This paper explores tensions in translating multilingual language policy to classroom linguistic practice, and especially the paradoxical role of and demand for English as a tool of decolonization for multilingual populations seeking equitable access to a globalizing economy. We take an ecological and sociolinguistic approach, depicting tensions between multilingualism and English across three national cases, at both policy and classroom level. Despite India's egalitarian Three Language Formula (TLF) of 1968, many Indian children are being educated in a language which is not their mother tongue. Singapore's bilingual education policy with English medium of instruction and mother tongues taught as second languages nevertheless leaves the linguistic capital of multilingual children who speak a pidginized variety of English called 'Singlish' out of the equation, since the school medium is standard English. South Africa's Constitution of 1993 embraces multilingualism as a national resource, raising nine major African languages to national official status alongside English and Afrikaans, yet with the freedom of movement accompanying the dismantling of apartheid, large numbers of African language-speaking parents seek to place their children in English-medium instructional contexts. Given the push for English and simultaneous official valuing of multilingualism in all three cases, we briefly consider illustrative classroom examples and argue that multilingual classroom practices can be a resource through which children access Standard English while also cultivating their own local languages.

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Reading classes in schools where English is the medium of instruction are increasingly servicing a linguistically diverse population; however, teachertraining for English teachers lacks a focus on bilingualism. Using the context of Singapore, this paper analyses beliefs on bilingualism of English teachers in an early intervention reading program. It is based on the results of a survey sent to 270 teachers, in-depth interviews with 5 of the surveyed teachers, and observations of their classes. In keeping with the focus of their training program most teachers believe in an immersion approach though, ironically, they also believe that L1 can aid in learning English. The more experience the teacher has the more likely she is to believe that the L1 can aid in the teaching of English. There is an overlap of beliefs regarding immersion and bilingualism. On the basis of these findings I suggest implications for teacher education programs.

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Using translanguaging as a theoretical foundation, this paper analyses findings from a Grade 2 reading class for low achieving students, where Malay was used as a scaffold to teach English. Data come from one class in one school in Singapore and its Learning Support Programme (LSP), which is part of a larger research project on biliteracy. The LSP is an early intervention reading programme in English for students in lower primary school. Our key finding is that the broad goal of translanguaging in teacher talk was to mediate academic content. Specifically, the purposes for translanguaging in teacher talk were to aid comprehension (in 41% of switches) and translate vocabulary (in 39% of switches). The use of Malay changed interactional patterns by closing the gap in talktime between teacher and students: though the ratio of talktime between teacher and students on Day 1 was 76%:20%, this became a more democratic 47%:49% on Day 8. Finally, the scaffold of Malay changed the way the students attempted to answer questions.