Although most international organisations are, in principle, multilingual, the ten-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) has adopted a radical approach by operating monolingually, ostensibly for convenience and pragmatism. In order to provide an evaluation of the ASEAN policy context, this paper compares and contrasts ASEAN to two…

In 2003, Mary Louise Pratt published a hugely influential paper in "Profession" where she took to task misconceptions about multilingualism and language learning apparent in the USA in the wake of 9/11 and consequent counter-terrorism measures. She argued that a new public idea about language was necessary in order to ensure unity and…

This article opens an analytical window into the creation of multilingual guerrilla translations by participants in a preservice language teacher program at a public university in the United States. As an intervention responding to the prevalence of English monolingual signage on this highly diverse university campus, the college students invited…

The name of the worship place is closely related to history, ideology, power, and society. Naming a worship place is a symbol of how power is represented through text in public spaces. This study aims to look at an environmental print by investigating the performance of religions in Malang, Indonesia, through the use of language in the names of…

Language policy is a mechanism determining the uses of language generally; here it examines the role of the English language in the emerging USA. Inspired by Spanish riches deriving from the "New World" during the sixteenth century, the first English people to settle permanently in North America hoped for similar riches. In North…

This article begins with a critique of dominant approaches to language policy in education that are based on the notion of "rights" and "peoples." It makes the case for an approach that is based on the tripartite view of social justice, as articulated by Nancy Fraser. This view of social justice sees a complementary…

Researchers have studied family language planning within bilingual family contexts but there is a dearth of studies that examine language planning of multilingual parents who raise their children in one of the world's lesser spoken languages. In this study I explore the ideologies and language planning of Luxembourgish mothers who are raising…

Each new demographic shift and economic or social change bring seemingly new issues into popular and political focus--questions, debates, and policies about the role of language in education and society and the recent claims that transnational migrations and globalization are resulting in unprecedented forms of ethnolinguisic…

This article will examine the sociopolitical language contexts that exist in institutions of Canadian post-secondary education, through investigating how government policies affect the consumption and teaching of language in writing classrooms. A survey of Canadian multiculturalist policy, multilingualism, and post-secondary education in terms of…

Tracing the effects of the "laissez-faire" postcolonial politics of language in the United States, which in fact enabled English to become the dominant language through cultural rather than institutional means, the essay then suggests how the linguistic memory that emerges from decolonization and nation building continues, often in…

Central concerns in the movement to make English the official language of the United States are reviewed, publications and activities of two major organizations supporting it are compared, and basic assumptions and directions of the movement are criticized. (21 references) (MSE)

A framework for discussing the issues associated with language policy in the United States is offered, highlighting the history of the country's diverse language groups and language policies. It is proposed that language politics, and often the policies themselves, reflect the social relations between groups within a society. The history of…

Over 200 news items, journal articles, position papers, and other citations concerning the issue of English as the official language of the United States are included in this bibliography. While information on state and federal legislative efforts is presented, testimony of congressional hearings is kept to a minimum, as are unpublished…

Written for the layperson, this books presents perspectives in support of cultural diversity in America and against language restrictionism and establishment of English as the single official language. In a series of topical discussions, the book brings what linguists have learned about language acquisition to the issue of how the United States…

A survey of the status of language usage in Singapore begins with an overview of patterns of usage of Malay, English, Mandarin Chinese, and Tamil. The function of English as a primary language along with the official language, Malay, is discussed, along with the history of the dominance of English since Singapore's role as a British colony despite…