Abstract

This volume covers the language situation in the Czech Republic, European Union and Northern Ireland explaining the linguistic diversity, the historical and political contexts and the current language situation – including language-in-education planning, the role of the media, the role of religion, and the roles of non-indigenous languages. The authors are indigenous and/or have been participants in the language planning context.

The purpose of the volumes in this series is to present up-to-date information on polities that are not well-known to researchers in the field. A longer-range purpose is to collect comparabale information on as many polities as possible in order to facilitate the development of a richer theory to guide language policy and planning in other polities that undertake the development of a national policy on languages. This volumes is part of an areal series which is committed to providing descriptions of language planning and policy in countries around the world.

Richard B. Baldauf, Jr is Associate Professor of TESOL in the School of Education at the University of Queensland and a member of the Executive of the International Association of Applied Linguistics (AILA). He has published numerous articles in refereed journals and books.

Robert B. Kaplan is Emeritus Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Southern California. He has published numerous books and articles in refereed journals and written several special reports to government both in the US and elsewhere. He has served as President of the National Association for Foreign Students Affairs, of TESOL, and of the American Association for Applied Linguistics.