Languages, Cultures and Schools - (New Perspectives on Language and Education) by Ken Cruickshank & Linda Tsung (Hardcover)

About the Book

This book provides an overview of community/heritage language schools and how they interact with mainstream education. It offers both an in-depth study of this type of education in New South Wales, Australia, and insights that will be of use in language education across the world.

Book Synopsis

Offers the most comprehensive national study of community and heritage language schools.

Community/heritage language schools exist across the world, and yet little is known of the languages they teach, how they are organised and what students learn. Teachers in mainstream schools are generally unaware of the language and cultural knowledge their students are gaining from these schools. This book provides an overview of this educational sector and crucially how it interacts with mainstream education.

Students of all ages describe what they think of the schools, how language learning impacts on their senses of self and their attitudes to their cultures and languages, and the role of their languages in everyday life. Teachers share their experiences, perceptions and practices. Parents and grandparents report the importance of community/heritage language schools for families, communities and broader society.

The book offers both an in-depth study of this type of education in New South Wales, Australia, and insights that will be of use in language education across the world.

Review Quotes

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"

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"

About the Author

Ken Cruickshank is Professor of Education at The University of Sydney, Australia. He is the editor of Community and Heritage Languages Schools Transforming Education (with J. Lo Bianco and M Wahlin, Routledge, 2024).

Linda Tsung is Professor of Applied Linguistics and Multilingual Education at The University of Sydney, Australia. She is the author of Learning Chinese in a Multilingual Space: An Ecological Perspective on Studying Abroad (with P. Tong, Springer, 2022).