Language Policy for the Multilingual Classroom

The book explores the way our traditionally monolingual school systems are being challenged by students from diverse language backgrounds, forcing educationalists to question entrenched ideologies of language and challenging teachers in their everyday classrooms to rethink their relationships to language learning and the issue of diversity.

Christine Hélot is a professor of English and teacher educator at the University of Strasbourg in France. She holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics from Trinity College (Dublin). She has published several books and numerous articles both in French and English on bilingualism and bilingual education, language education policies, language awareness and intercultural education.Ó Laoire Muiris :

Muiris Ó Laoire is a Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Technology, Tralee, Ireland. A graduate of the National University of Ireland, he is author of books, textbooks and several articles and chapters on multilingualism, bilingualism language policy and pedagogy.

Christine Hélot is a professor of English and teacher educator at the University of Strasbourg in France. She holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics from Trinity College (Dublin). She has published several books and numerous articles both in French and English on bilingualism and bilingual education, language education policies, language awareness and intercultural education.

Muiris Ó Laoire is a Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Technology, Tralee, Ireland. A graduate of the National University of Ireland, he is author of books, textbooks and several articles and chapters on multilingualism, bilingualism language policy and pedagogy.

Language Policy for the Multilingual Classroom clearly shows how classroom pedagogies in different parts of the world can build on the resources of multilingual learners. This volume is an excellent contribution to the field of multilingualism in general and to multilingual education in particular.

Ofelia Garcia:

In this book, Hélot and O’Laoire fill the gaps that Hélot has so well identified in the past with possibilities - possibilities to educate for social equity and plurilingualism. But instead of arguing for top-down language education policies, Hélot and O’Laoire open possibilities in the ecology of classrooms through the agency of teachers and students. Focusing on pedagogies of the possible, this book is ground-breaking in its ecological approach that will appeal to scholars, policy makers and educators alike.