Bilingualism and Language Pedagogy brings an understanding of language as a social practice and bilingualism as the study of bidirectional transitioning to the examination of bilingual settings in the US, Europe, and the developing countries. Focusing both on bilingual linguistic competence and educational politics and practice, the volume provides valuable practical proposals and models for developing sociocultural and linguistic competencies among bilingual practitioners and students.

Population mobility is at an all-time high in human history. One result of this unprecedented movement of peoples around the world is that in many school systems monolingual and monocultural students are the exception rather than the rule, particularly in urban areas. This shift in demographic realities entails enormous challenges for educators and policy-makers. What do teachers need to know in order to teach effectively in linguistically and culturally diverse contexts? How long does it take second language learners to acquire proficiency in the language of school instruction? What are the differences between attaining conversational fluency in everyday contexts and developing proficiency in the language registers required for academic success? What adjustments do we need to make in curriculum, instruction and assessment to ensure that second-language learners understand what is being taught and are assessed in a fair and equitable manner? How long do we need to wait before including second-language learners in high-stakes national examinations and assessments? What role (if any) should be accorded students’ first language in the curriculum? Do bilingual education programs work well for poor children from minority-language backgrounds or should they be reserved only for middle-class children from the majority or dominant group? In addressing these issues, this volume focuses not only on issues of language learning and teaching but also highlights the ways in which power relations in the wider society affect patterns of teacher–student interaction in the classroom. Effective instruction will inevitably challenge patterns of coercive power relations in both school and society.

This volume focuses on the recent trend in English language pedagogy of â oeeducational bilingualismâ , that is, teaching English language, contents and cultures in bilingual lessons. It draws on the critical revision of the monolingual tradition of language instruction rooted in the outdated direct method once powerful at the turn of the 20th century. The realities of education are that the English language is spreading to foreign lands, circulating alongside native tongues, functioning as a universal communication tool for multinational groups or individuals and emerging as a global language in education. This book proves the hypothesis that in the epoch of information breakthroughs and global migration, the value of English in education lies in it being the key to innovative knowledge. This leads to its integration with the learnersâ (TM) own language, providing alternative sources of information and marking cultural self-identity.

This volume focuses on the recent trend in English language pedagogy of “educational bilingualism”, that is, teaching English language, contents and cultures in bilingual lessons. It draws on the critical revision of the monolingual tradition of language instruction rooted in the outdated direct method once powerful at the turn of the 20th century. The realities of education are that the English language is spreading to foreign lands, circulating alongside native tongues, functioning as a universal communication tool for multinational groups or individuals and emerging as a global language in education. This book proves the hypothesis that in the epoch of information breakthroughs and global migration, the value of English in education lies in it being the key to innovative knowledge. This leads to its integration with the learners’ own language, providing alternative sources of information and marking cultural self-identity.

As linguistic diversity increases in countries around the world, policy-makers and educators are faced with complex and conflictual issues regarding appropriate ways of educating a multilingual school population. This volume reviews the research and theory relating to instruction and assessment of bilingual pupils, focusing not only on issues of language learning and teaching but also the ways in which power relations in the wider society affect patterns of teacher-pupil interaction in the classroom.

With contributions from leading scholars all around the world, this volume underlines the ever-pressing need for new language in education policies to include all learners’ voices in the multilingual classroom and to empower teachers to develop responsive and transformative pedagogies. Using testimonies, narratives and examples from different international contexts, this book points clearly to what can be achieved practically in the multilingual classroom so that multilingual learners’ voices are legitimated, while also addressing the complex inter-relating sociolinguistic issues around the promotion of bilingualism and multilingualism in education.