Languages, Cultures and Schools

This well-researched book provides a comprehensive, timely, and highly readable account of community (heritage) language programs in Australia. Vivid case studies in distinct ethnolinguistic communities exemplify issues and possibilities in this educational sector. Important organizational, social, political, transnational, curricular, and pedagogical dimensions of community language education of wider global relevance are also discussed. * Patricia A. Duff, University of British Columbia, Canada *
This is a must-read book about community/heritage languages schools and the value that they bring to communities, the language education sector, and broader society. As the authors state, these schools have remained hidden in the language learning landscape but are now becoming visible and valued as a key sector of language education, largely because of publications like this. We need this so badly! * Joy Kreeft Peyton, Coalition of Community-Based Heritage Language Schools, USA *
The distinctive feature of this important new work is ‘roundedness’. Cruickshank and Tsung’s volume shows the reader CL schools from the perspective of their development over time, across space, and via critically different linguistic and cultural orientations. This multi-faceted view helps to normalise the language maintenance efforts of immigrant groups, which is so important today as public education systems struggle to meet the demand for intergenerational language support. * Joseph Lo Bianco, University of Melbourne, Australia *