DECOLONISATION, GLOBALISATION: LANGUAGE-IN-EDUCATION POLICY AND PRACTICE. Angel M. Y. Lin and Peter W. Martin (Eds.). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters, 2005. Pp. xix + 204. $89.95 cloth, $39.95 paper.

This collection of 10 studies from Asian and African contexts begins with a general introduction by Luke that links many strands and challenges to current radical educational thinking as well as an introduction by the two editors; it terminates with a conclusion with reflections by Canagarajah. The editors present an intellectually challenging framework for reading the country studies and draw on themes to articulate a case for rethinking much language-in-education policy. Their hope is that the volume goes beyond state-of-the art description and theorization and can lead from coherent deconstruction to proactive reconstruction. This is needed because many of our analytical categories remain simplistic, and inadequate educational policy leads to the perpetuation of social inequalities. A key paradox is the widespread demand for more English, although English does not serve all equally well. Many do not develop high-level competence, whereas dominant groups or classes are groomed for the economy of globalization that has dashed most decolonization hopes. Across differing country reports, the pattern is of an “emptying out of the ‘linguistic local’ and the one-sided pursuit of the ‘linguistic global’” (p. 9).

David Crystal begins his article ‘The future of Englishes’ (ET58, Apr 99) with a plea for clarity in theoretical thinking and in observing the facts of language change. He sees intelligibility and identity/attitude as two key parameters for the existence of one or more languages, but his examples from Scandinavia and Yugoslavia are simply incorrect.

This article reports on work on English in Scandinavian countries that is currently available in Danish, and in particular presents and analyses a recent book. This contains six papers given at a conference in Copenhagen in March 1998 on the influence of English on Danish, along with a newspaper article that had raised several of the language policy issues somewhat earlier. The book also contains the text of a policy document written for the Swedish government by the Swedish Language Council, ‘Proposal for a plan of action to promote the Swedish language’.

ROBERT PHILLIPSON comments on recent articles in ET about English in the European Union, and particularly Ross Smith's ‘Single market, single currency, single language’

An analysis with European implications of whether the expansion of English-medium education in India is restricting the evolution of Indian languages