Language and Language-in-Education Planning in the Pacific Basin

Abstract

The last half century has witnessed an explosive shift in language diversity not unlike the Biblical story of the Tower of Babel, but involving now a rapid spread of globallanguages and an associated threat to small languages. The diffusion of global languages, the stampede towards English, the counter-pressures in the form of ethnic efforts to reverse or slow the process, the continued determination of nation-states to assert national identity through language, and, in an opposite direction, the greater tolerance shown to multilingualism and the increasing concern for language rights, all these are working to make the study of the nature and possibilities of language policy and planning a field of swift growth.The series is intended for scholars in the field of language policy and others interested in the topic, including sociolinguists, educational and applied linguists, language planners, language educators, sociologists, political scientists, and comparative educationalists.

Initial French language teacher education policy in Greece and curriculum evaluation among student teachers of FLE

“…The place and nature of language in the area of education is one key dimension of the relationship between language and social life about which governments make such deliberate choices. This aspect of language policy is conventionally known as language-in-education policy (Baldauf 1990;Kaplan & Baldauf 2002;Paulston & McLaughlin 1994) or acquisition planning (Cooper 1989).…”

The Significance of Validity Theory to College English Listening and Speaking Course Test

“…For the competence of English expression, it will take time to improve it, because expression is an integrated process including vocabulary choice, background knowledge, logic, and even courage [6]. When the teachers make a teaching plan, maybe it is better for them to take as many aspects as possible into consideration.…”

An Evaluation on Primary English Education in Taiwan: From the Perspective of Language Policy

“…In the following sections, five issues related to different aspects of language-in-education policy are briefly analyzed (Kaplan & Baldauf, 2003). They include (1) the inconsistency in starting grade levels for English education (access policy); (2) the shortage of qualified English teachers (personnel policy); (3) the divergence of textbooks being used (materials policy); (4) large classes made up of students with mixed proficiency (access policy); and (5) the effects of EFL education on the learning of other languages (curriculum policy).…”