This book offers a comparative perspective on language education policy and practice in Africa. Contributors to the volume draw from their teaching and research experiences in Botswana, Burundi, Tanzania, Zaire and Zimbabwe. Among the issues discussed are: language policies in Africa and how they affect classroom practice; the importance of taking into account the social, economic and political contexts that underpin language policy in education when discussing language problems in African education; the need to develop an interdisciplinary approach to both teaching and research; and the need for a critical perspective on teaching and researching language in Africa.