a) Basic Problem The main question posed in this research was as follows; where exactly, and in what types of locality have those of French ethnic origin living in the Prairie provinces been most (or least) successful in preserving a distinctive French-Canadian culture. b) Method of Investigation i) The production of detailed population distribution maps showed where, and to what extent, French-Canadians were areally concentrated into distinct group settlements. It is only in such group settlement that such a sub-culture can hope to survive. ii) The varying degree of ethnic homogeneity within the various group settlements was analysed. This study confirmed that the more French Canadians were intermixed with other groups the more susceptible they would be to anglicisation and assimilation. iii) The varying strength of the French-Canadian position was measured by calculating the proportion of French Canadians in each group settlement belonging to a French-language parish - an institution which has played a great role in the cultural survival of the French-speaking minorities. iv) The areally varying strength of French-language education in the Prairie provinces was studied. v) The areally varying degree of access to a French-language newspapers, radio and television was analysed; vi) Population increases and/or decreases among this ethnic group were studied. The extent of these increases and decreases, in both rural and urban areas, affects the strength of this sub-culture. vii) A cartographic description, using the most detailed census data available, was made of those of French ethnic origin who have retained French as their mother-tongue. The retention of French among this group was taken as the key index of assimilation, not least because they have always fervently regarded such linguistic fidelity as the essential basis of their distinctive cultural survival. b) Conclusions i) Neither the province of Quebec, nor the French-Canadian people have ever shown great interest in settling western Canada. ii) A considerable and increasing proportion of French Canadians in the Prairie provinces has become completely assimilated into the English-speaking community. However, within the group settlements the degree to which French has been retained is often high. iii) By far the strongest French-speaking community is situated in south-eastern Manitoba where three large rural groups focus on the unique urban group of St. Boniface. The cultural survival of French-Canadian communities in Alberta and Saskatchewan is much more threatened, either by their cultural isolation from other French-speaking groups, or by the extent to which they have been intermixed with non-French-speaking groups. iv) The key socio-geographic factor in the linguistic assimilation of western French Canadians seems to be the degree to which they are physically intermixed with other groups. This factor emerged as much more important than other considerations such as situation in an urban or rural area, or group settlement size. v) The western French Canadian sub-culture is an extremely "localised" phenomenon. Immediately beyond the "core" areas of the group settlements assimilation becomes very marked, even if a considerable number of French Canadians can still be found. Evidence of assimilation can be found even within the "cores" of some groups. vi) The future survival of this sub-culture depends, among other things, on strengthening French Canadian institutions within the group settlements. This applies particularly to the need to develop genuinely bilingual schools. Also a new form of "group settlement" must be developed to maintain and stimulate French-Canadian institutions and culture among the increasing numbers of Francophones who have left their rural communities for the larger urban areas. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate

Magister Legum - LLM / Namibia is home to a number of linguistic minorities. According to the 2011 census, the Owambo constitute 49.35 per cent of the population, accounting for almost half of the country’s total population.1 The rest of the linguistic groups include the Bushman (San) (0.95 per cent), Caprivians (4.5 per cent), Herero (8.99 per cent), Kavango (10.42 per cent), Damara/Nama (11.32 per cent), Setswana (0.26 per cent), Afrikaans (8.72 per cent), German (0.54 per cent), English (2.43 per cent), other European languages (0.69 per cent), other African languages (1.74 per cent), Asian languages (0.08 per cent) and other unidentified languages (0.02 per cent).2 English is, however, the only official language in terms of the Constitution of the Republic of Namibia, 1990 (“Constitution”).3

If we define language fluency as more than simply a way of speaking, but also a way of thinking, acting, and being, then we enter a conversation of language as ‘Discourse’ that was sparked by James Paul Gee. This conversation invokes discrete designations of Discourse as home-based, school-based, dominant, and non-dominant. These designations reveal divisions between Discourses that are believed to manifest themselves in the identity formation of ‘language-minority students:’ those whose home Discourse is non-dominant. The dominant Discourse that these students encounter in school generates two documented paths: Richard Hoggart’s scholarship boy and Herbert Kohl’s not-learner; both paths reflect the limited agency of these students within academia. In order to counteract this delimiting of student agency, this project proposes a progressive shift towards a post-modern conception of identity formation; this can be accomplished by opening the Composition classroom to student authored, non-traditional, ‘hybridized’ Discourses. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013.

