Abstract

Language is perhaps the most important tool in education because language is needed to communicate ideas and negotiate understandings. When we narrowly consider only the education that takes place in school, then language becomes paramount for three reasons: (a) schooling often takes place in the language of power in a nation-state—different, at times, from that used by students; (b) language is the medium through which instruction takes places; and (c) it is an important school subject.