Addressing the intersections between sociocultural, cognitive, and translanguaging research, this volume explores bilingual development across education and linguistics to discuss and uncover the influences and impact of language policies, school programming, and everyday practices on bilingualism.

This book, addressed to experienced and novice language educators, provides an up-to-date overview of sociolinguistics, reflecting changes in the global situation and the continuing evolution of the field and its relevance to language education around the world. Topics covered include nationalism and popular culture, style and identity, creole languages, critical language awareness, gender and ethnicity, multimodal literacies, classroom discourse, and ideologies and power. Whether considering the role of English as an international language or innovative initiatives in Indigenous language revitalization, in every context of the world sociolinguistic perspectives highlight the fluid and flexible use of language in communities and classrooms, and the importance of teacher practices that open up spaces of awareness and acceptance of --and access to--the widest possible communicative repertoire for students.

In the past two decades, post-Soviet countries have emerged as a contested linguistic space, where disagreements over language and education policies have led to demonstrations, military conflicts and even secession. This collection offers an up-to-date comparative analysis of language and education policies and practices in post-Soviet countries.

Arguing against a common sense view of bilingualism as the co-existence of two linguistic systems, this volume develops a critical perspective which approaches bilingualism as a wide variety of sets of sociolinguistic practices connected to the construction of social difference and of social inequality under specific historical conditions.

This book calls for critical adaptations when theories of bilingual education, based on practices in the North, are applied to the countries of the global South. For example, it challenges the assumption that transitional models necessarily lead to language shift and cultural assimilation. Taking an ethnographically-based narrative on the purpose and value of bilingual education in Mozambique as a starting point, it shows how, in certain contexts, even a transitional model may strengthen the vitality of local languages and associated cultures, instead of weakening them. The analysis is based on the view that communicative practices in the classroom influence and are influenced by institutional, local and societal processes. Within this framework, the book shows how education in low-status languages can play a role in social and cultural transformation, especially where post-colonial contexts are concerned.

This volume contains interdisciplinary essays on bilingual education in various countries of the world. Some contributions deal with policy and curricular issues with regard to minority and majority language, some consider the enrichment aspect of bilingual education. Others focus on language maintenance and revitalization, still others look at ways in which bilingual education could stabilize the functions of the societal languages. All contributions support bilingualism in society and consider how bilingual education could promote that goal. A special section is devoted to US policies and politics

An anthology of articles on ethnic bilingualism and bilingual education from a sociolinguistic perspective. It covers theoretical paradigms (primarily structural-functionalism and group conflict theory and the problem formulations in BE typical of the paradigms), practical research methodology and a number of exemplificatory case studies.