The author describes a heritage language poetry translation project taught in a third- and fourth-grade classroom with both multilingual and monolingual students. Students interviewed family members about their heritage languages, worked with family and community members to choose and analyze a poem in their heritage language, identified essential…

This regional dossier aims to provide a concise, description and basic statistics about minority language education in a specific region of Europe. The glottonym Croatian in Austria covers two linguistic realities, namely the recognised minority language of Burgenland Croats and the Croatian standard language as a migrant language of the recent…

Research from dual and bilingual education programs shows that the use of a student's home language for reading instruction is one of the most beneficial practices for multilingual learners. Given the plethora of home languages encountered in public schools, how can teachers who do not speak the languages of their students utilize a student's home…

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,…

The Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) has synthesized key data on English learners (ELs) into two-page sheets on a variety of subjects. This fact sheet focuses on: (1) Most Common Home Languages and Language Categories (Excluding Spanish) Spoken by English Learner Students in Grades K-12: 2017-18 School Year; (2) Number of Reported…

Young learners' language aptitude is understudied due to a lack of tests covering this period of life. Young learners, in contrast with adults, are still acquiring their L1. Consequently, a language-dependent aptitude test should be carefully designed for it to be valid. An additional challenge is found when the young learners who are to take the…

Throughout their careers in education, the authors of this article have had opportunities to listen to the stories of their students. Their students have shared experiences and the impact of these experiences on their beliefs, identities, and confidence in doing mathematics. These stories have inspired them to reflect on their own practices and…

Engaging in discussions of texts featuring diverse expressions of bilingualism is important at the elementary level to move away from historical conceptions of bilingualism focused on language proficiency and instead embrace a translanguaging view focused on linguistic practices. To successfully engage in these conversations, understanding…

Even a quick glance at international data reveals something troubling: There is an increasing economic and educational gap between Africa and the rest of the world. If we look just a bit deeper, we find that economic and educational stagnation may simply be the inevitable outcomes of broad educational failure for millions of rural African…

The beginnings of Polish emigration to the British Isles date back to the 16th century, but a particularly large Polish diaspora was established after World War II when many soldiers stayed in Great Britain because they could not return to communist Poland for fear of persecution. The largest wave of emigration, however, occurred after Poland…

This article expands upon teacher guidelines for an "immersion talk" originally developed by B. Hegstad (2012), entitled, "What is Immersion, and How Can I Be Successful in That Environment?," to share with the larger language community in hopes that the suggestions will encourage teachers to help their learners successfully…

In this article, the author describes how to use "story retelling wheels" as scaffolding devices to support young learners as they develop the important skill of being able to retell stories that they have heard and comprehended. This tool can be adapted to meet young learners at different English language and literacy levels. It…

Uganda's "early exit" language policy positions African languages ambiguously in public education provision. Runyoro-Rutooro and Runyankore-Rukiga are spoken in Western Uganda in public spaces where translanguaging happens as a matter of course. These languages are heard at pre-primary and lower primary levels but are superseded by…

The rhetoric of the reading wars has become more than just an armchair academic debate, but is encoded now in the very laws, house and senate bills, and legislative policies of the majority of the states. In turn, these policies are powered by staggering sums of money such as the 90-million-dollar investment of Fulton County, Georgia in a revamp…

Literacy in a first language or in additional languages involves a set of complex cognitive, social, and linguistic skills that develop over time. However, pedagogical materials for low-proficiency English as an additional language (EAL) learners tend to target low-level literacy skills only, such as responding to fact-based questions. Materials…