.44, which is significantly lower than the reliability of various scales, and the correlation between the two languages and other variables is also inconsistent. One of Wittenberg's findings is that social language has a high correlation with the UCLA scale, but this may also be partly due to the imbalance of the UCLA scale, that is, there are too many items for policy and less items for language and attachment.ConclusionThis paper discusses the dimensions and components of the performance of education policy in Tibet. In the analysis, some theoretical hypotheses of the performance structure of Tibet's education policy are tested, and the empirical data are combed to give an overall view of the criticism contained in these studies. This study constructs the model blueprint of the performance structure of Tibetan language education language policy, which provides reference and suggestions for future researchers. However, Ganzi Tibetan language education is a complex project, which will take a long time to implement. Therefore, the implementation of Tibetan language education needs unremitting efforts. On the basis of summarizing the successful experience of Tibetan language education, local governments and education departments should further study and accurately grasp the laws of education, promote the innovation of Tibetan language education ideas and clarify the objectives of Tibetan language education.AcknowledgementsThis article is a research project of the social science department of Hainan Province"(No. HNSK(ZC) -19 -08).

Addressing the roles of education, language, and identity in cyclical migration, this book highlights the voices and experiences of transborder students in Mexico who were born or raised in the US. The stories develop a portrait of the lived realities, joys, and challenges that young people face across elementary, secondary, and tertiary levels. The book not only discusses migration and education policies and pedagogies grounded in the fluid lives of these young people, but its photography also presents their experiences in a visual dimension that words alone cannot capture. This in-depth, multimodal study examines the interplay of language, power, and schooling as they affect students and their families to provide insights for educators to develop meaningful pedagogies that are responsive to students’ border crossing experiences. Living, Learning, and Languaging Across Borders is a vital resource for pre- and in-service teachers, teacher educators, graduate students and scholars in bilingual and multilingual education, literacy and language policy, and immigration and education in the US, Mexico, and beyond. It offers important insights into the complex landscapes transborder students navigate, and considers policy and pedagogy implications that reject problematic assumptions and humanize approaches to the education and migration experiences of transborder students.

The Politics and Economics of Comparison

ABSTRACTQatar University is currently at a crossroads, having to respond to competing institutional, national, and international language policy issues. This paper aims to reveal how Qatar University's internal and external stakeholders perceive the future directions of the university's language in education policy. In particular, through Q-methodology, we attempt to uncover social perspectives on three educational language policy options, proposed to the university's higher administration, by the strategic planning team, to respond to pressing linguistic needs and priorities. The aim is to initiate and support a more-informed discussion about language in education policy at Qatar University. Results indicate strong agreement among the various perspectives taken by the university's stakeholders regarding the need for a language in education policy that seeks to manage the relationship between Arabic and English in a parallel way.

This paper analyses the position of languages in local education policy. The objectives of this paper were to explore the language in education policies in the local government of Nepal and to find the policymakers’ perception toward language in education policy in the local governments of Nepal. I prepared this paper in two ways; by reviewing the secondary documents in which I have gone through the relevant documents of language in the education policy of Nepal historically. It was a case study research design. For primary resources, I selected two local governments of the Rupandehi district as cases and reviewed their policies. For this study, I selected two policymakers of selected local governments of Rupandehi purposively who have been working in the area of local policy-making activity. I performed a depth interview with unstructured interviews based on the education and language policies they had prepared before. The findings of this study revealed that there was a gap between the policy and practice in relation to language in the education policy of local governments. Policies were formulated according to the spirit of the constitution of Nepal respecting all languages but there were lapses in practices focusing on English and Nepali Language. It was also found that policymakers were proactive to promote the local languages but negligence by the user and the policymakers were aware of addressing the linguistic diversity of their municipalities in education policy.

Introduction. Theoretical Issues. 1. Language Attitudes and Educational Policy H. Christ. 2. Language Planning and Education M. Fettes. 3. Critical Applied Linguistics and Education A. Pennycook. 4. Linguistic Discrimination in Educational Contexts J. Baugh. 5. Language Policy and Political Issues in Language Education D. Waite. Minorities and Education. 6. Human Rights and Language Policy in Education T. Skutnabb-Kangas. 7. International Law and Education in a Minority Language W.K. Hastings. 8. Language Policies for Indigenous People D. Corson. 9. National Sign Languages and Language Policies J. Branson. 10. Non-Standard Varieties and Educational Polity D. Corson. Specific Areas. 11. Language Policies for a Multicultural Britain N. Rassool. 12. Language Policy and Education in Australia M. Clyne. 13. Language Policy and Education in the US T. Ricento. 14. Language Policy and Education in Canada B. Burnaby. 15. Language Policy and Education in Francophone Countries S. Babault, C. Caitucoli. 16. Language Policy and Education in South Africa U. Smit. 17. Language and Education in the Indian Sub-Continent L. Khubchandani. 18. Language Policy and Education in New Zealand and the South Pacific R. Watts. Practical and Empirical Issues. 19. The Politics of English Language Teaching R. Philipson. 20. Media in Education T. van Leeuwen. 21. Language Policy in Teacher Education H. Christ. 22. School Language Politics St.A. May. 23. Teaching Language and Power H. Janks. Index.

Children, childhoods and bilingualism: Exploring experiences, perspectives and policies

ABSTRACTThis work identifies and discusses developments in language policy and language education in Crimea since the peninsula’s incorporation into the Russian Federation in March 2014. Working on the assumption that post-Soviet reforms and changes in language and education policies cannot be understood outside their historical context, the article starts by briefly outlining some of the defining features of the historical and sociolinguistic situation of Crimea until March 2014. It then presents the changing linguistic situation of the peninsula since its accession into Russia and discusses present developments in light of the broader context of post-Soviet language ideologies, policies and practices. It suggests that the new Crimean authorities are following a double strategy: the imposition of monolingual educational and linguistic policies, accompanied by largely symbolic concessions to the demands of local ethnic communities.

South Africa immediately springs to mind as the epitome of multilingual language policies. In fact, its Constitution granted official status to 11 languages in 1996, and the Language Policy in Higher Education passed by the Ministry of Education in 2002 required universities to develop and use the indigenous official languages as academic languages, in addition to Afrikaans and English. With this multilingual milieu in mind, this study aimed at giving students voice in an attempt to unveil their language ideologies and attitudes by analysing their views on multilingualism and the use of English as main medium of instruction. Eleven focus groups with a total of 30 university students from different degrees at Stellenbosch University (SU) were organized to delve into four main issues: students’ perceptions on the university’s multilingual language policy; the actual use of the three official languages (Afrikaans, English and Xhosa) at SU; the impact of the use of English as the main medium of instruction; and the implementation of translanguaging practices. Despite the multilingual language policy of SU, our results reveal that there is a neatly established language hierarchy, where English reigns supreme at the top of the pyramid, followed by Afrikaans, while Xhosa remains at the base. Therefore, the preponderance of English as the language of academia only contributes to consolidating it as a strong identity factor in our interviewees’ multilingual identities, to the extent that Xhosa home language speakers disavow their own language in the academic domain.

One consequence of the hype around globalization and education and debates on global political actors such as the World Bank, IMF and WTO—is that there has not been sufficient attention paid by education theorists to the development of a rigorous set of analytic categories that might enable us to make sense of the profound changes which now characterize education in the new millennium. 1 This is not a problema confined to education. Writing in the New Left Review, Fredric Jameson observes that debates on globalization have tended to be shaped by “…ideological appropriations— discussions not of the process itself, but of its effects, good or bad: judgements, in other words, totalizing in nature; while functional descriptions tend to isolate particular elements without relating them to each other.” In this paper we start from the position that little or nothing can be explained in terms of the causal powers of globalization; rather we shall be suggesting that globalization is the outcome of processes that involve real actors—economic and political—with real interests. Following Martin Shaw, we also take the view that globalization does not undermine the state but includes the transformation of state forms; “…it is both predicated on and produces such transformations.”3 Examining how these processes of transformation work, however, requires systematic investigation into the organization and strategies of particular actors whose horizons or effects might be described as global.

Abstract: This study focuses on the continuity and/or discontinuity of language and educational policies related to the teaching of French as a foreign language in Kenya from 1963 to 2017. As a learner and teacher of French in secondary school for several years, we have observed changes in relation to the place of this language at the secondary school level, hence the interest in the Kenyan language and education policies. The objectives of the study were as follows: 1. To identify the languages ​​of instruction as evidenced in the various educational reports and at the same time identify the languages ​​continually discussed in these reports. 2. To specify the functions of each of these languages taught in Kenyan schools. 3. To identify the terms and/or expressions used in the education reports, which refer to the prestige of French. This study was based on the human capital and economics of education theory developed by Grin (1999), which explores the relationship between language and remuneration. Data collection for the study was carried out by means of questionnaires administered to teachers of French and heads of secondary schools where French is offered as a subject in the counties of Vihiga, Kakamega, Kisumu, Mombasa and Nairobi, and from education reports on language policy, for the period 1963 to 2017. Content analysis was done qualitatively and quantitatively. The study identified the languages ​​of instruction from the educational reports for the stated period and established that there is continuity and discontinuity of the Kenyan language and education policies in relation to these languages. The study also established the specific function (s) of each of these languages as well the terms and/or expressions used in the education reports that refer to the prestige of French. The results of this study would bring, on the part of the decision-makers of the country's language and educational policies, education specialists as well as teachers of French, elements of reflection and of the revalorization of French in the Kenyan education system. Keywords: Continuity, discontinuity, French as a foreign language, language and education policy

This thesis examines the interaction between the language in education policy and classroom practices in The Gambia, West Africa. This examination takes place against a background of current and vigorous academic debate regarding policies for language in education and the learning and teaching of students, particularly in post-colonial countries. Using an ethnographic case study this thesis builds on the analysis of more than 38 hours of data collected during classroom observations of 10 teachers in three schools. Conversational interviews were held with 10 teachers and field notes from all observations were produced. Stimulated recall interviews were held with four teachers. The findings of this research suggest that the language in education policy currently in use in The Gambia is regularly subverted by the teachers and students in order to meet the pragmatic and pedagogic needs of the classroom. It was noted that the local languages were used differently in the urban sites, where evidence of a language amalgam was recorded, when compared with the rural sites, in which a phenomenon of serial monolingualism was observed. The impact of historical, political and cultural norms also affected the language in all the sites in the study. The thesis argues that there is an observable subversion of the language in education policy and different language practices are present as a result of heteroglossic conflict (Bakhtin 1981). The conflict is caused by the imposition of a monolingual language in education policy on a multilingual community. The findings reveal that the teachers and learners have developed a repertoire of pedagogic techniques, some of which are geographically specific, in order to present a demonstration of effective teaching and learning. In answering the research questions this thesis demonstrates that local languages do have a place in classroom interactions and that a reconsideration of the current English Only policy would be appropriate. There are few studies of language use in classrooms in The Gambia. This research therefore makes a significant contribution to this literature and to the ways in which language use is theorised.