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The cross-border flow of people and languages, a key feature of globalization, brings many challenges, including the need to support children who arrive in school with little or no knowledge of the language of instruction in the new country. In many countries, teachers who have been responding to these challenges for several decades have been able to establish models of what is widely considered to be good practice. In other settings, language-in-education policy is at an earlier stage of development. One such example concerns Roma children in Croatia where a recent court case, Oršuš and Others v. Croatia, has highlighted important differences in both provision and the educational philosophy which underlines it. This paper offers a comparative context against which provision for Roma children in Croatia can be judged. It examines the nature of provision for second language learners in a range of countries, showing how and why arrangements have changed over time. Particular attention will be paid to why segregated provision of the kind provided in the respondent schools has been found unsatisfactory in other contexts, prompting a move to alternative models of delivery. It also examines developments in the theory and practice of second language teaching with implications for both pedagogy and curriculum, outlining the progress which has been made in strengthening the academic rigour of second language teaching in integrated classrooms. Finally, it draws attention to the complexity of assessing young second language learners, the importance of including a first language dimension in initial assessment and the inappropriateness of using tasks designed for first language speakers.
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