Multilingual policies are increasingly important and required in educational settings worldwide, yet a solid experimental body of theory, research, and practice providing guidance for the development of policies is lacking. The Israeli context presented in this book serves as a case study or a model that could be used by bodies or entities seeking to devise a multilingual policy.

The authors begin by addressing the general notion of a multilingual education policy with specific reference to the Israeli context. The book then focuses on specific challenges confronting the new policy that have been explored in empirical studies, and concludes with a proposed framework for a new multilingual education policy related to the core theoretical topics and empirical findings discussed in the previous chapters. This framework includes principles and strategies for implementing the process described in the book in other contexts, ensuring wide applicability and relevance.

Developing Multilingual Education Policies: Theory, Research, Practice is an essential read for all involved in language policy and planning within applied linguistics and education.

About the Author

Michal Tannenbaum is currently the chair of the Program for Multilingual Education at Tel Aviv University. She researches and writes about multiple perspectives of language policy, including family and education systems, emotional aspects of immigration and language sustainability, multilingualism, and art. She edited the book Challenges for Language Education and Policy: Making Space for People (with B. Spolsky & O. Inbar-Lourie; 2014, Routledge).

Elana Shohamy is a professor of multilingual education at Tel Aviv University where she researches and writes about multiple dimensions of language policy, language rights, immigration, language testing, and linguistic landscape. Her books include Language Policy: Hidden Agendas and New Approaches (2006, Routledge), and Linguistic Landscape: Expanding the Scenery (edited with D. Gorter; 2009, Routledge).

Reviews

This is clear thinking and solid experience toward education for a truly democratic and just multilingual world. Beloved scholar-advocates Tannenbaum and Shohamy share wisdom, expertise and a way forward for multilingual education policy, drawing on their decades of lived experience and dedicated language policy research and practice in conflict-ridden Israel.

Nancy H. Hornberger, University of Pennsylvania, USA

In this empirically rich and conceptually cogent book, Michal Tannenbaum and Elana Shohamy present a new multilingual education policy in Israel through Shared Education and an array of innovative pedagogical and assessment approaches. The implications of this work go well beyond language and education. It is in fact a new vision for the nation, with diversity and peace at the heart of it.

Li Wei, University College London, UK

Book Information
ISBN 9780367619886
Author Michal Tannenbaum
Format Paperback
Page Count 196
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 360g