Dimensions of language education policy in Asia

Abstract This paper will identify the major trends that can be determined from an overall study of recent language policies across Asia. The trends can be seen across three interrelated themes, namely: the promotion and privileging of one language as the national language as part of an attempt to create a nation state, often in polities that are linguistically extremely diverse; a decrease in the promotion of indigenous languages other than the national language and the neglect of these in education in many countries; and the promotion of English as the first foreign language in education systems, often giving other ‘foreign’ languages a minimal role in education. Possible reasons and motivations for these trends will be discussed and countries where exceptions to these trends can be identified will be illustrated. The aim of the paper will be to discuss these trends and to critically evaluate selected language policies. The paper will conclude with predictions for the future linguistic ecology of the region and for the interrelationships of respective national languages, indigenous languages and English