Throughout the last twenty years, following accession to the European Union (EU), legal economic migrants (and their families) have the right to live and work in European member states. Economic migrants who are European citizens of member states now assume immigrant status and co-exist in countries with pre-existing immigrant communities that have affiliations to the former British Empire. With demographic composition changes of immigrant communities in Europe, difference and discrimination of populations from diverse cultural backgrounds has become a focal issue for European societies. A new, multi-ethnic Europe has thus emerged as one context for understanding cultural uncertainties associated with youth and migration at the end of the twentieth century and the start of the twenty first century. These uncertainties are often associated with the impact of new nationalisms and xenophobic anxieties which impact mobility, young people, and their families (Ahmed, 2008; Blunt, 2005). In this dissertation I seek to examine young peoples’ experiences of migration and school exclusion as they pertain to particular groups of immigrant and minority ethnic groups in England. In particular, the study explores the perceptions and experiences of two groups of diverse young people: British ‘minority ethnic’ and more recently migrated Eastern European ‘immigrant’ youth between the ages of 12-16. It provides some account of the ways in which migrant youth’s experiences with both potential inclusion and exclusion within the English educational system, particularly in relation to the comparative and temporal dimensions of migration. Young people’s opinions of inclusion and exclusion within the English educational system are explored in particular, drawing, in part, upon the framework of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and other theoretical positions on ethnicity and migration in order to paint a picture of contemporary race relations and migration in Buckinghamshire county schools. The methodological approach is ethnographic and was carried out using qualitative ethnographic methods in two case secondary schools. The experiences and perceptions of 30 young people were examined for this research. Altogether, 11 student participants had Eastern European immigrant backgrounds and 19 had British minority ethnic backgrounds (e.g. Afro Caribbean heritage, Pakistani/South Asia heritage, and African heritage). The methods used to elicit data included focus groups, field observations, diaries, photo elicitation, and semi-structured interviews. Pseudonyms are used throughout to ensure the anonymity of participants and to consider the sensitivity of the socio-cultural context showcased in this dissertation. Findings of the study revealed that Eastern European immigrants and British minority ethnic young people express diverse experiences of inclusion and exclusion in their schooling and local communities, as well as different patterns of racism and desires to be connected to the nation. The denial of racism and the acceptance of British norms were dominant strategies for seeking approval amongst peers in the Eastern European context. Many of the Eastern European immigrant young people offered stories of hardship, boredom and insecurity when reflecting on their memories of post-communist migration. In contrast, British minority ethnic young people identified culture shock and idealised diasporic family tales when reflecting on their memories of their families’ experiences of post-colonial migration. In the schooling environment both Eastern European immigrants and British minority ethnic young people experienced exclusion through the use of racist humour. Moreover, language and accents formed the basis for racial bullying towards Eastern European immigrant young people. While Eastern European immigrant youths wanted to forget their EU past, British minority ethnic young people experienced racial bullying with respect to being a visible minority, as well as in relation to the cultural inheritance of language and accents. The main findings of the research are that British minority ethnic young people and Eastern European immigrant young people conceptualise race and race relations in English schools in terms of their historical experiences of migration and in relation to their need to belong and to be recognised, primarily as English, which is arguably something that seems to reflect a stronghold of nationalist ideals in many EU countries as well as the United Kingdom (UK). Both of these contemporary groups of young people attempted both, paradoxically, to deny and accept what seems to them as the natural consequences of racism: that is racism as a national norm. The findings of this study ultimately point towards the conflicts between the politics of borderland mentalities emerging in the EU and the ways in which any given country addresses the idea of the legitimate citizen and the ‘immigrant’ as deeply inherited and often sedimented nationalist norms which remain, in many cases, as traces of earlier notions of empire (W. Brown, 2010; Maylor, 2010; A. Pilkington, 2003; H. Pilkington, Omel'chenko, & Garifzianova, 2010).

In China, the so-called “tidal wave” of rural-urban migrant workers since the early 1980s has created unique challenges for the government, one being migrant children's education in cities. In 2001, the central government adopted a policy of “two priorities” (liangweizhu) towards the provision of compulsory education for these children, where the two areas of focus would be management by local governments in receiving areas – which, in the case of municipalities like Beijing, refers primarily to the municipal and district governments – and education in public schools. This decentralization of responsibilities, however, has created space for differential policy implementation, and, in Beijing, this has meant that many migrant children still attend poor quality, often unlicensed migrant schools that are vulnerable to government closures and demolition. Though migrant children's education is attracting increasing government and societal attention, the effects of decentralization on privately-run migrant schools and their students remain largely unexplored. In light of the policy of “two priorities,” this thesis highlights the development of two trends in Beijing: 1) the emergence of variation between district policy approaches and 2) increased civil society involvement. Using Haidian, Shijingshan, and Fengtai districts as cases, this study draws on evidence from qualitative interviews and policy document analysis to examine the interaction between these two trends and the consequences for migrant schools. It addresses critical questions concerning how policy implementation operates in an increasingly important but complex policy area and why, including the roles of policy history and local context, and illustrates that the municipal and district-level policy approaches shape the situations of migrant schools and their students directly and indirectly (through their impact on civil society). These findings shed light on the complexities of the implementation process and the implications for trends in social stratification, creating a stronger foundation upon which to improve educational opportunities for migrant children in Beijing.

