Typically, families from ethnic minority backgrounds and socioeconomic disadvantage are underrepresented in research. Using secondary data from a survey of the language practices of multilingual families during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, we sought to ascertain whether the unexpectedly large proportion of Bradford-based respondents…

Background: This study explores how family language policies (FLPs) in multilingual homes where isiXhosa is the primary language influence caregiver choices regarding children's language development and education. Objectives: The study aims to give insight on how non-nuclear family structures in a selected sample of Western Cape families are…

This study examines how music videos can be implemented in the home context to enhance children's critical engagement with gender representations in children's media. Guided by the conceptual framework drawn from new literacies, critical media literacy, and sociocultural theory, this study employs a multiple case study approach focusing on three…

Characterised by media saturation and hypermobility, contemporary society has presented polymedia as an integral element of family life. The expansion and recognition of polymedia in language learning calls for exploring its role in heritage language (HL) maintenance. However, despite growing research interest in polymedia in diverse realms, there…

This study explores four 1.5-generation Korean-New Zealanders' perceptions of bilingualism, heritage language (HL) competence, and identity. Drawing on interview data, the study shows that the participants were strongly connected to their ethnic group and strove to accept and strengthen their hyphenated Korean-New Zealander identities through…

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…

Family language strategies are approaches that parents adopt for language use with their multilingual children. In bilingual contexts, these strategies influence children's language exposure and development (MacLeod et al., 2022). In the more complex context of trilingualism, how families settle on strategies and their relationship with exposure…

Bilingual children's total vocabulary in each of their languages is often smaller than that of monolinguals. In their seminal study, Bialystok et al. (2010. 'Receptive vocabulary differences in monolingual and bilingual children.' "Bilingualism: Language and Cognition" 13 (4): 525-531) divided children's vocabulary into 'home' and…

Framed by family language policy and children's agency, this multiple case study investigates two Hmong American children's conceptualization of Hmong and the strategies they develop and utilize in their home. Interviews, artifacts, recorded interactions, and video recorded sessions were collected to gain an understanding of how the children…

This article compares metalinguistic awareness among emerging bilingual and multilingual learners of English in Norwegian primary school. Participants were 120 students in grades 5-7 (aged 10-13) attending mainstream English classes in Norway and were divided into three groups based on a linguistic background questionnaire: an L1 Norwegian group,…

While language dominance has been crucial in the study of bilingualism, recent research has called for more detailed measures to systematically account for the observation that bilinguals use different languages in different domains, a phenomenon formalized in the Complementary Principle. Few studies have systematically measured these…

The general academic disadvantage faced by children of immigrants is already a well-documented regularity in Spain. However, there is no reliable knowledge on how academic achievement is ethnically stratified and more research is needed to understand the determinants behind these achievement gaps. This study aims to further knowledge of both…

This study explored whether the directionality of the relation between majority language and various facets of socioemotional development (three to 5 years old) differs between children with different language backgrounds. 12,951 children (49% girls; 85% White, 6% Pakistani and Bangladeshi, 3% Black, 3% Mix, 2% Indian) from the British Millennium…

The main purpose of this pilot study was to explore the rate and extent to which school psychologists are considering different developmental, linguistic, and environmental factors of English Learners. The sample of this study included coding bilingual psychoeducational evaluations (N=120) for such factors using the D-STPGE scale as a guide to…

In this study I indicate that lengthened family interaction time during pandemic lockdowns can afford children significantly more exposure and opportunities to enhance their heritage language, but that this does not diminish the constant dilemma between striving to balance English acquisition and heritage language maintenance. Using…