Much of the literature on social class and language study in schools argues that for middle-class parents and their children, languages are chosen for their capacity to offer forms of distinction that provide an edge in the global labour market. In this paper, we draw on data collected from interviews with parents and children in middle-class…

Amidst emerging trends in transnational migration via globalization, an increasing number of families have gone abroad to help their school-aged children and youth gain international education credentials and provide them an opportunity to acquire English as a global language as early as possible. This early study abroad before college (ESA) has…

Discusses cultural models, prototypical scripts that constitute the meaning of language as used by a particular group. Argues that the role of the second language teacher is to encourage students to focus on and develop beyond the cultural models of their home cultures and of the mainstream school culture. (FMW)