Thesis (M.A. (Linguistics)) --University of Limpopo, 2011 / This study examines the effectiveness and relevance of Xitsonga at the University of Limpopo, Turfloop Campus. The study argues that as one of the six (6) official languages of Limpopo Province, Xitsonga deserves to be treated with the respect that it deserves. Although Xitsonga enjoys some recognition and support nationally and on campus, the study has discovered that there are problems associated with negative attitudes among Xitsonga speakers as they feel that the use of the English language enables them to be part of a global world. Furthermore, a major stumbling block with regard to the use of Xitsonga at the University of Limpopo Turfloop Campus is that some of its speakers hold a negative attitude towards their language as they prefer the use of English language for academic purposes. This is one reason English is still dominant amongst the student community as it is viewed as the language of the corporate world. However, the study reveals that a large number of respondents now support the idea that Xitsonga should be used in all official communication. Finally, the study recommends the use of Xitsonga in social and educational settings. It also recommends the holding of workshops and cultural activities in order to further promote and revitalise the language and its people, thus widening the circle of its acceptance at the Turfloop Campus of the University of Limpopo and beyond. / the National Research Foundation

The doctoral thesis investigates the impact of legal mobilization and judicial decisions on official minority-language education (OMLE) policy outside Quebec using a model of judicial impact derived from New Institutionalism theory. The New Institutionalism (NI) model of judicial impact synthesizes the dominant approaches to judicial impact found in the US literature, which are reviewed in Chapter Two, and transcends them by placing them within a framework based on the New Institutionalism. / The model, as developed in Chapter Three, proposes that certain factors will increase the probability of judicial decisions having a positive influence on policy, such as whether incentives are provided for implementation. The model argues that institutions---as structures and state actors---have important influences on these factors. Furthermore, the NI model recognizes that institutions play a partial and contingent role in the construction of policy preferences and discourse and in mediating the political process more generally over time. / Chapter Four demonstrates that the NI model can be applied usefully to reinterpret existing accounts of how legal mobilization and judicial decisions impacted the struggle over school desegregation in the US---a case that provides a heuristic comparison to OMLE policy as it concerns the question of how and where minorities are educated. / Chapters Five through Seven describe OMLE policy development in Canada from the latter 1970s until 2000, with case studies of Alberta and, to a lesser extent, Ontario and Saskatchewan. Chapter Eight reveals that legal mobilization by Francophone groups cannot be understood without reference to institutional factors, particularly the Charter of Rights and funding from the federal government. The policy impact of legal mobilization was influenced strongly by the Supreme Court's 1990 Mahe decision and by federal government funding to the provinces for OMLE policy development, while public opinion appeared to be a least a moderately constraining force on policy change. Chapter Eight further reveals that legal mobilization and judicial decisions helped Francophone groups gain access to the policy process and shaped the policy goals and discourse of actors within the process over time. / Chapter Nine bolsters confidence in the conclusions generated in Chapter Eight by demonstrating how the explanations provided by the NI model, which emphasize the direct or mediating influence of institutional factors, are superior to explanations generated by a Critical Legal Studies (CLS) approach, a "systems" approach, a "dispute-centered" approach, and by Gerald Rosenberg's model. The thesis concludes by suggesting avenues for future research on judicial impact, particularly research that is focused on comparative institutionalism.

This thesis explores how teachers develop working theories and practices for small numbers of non-English speaking background (NESB) students in mainstream classes. The investigation included eight class teachers and four different school settings. A pilot phase was conducted in one school at the end of 2000. The major phase of the study was carried out in 2002. In each of the four terms that year, a different school became the context for the study and the focus was placed on a year 1-2 class teacher and a year 5-6 class teacher in that school. The study employed a qualitative ethnographic approach. Information was collected about each class teacher's experience, knowledge, confidence, teaching strategies, the degree of stress experienced when teaching NESB students in various class groupings, and the way in which individual and class needs were balanced. An initial intensive interview with each class teacher was followed by in-class observations. These observations were interspersed by two reflective discussions which took place in the middle and at the end of the school term. Discussions took a reflective problem-solving approach that made use of a write-down, think-aloud technique, and focused on critical learning and teaching episodes from the class. In addition, a reflective journal was kept, and semi-structured interviews were carried out with teachers responsible for the English for Speakers of Other Languages programme in the school. The results of the inquiry led to the development of a theoretical model which illustrated how the evolution of teachers' praxis was influenced by dynamic interactions within and across three contextual layers: the educational community, the classroom, and the reflective practitioner. Each teacher's professional knowledge was informed by a unique background of experience and the nature of the collaboration that occurred with colleagues and parents. In turn, these factors impacted on the formation of pedagogic beliefs, perceived efficacy, and the evolution, selection and implementation of particular teaching roles and strategies. The study culminated with a number of recommendations being made for the enhancement of professional development initiatives, as well as for school and educational policies. In particular, these recommendations highlight the need for taking a broad ecological approach to addressing the professional needs of class teachers working with small numbers of NESB students.

Thesis (Ed. D.0--University of Toronto, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 150-161).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toronto, 2005.