Recent years have seen the development of language policies in many countries, usually for the purpose of defining status, support and recognition of languages and language diversity. This book analyses policy development in six countries where, because of its association with colonial expansion, English has become the dominant language and hence the language of power, government and civil commerce, often replacing other local languages. Recent demographic and political changes have forced a recognition of the need for re-defining the role and status of language(s) relative to English and to one another and for according linguistic rights to speakers of the non-official language(s). The case studies presented here show the diversity of responses to language issues when taken up officially or by default, and record the struggle of minority-language speakers to attain rights and recognition in education and social services. There is clear evidence of the status impact of decisions on language at all levels and a startling revelation of the intractability of language issues to solutions. The book will be of interest to academics, politicians, educators and students of linguistics, cultural and comparative studies.

Although there has been a great deal of rhetoric about learner empowerment in educational and community development circles, this book is the first to offer detailed examples of successful participatory practices in adult education spanning a wide range of program settings, such as schools, institutions, communities, and the workplace. The editors join with practitioner colleagues in the United States and Canada to document successes; to network about ideas from active projects, past and present, that have had a participatory component; to share experience, new knowledge, lessons learned, and reflections. The focus is on projects initiated with the intention that greater participation would benefit individuals and groups previously excluded from positions of control. The aim is to provide concrete models and suggestions to practitioners who want to develop the participatory nature of their own activities--from initiation, to organization, goal-setting, and ongoing leadership of adult education programs. Some chapters give detailed descriptions of the triumphs and challenges in individual projects, while others center more on theoretical analysis and reflection on years of experience. All, however, are rooted in particular experiences and give concrete examples from action.
"Participatory Practices in Adult Education" is a vital resource for both new and experienced practitioners--including basic educators, workplace educators, administrators, policymakers, trainers, human resource managers, and community development workers--who want to learn from the practical experiences of their counterparts, and is highly appropriate as a text for courses in adult education and community development.

This volume critically analyzes and explains the goals, processes, and effects of language policies in the United States and Canada from historical and contemporary perspectives. The focus of this book is to explore parallel and divergent developments in language policy and language rights in the two countries, especially in the past four decades, as a basis for reflection on what can be learned from one country's experience by the other. Effects of language policies and practices on majority and minority individuals and groups are evaluated. Differences in national and regional language situations in the U.S. and Canada are traced to historical and sociological, demographic, and legal factors which have sometimes been inappropriately generalized or ignored by ideologues. The point is to show that certain general principles of economics and sociology apply to the situations in both countries, but that differing notions of sovereignty, state and nation, ethnicity, pluralism, and multiculturalism have shaped attitudes and policies in significant ways. Understanding the bases for these varying attitudes and policies provides a clearer understanding of the idiosyncratic as well as more universal factors that contribute to tensions between groups and to outcomes, many of which are unintended. The volume makes clear that language matters always involve issues of culture, economics, politics, individual and group identities, and local and national histories.
The chapters provide detailed analyses on a wide range of issues at the national, state/provincial, and local levels in both countries. The chapter authors come from a variety of academic disciplines (education, geography, journalism, law, linguistics, political science, and sociology), and the findings, taken together, contribute to an evolving, interdisciplinary theory of language policy.

Although there has been a great deal of rhetoric about learner empowerment in educational and community development circles, this book is the first to offer detailed examples of successful participatory practices in adult education spanning a wide range of program settings, such as schools, institutions, communities, and the workplace. The editors join with practitioner colleagues in the United States and Canada to document successes; to network about ideas from active projects, past and present, that have had a participatory component; to share experience, new knowledge, lessons learned, and reflections. The focus is on projects initiated with the intention that greater participation would benefit individuals and groups previously excluded from positions of control. The aim is to provide concrete models and suggestions to practitioners who want to develop the participatory nature of their own activities--from initiation, to organization, goal-setting, and ongoing leadership of adult education programs. Some chapters give detailed descriptions of the triumphs and challenges in individual projects, while others center more on theoretical analysis and reflection on years of experience. All, however, are rooted in particular experiences and give concrete examples from action.
"Participatory Practices in Adult Education" is a vital resource for both new and experienced practitioners--including basic educators, workplace educators, administrators, policymakers, trainers, human resource managers, and community development workers--who want to learn from the practical experiences of their counterparts, and is highly appropriate as a text for courses in adult education and community development.