Presenting data from a five year ethnographic study combined with 40 years span of policy analysis, this volume is a rare book length treatment of the chasm between imagined policy and its experienced delivery, and will provide insights that policymakers around the world can draw on. "This innovative book provides an excellent and critical oveerview of the intention, interpretation and inplementation of Australian language policies. Educationalists and language policymakers in countries, like Japan, destined to depend on immigrants for a human power shortage, will find this book instructive and insightful". Yasukata Yano, Emeritus Professor of Applied Linguistics, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan.