This study presents the theories that contribute to what the author has called geolinguistics, a discipline that deals with the external fate of languages as they are distributed over the face of the globe. Such a study is relevant in terms of official language planning when legislators seek to impose a given language on people of varied…

The Bay Area Bilingual Education League (BABEL) is a five-district consortium joining forces to confront the need for bilingual education. It encompasses pre-kindergarten through high school. The program incorporates teacher and instructional assistant training ranging from teaching techniques and methodology to cultural awareness. All of the…

Argues that the theoretical consensus on second language learning, which focuses on instruction in the target language, contradicts the main premises used by bilingual education advocates to gain respectability for bilingual education programs. The roles of translation, transfer, input, and interaction in the Eastman model of bilingual education,…

The article addresses the demographic circumstances of student diversity, which have grown significantly in American schools in recent years and have posed a challenge for school reform. The article examines the emerging knowledge base and discusses federal education reform policy changes related to student cultural and linguistic diversity. (SM)

A collection of essays on linguistic human rights includes: "Combining Immigrant and Autochthonous Language Rights: A Territorial Approach to Multilingualism" (Francois Grin); "On the Limits of Ethnolinguistic Democracy" (Joshua A. Fishman); "Linguistic Human Rights and Educational Policy in Russia" (Alexei A.…

In a study of bilingual education teachers' experiences and perceptions of bilingual education, four female trained, experienced, Spanish-English bilingual primary school teachers were interviewed in depth and observed in class. Semi-structured, open-ended interviews focused on the following: teacher background and experience; experiences with…

This paper examines the language planning efforts of the government of Ecuador and groups representing the indigenous peoples of the country. Government sanctioned policy and practice, as well as the grassroots efforts of the Indian population, both aim to influence language behavior and both have ultimately been directed at social and political…

This report presents the findings of an in-depth qualitative study of issues related to educational equity for migrant, Native American and Hispanic children. Equity is defined as the provision of those resources essential for all students to fully participate in school and later, in society. Data were collected through interviews with 88 staff…

In February 1983, a symposium was held to ensure that multicultural and equity education issues are not left unattended in Washington State's public schools as new educational challenges present themselves. Participants were 80 individuals representing a cross section of geographic areas, ethnic groups, and key professions from 21 different school…

This paper traces the history and development of Yupik, the first language for almost 14,000 Native Alaskans, and reports findings of the Bilingual/Bicultural Needs Assessment survey conducted in 1983. Yupik remains one of the strongest Native American languages, despite historical factors that have increased English usage among Native Alaskans.…

Beginning in the year 1568, American Indians were thrust into an alien educational environment in which their languages--the very expressions of their tribal cultures--had no relevance or validity from the perspective of their teachers. The evolution of educational policy as it has affected Indians was initially tied to land transfer and…

The Significant Bilingual Instructional Features (SBIF) study identified, described, and verified features of bilingual instruction of a wide variety of limited English proficient (LEP) students. It collected data on instructional organization, time allocation, classroom language use, active teaching behaviors, academic learning time, student…

The essays in this volume cover a range of sociopolitical aspects of Indian language planning (i.e., the politics of dialect, the role of the linguist, and the historical foundations of contemporary language problems), problems faced by the actual experiences of Indian language renewal efforts, and the relationship of Indian language renewal and…

This compilation of articles deals with practical questions of bilingualism that appear to be important to the development of education in Britain. The conference for which the papers were originally prepared concentrated on three general aspects: the existence of many thousands of bilingual children in Britain whose native languages are largely…

The goal of European immigrants to the United States was characterized by the "melting pot" image up until the late 1960's. Then a trend of revival of the identity of ethnic minorities changed the slogan to "from the melting pot to the salad bowl." Cultural pluralism and maintenance of native languages became the goals of the movement. The massive…