Language Choice in a Nation Under Transition, 2006 English Language Spread in Cambodia Language Policy Series, Vol. 5

This book examines language choice in contemporary Cambodia. It uses the spread of English, and French attempts at thwarting it in favor of their own language, to study and evaluate competing explanations for the spread of English globally. The book focuses on language choice and policy, and will appeal to scholars in comparative education where language and language policy studies represent a growing area of research interest.

Thomas Clayton is Associate Professor of English and Linguistics at the University of Kentucky, U.S.A., where he teaches classes in applied linguistics and directs the Master of Arts in English with a Concentration in Teaching English as a Second Language Program. Professor Clayton has published more than two dozen articles on language and educational policy issues, often in the Cambodian context, in books and journals. In 1991, Clayton established the first U.S. university educational program in postwar Cambodia, the English Language Teaching Center for the State University of New York at Buffalo at the Cambodia Development Resource Institute. In 2000, he taught at the Faculty of Law and Economics in Phnom Penh as the first-ever Fulbright scholar to Cambodia.

Provides a very detailed, empirical case study of the spread of English. Many books on English language spread induce conclusions from scant empirical data

The focus of the book on language choice and policy will appeal to scholars in comparative education, where language and language policy studies represent a growing area of research interest

In general terms, studies of Cambodia are of interest to Cambodian and Asian studies scholars and due to its research foci: language and education policy

Most books published on Cambodia tend to focus on political history

Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras