Review of J. Cenoz, Towards Multilingual Education: Basque Educational Research from an International Perspective

in Australian Review of Applied Linguistics (2010), 33(2), 201-204

In Australia debates about language policy and language education are frequently contextualised in a monolingual language ideology. While Australia is a richly multicultural nation where many people are ... [more ▼]

In Australia debates about language policy and language education are frequently contextualised in a monolingual language ideology. While Australia is a richly multicultural nation where many people are bi- or multilingual, in educational contexts, as well as in broader society, what ultimately matters is how well one has acquired standard Australian English. The languages of migrant and indigenous communities remain peripheral to a fundamentally monolingual sense of Australian identity. You don’t need to be bilingual to be Australian; it’s fine to be monolingual, as long as that language is English. [less ▲]