Language education needs for multilingualism in Fiji primary schools

This paper looks at current practice in teaching multilingual Indo-Fijian children in eight Fiji primary schools. Indo-Fijians speak Fiji Hindi (FH) as their mother tongue, learn Shudh Hindi (SH) or Urdu, and English for formal and literacy purposes and use English and Fijian for interethnic communication. The current education policy states that children be taught in their mother tongue for the first 3 years of primary school before English becomes the medium of instruction. This practice was not apparent in the schools. In all 24 observed classrooms, English was the dominant language of instruction. There is an important need in Fiji for teacher training to address the issues around multilingual education so that teachers can confidently contribute to an educational system which maximises the use of Fiji's linguistic resources for the educational advancement of all sectors of the country's population.     

Language teacher multilingualism in Norway and Russia: Identity and beliefs

Multilingualism has witnessed growing interest as a subject of academic study and as a state to aspire to for many of the world's citizenry. In tandem with this growing interest, countries around the world have started to implement foreign language curricula at schools that seek to prepare the coming generations to thrive in an increasingly multilingual global environment. In this respect, language teachers are likely to play a pivotal role in promoting the learning of multiple languages among students, with their beliefs about multilingualism informing their practices. This study reports on the beliefs of 460 secondary school teachers of English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Chinese in Norway and Russia regarding the benefits of being or becoming multilingual, the affordances of multilingual teachers, and the promotion of multilingualism in their respective countries. The findings indicated statistically significant differences between the participants based on the number of languages they taught and, to some extent, their country of residence. The observed differences hold important implications for teacher education programs and initiatives promoting the use of multilingualism as a resource in language education.     

少数民族与语言:一个经济视角

本文介绍了财政联邦制的主要原则及其财政分权的主要模式,然后从语言经济学的视角讨论了少数民族治理及其语言多样性的管理,考察了针对少数民族语言的相关语言政策选择、设计和实施中的最优方案。本文侧重于概念和方法论问题,提供了一组工具,并考察它们如何更好地帮助决策,而非停留在"政府应该做什么"的价值判断上。本文还讨论了政府提供少数民族语言服务的融资问题,以及政策评估和监测工具的使用问题。     

印度少数民族教育研究

生活在偏僻森林地区和山区的印度少数民族——表列部落,长期遭受隔离、剥削和欺压,被排斥在主流文化之外,社会经济发展非常缓慢。印度独立后,印度政府为提高他们的社会经济地位和教育水平,通过立法、政策和发展计划等措施予以支持保障,使其在各个方面的发展都取得了较大的成效,成果令人瞩目。     

语言与教育

语言是人的存在的中心，亦是教育的中心。什么样的语言表达什么样的教育。古典诗性语言向现代工具语言的转变与古典人教育向现代功利教育的转变同步。语言与教育在当今面临着严峻的挑战，应加强语言的教育。汉民族语言与教育的困境更为突出，应加强汉族语言的教育，它维系着民族的过去、今天和未来。     

Language and Ethnic Identity of Minorities in Post-Soviet Russia: The Buryat Case Study

While the global ethnic revival, starting in the late 1960s, resulted in minorities' movements to maintain their ethnic identity closely connected with the revitalization of minority languages, the other ethnic identity pattern in relation to language can be identified from the perspective of a rarely discussed minority group-the Buryats. This article has found that within the Buryat minority group the assimilation strategy, widespread during the Soviet period, has been replaced by the integration strategy and a combination of strategies. In the latter case, linguistic integration is combined with the economic assimilation and marital separation. Two options have been identified regarding the language and identity link among Buryats. First, the native language is considered a salient feature of the Buryat ethnic identity, and it is actually used and maintained. However, more powerful is the trend to abandon the language as an irrelevant ethnocultural identity marker. In general, the native language has for Buryats a rather symbolic, unifying value and its abandoning does not affect the ethnic identity itself. Finally, the article explores external and internal determining factors, which have formed this identity pattern. As external factors we consider the ethnic and language policy of the Soviet Union, modernization, the Russian-dominated majority-minority configuration, and insufficient institutional support of the Buryat language restoration and development. The internal factor is the widespread attitude among the Buryats themselves consisting of a negative evaluation of the Buryat language and unwillingness to learn it and to transfer it to the next generations. The Buryat case shows that ethnic identity, in fact, can survive the loss of the indigenous group language, which has been sacrificed to the historical pressures of the last two centuries. It was the only possible ethnic identity pattern not only for the Buryat ethnic group, but also for many other minorities in Russia.     

印度少数民族入学机会均等政策研究

我国学者通常把印度的表列部族看作是少数民族。印度政府对表列部族的教育高度重视,包括实施积极的区别对待的保留政策,设立专门机构保障表列部族的权利,在《国家教育政策》中做出详细的规定。可以说,表列部族在官方几乎所有的教育计划中都受到优待。综合考察印度保障少数民族入学机会均等政策措施的落实情况,我们认为,其成绩值得肯定,问题令人沮丧,障碍不易克服。     

美国少数民族高等教育问题的表现、原因及对策

在高等教育系统不太成功或比例不足的美国少数民族,主要包括三大族群:非洲裔美国人、美国印第安人和讲西班牙语的某些民族.美国高等教育领域素有民族不平等甚至民族歧视的传统目前这种不平等已是结构性的,与社会结构性不平等互为因果.随着少数民族人口在美国人口中的比例日益扩大,少数民族高等教育不平等问题已成为美国经济繁荣和社会稳定的隐忧.因此,针对制约美国少数民族学生接受高等教育的若干问题(准备不足、动机不足和非传统的参与方式等),美国提出并采取了旨在扩大少数民族高教就学机会和提高其高教保持率的若干具体对策.     

Language and mathematical education

Educational Studies in Mathematics -     

新疆少数民族双语教育模式及其语言使用问题

本文分析了新疆少数民族语言使用与发展状况和现行双语教育模式及目标设计,指出了新疆少数民族双语教育中存在的模式泛化和语言使用问题,认为双语教育的模式应体现双语教育目标,而双语教育的目标设计应以少数民族语言使用与发展状况为依据,才能满足不同民族对双语教育的需求。双语教学中民汉语言的使用应以教师和学生的汉语能力为依据,以实现双语教育目标为目的,实事求是地实现教学语言的逐渐过渡。     

The Moroccan educational context: Evolving multilingualism

This article begins an investigation of the educational system of Morocco and its context of language diversity. It examines the Moroccan cultural environment and the ways the multilingualism and education of its people has been and continues to be influenced by geography, colonization periods, religion, and history. The effects of the Educational Charter are presented as the linguistic panorama that delimits biliteracy development in Morocco and serves to highlight issues faced by nations such as the United States and the Netherlands. The development of an educational model that acknowledges and validates linguistic complexity and local goals and circumstances is recommended.