Abstract
This book, which is part of the Multilingual Matters series ‘New Perspectives on Language and Education’, focuses on the multilingual education of children in our increasingly globalized world. It addresses the question of how to provide young people of diverse backgrounds with flexible, high-quality access to the linguistic resources they will need for educational and professional success. The book consists of 11 chapters, and is divided into two parts.
Chapter 1 outlines the book’s structure and scope. It reviews the models and key principles of bilingual and multilingual education, identifies differences between fixed and flexible approaches to multilingual education and provides examples which anticipate the case studies that will be presented in the following chapters.
Part 1 (Chapters 2, 3 and 4) lays a theoretical foundation for the discussion of flexible multilingual education. Chapter 2 discusses non-standard varieties of linguistic resources that integrate the heritage and affirm the identity of indigenous and immigrant minority languages in addition to providing access to majority and global languages. The author calls for a rethinking of monolinguistic approaches to language education and argues that a flexible, additive approach will enable minority and migrant students to acquire the skills they need to avoid being disenfranchised from political and economic opportunities.
Chapter 3 addresses the topic of equitable access to high-quality language teaching and learning resources. In a broad international survey, the author writes about restrictive language-in-education policies of francophone communities in Canada, analyses the challenges of preserving the Welsh language in the dominant English-language culture of the United Kingdom, examines the status of Māori-medium education in New Zealand, and points out some shortcomings of multilingual education in Malaysia.
Chapter 4 brings together the main concerns of Chapters 2 and 3 to further illustrate what constitutes flexible multilingual education. Following a brief review of current policies in Australia, Ecuador, France, India, Japan and Zimbabwe, the author explores from a social perspective what makes or breaks a successful language-in-education policy.
Part 2 (Chapters 5–10) aims to identify the most effective approaches to multilingual education through a comparative analysis of the medium of instruction policies of numerous countries and regions. Chapter 5 describes the restrictive language-in-education policies that have been implemented in parts of the USA. Chapter 6 contrasts restrictive US policies with Hong Kong’s move toward a flexible system that accounts for the region’s Cantonese mother tongue, its use of English as an instructional language and the political influence of Mandarin Chinese. Chapters 7 and 8 address the challenges of developing students’ linguistic repertoires in the multilingual and culturally heterogeneous countries of Singapore and South Africa, respectively. Chapters 9 and 10 focus on the problem of differential access to English learning resources that migrant students experience in the multilingual education systems of Luxembourg and three autonomous communities in Spain.
In Chapter 11, the author concludes his argument and summarizes his main points by referring to aforementioned examples and case studies. He stresses the importance of equitable access to language resources and of implementing non-standard varieties in education, emphasizes the need to integrate the diverse elements of students’ home repertoires, and encourages a move from the fixed, either–or logic of monolingual and mother-tongue education policies to the both–and logic of flexible multilingual education.
The book is well organized, thoroughly referenced and eminently readable. The theoretical discussion in Part 1 is fully supported by the examples and case studies presented in Part 2. Each chapter in Part 2 begins with a brief introduction to the particular features and challenges of medium of instruction debates in a specific country or region, and concludes with a list of main points that summarize what readers can hope to learn from the chapter.
In summary, this book is an excellent and thought-provoking contribution to the literature on language and education. The author’s analysis of academic discourses on the subject highlights the ideologies that underpin the monolinguistic versus multilinguistic mindset. As the new norm, he proposes an approach characterized by openness to all varieties, including non-standard and vernacular, and insists upon the importance of equitable access to both minority and majority, local and global languages (p. 7). This volume is a valuable resource for teachers and researchers in the fields of sociolinguistics and language education, and for all who are interested in learning how children in societies around the world can benefit from a flexible approach to language learning.