Many ethnic communities living in multicultural societies have established Heritage Language Schools (HLS) to transmit ethnic language and preserve ethnic culture. The administration of these HLS is no easy task however (Arvanitis, 2004; Pu, 2012; Tamis, 2010). Research is needed to help better understand how HLS programs, such as the Hellenic…

Theories of reading comprehension have widely predicted a role for syntactic skills, or the ability to understand and manipulate the structure of a sentence. Yet, these theories are based primarily on English, leaving open the question of whether this remains true across typologically different languages such as English versus Chinese. There are…

To inform the design of humanizing pedagogies that draw on the whole of learners' linguistic resources, educators must come to know students as language users, and, more centrally, support students to become aware of the dynamism of their own linguistic repertoires. We highlight one instructional approach--"linguistic cartography"--for…

Purpose: To avoid misdiagnosis with developmental language disorder (DLD) in bilingual children, it is recommended to evaluate both languages. However, unlike their monolingual peers, bilingual children acquire their heritage language under adverse input conditions. Focusing on Levantine Arabic, the study evaluates the clinical utility of a…

Immigrants' linguistic resources and proficiency have received attention in politics and academia; however, families' views about using the host country's language alongside their heritage language requires further research. By applying a socio-spatial approach connected to Critical Race Theory, this paper examines how mothers of Turkish origin in…

This article examines four Afghan refugee parents/guardians in Islamabad, Pakistan for their beliefs about literacy and language(s). Semi-structured interviews with each parent/guardian showed that they all highly valued reading and writing as essential life skills. However, while they viewed literacy as having instrumental value, they also…

Language and learning norms constitute the biggest constraint for refugee learners attempting to access education in Uganda because they struggle to demonstrate competencies in English despite acquiring them in their local language (Arabic, French, or Swahili). Learners are assigned to lower levels, contributing to misalignment between their…

Codeswitching is a common feature of bilingual language practices, yet its impact on word learning is poorly understood. Critically, processing costs associated with codeswitching may extend to learning. Moreover, verbs tend to be more difficult to learn than nouns, and the challenges of learning verbs could compound with processing costs…

The research report describes the ability of Kazakh preschool children to tell narratives relating to mental states, and the connection with theory of mind tasks about false beliefs. Three groups of preschool children (N = 29; 3-, 4-, and 5- year-olds) from the city of Almaty were tested in the Kazakh language. The results show very high…

Early childhood is a critical time for oral language development. Reading aloud is one of the most common instructional activities aimed at fostering oral language skills. It plays a vital role in supporting multilingual or emergent bilingual learners' oral language learning development. Through this article, the authors wish to inform teachers of…

This study investigates the relationship among working memory (WM), mathematics, and language, with the aim of understanding: (1) whether the functions and capacities of WM components can predict achievement in language and mathematics; and (2) whether competence in the first language (L1) and achievement in mathematics can predict success in…

Research on the effects of bilingualism on third language (L3) development set in bilingual communities is scarce, outdated, and has provided mixed results. This study investigated the effects of exposure and age of onset of acquisition (AOA) of L3-English, as well as first and second language (L1/L2) skills and use, in the development of…

Children's oral language skills at the earliest stages of education are known to determine their success at school later on. Improving oral language skills is achievable through targeted intervention, and drama can be an effective intervention medium, but its potential has not been extensively evaluated to date. The present study piloted an…