Bilingualism, Education and the Regulation of Access to Language Resources

Abstract

What kinds of bilingualism should be developed through education in different social contexts? What kinds of bilingualism can be developed in and through education? What languages should be promoted within the foreign language curriculum and why? What medium of instruction policy should be adopted in multilingual settings? Should regional vernaculars be used in teaching and learning in postcolonial settings along with national and official languages? Should minority languages be included in the curriculum within a national education system? Should some form of bilingual education be adopted? If so, how should it be organized and in what sectors of education: at pre-school, primary and secondary levels? At college or university level? In adult basic education or literacy programmes? What are the consequences of such educational interventions in multilingual settings? For well over half a century, questions such as these have surfaced over and over again in public debates about language in education in bilingual and multilingual settings. They have been posed by researchers, educational practitioners, parents, journalists and language activists in relation to very different forms of language education provision, in very different historical conditions.