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Policy, Practice and Power: Language Ecologies of South African Classrooms

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Encyclopedia of Language and Education

Introduction

The linguistic ecologies of South African classrooms are embedded in complex local, national and global linguistic ecologies, with far‐reaching implications for access and equity in education.

South Africa is a multilingual country with 11 official languages now recognised in the democratic Constitution of 1996 (South Africa, Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996) (see Table 1).

Table 1 South African official languages and speakers
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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of English, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

    Margie Probyn

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  1. Margie Probyn
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania, 19104-6216, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Nancy H. Hornberger

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Probyn, M. (2008). Policy, Practice and Power: Language Ecologies of South African Classrooms. In: Hornberger, N.H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Language and Education. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30424-3_232

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30424-3_232

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-387-32875-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-387-30424-3

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