This book demonstrates the importance of raising multilingual children in the UK, both for the children's own benefit and for the benefit of society as a whole. Against the backdrop of both the rich linguistic diversity already present in the UK and the challenges faced by any languages other than a few major European languages to find any space…

This article presents a developmental pathway for the acquisition of morphosyntactic variation. Although there is abundant evidence that morphosyntactic variation is pervasive among adults, much less is known about how children acquire such variation. The literature thus far indicates that the pathway of development involves first producing only…

Young children do not develop language skills by studying grammar and rules for forming sentences. Children's brains are wired to acquire language naturally; all they need is exposure. Many opportunities for language learning are lost to deaf children if they are not surrounded by other signers. In fact, the loss can be so severe that deaf and…

Deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children experience systematic barriers to equitable education due to intentional or unintentional ableist views that can lead to a general lack of awareness about the value of natural sign languages and insufficient resources supporting sign language development. Furthermore, an imbalance of information in favor of…

This paper invites us to reconsider our usual understanding of infancy, no longer as something that passes but as "infantia." The Latin word "infantia," which is not easy to translate, means a lack of speech, a lack of eloquence, and also infancy, babyhood, and dumbness. Drawing on Barbara Cassin's works on the untranslatables,…

Literature on indoctrination has focused on imparting and revising beliefs, but it has hardly considered the way of teaching and acquiring certainties--in Wittgenstein's sense. Therefore, the role played by rationality in the acquisition of our linguistic practices has been overestimated. Furthermore, analyses of the relationship between certainty…

Families who live in the United States or migrated here from other countries and who do not speak English often feel pressured to stop using their home language with their children and to focus on learning English (Fillmore, 2000). This is true for hearing families and for families of children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Parents report that…

Babies are miraculous linguistic creatures. From an early age, they seamlessly master the language or languages in their early environment. Babies' early language-learning abilities turn out to not just be about language--they are also social in nature, orienting children to cultural in-group members. Infants and young children demonstrate…

Mikhail Bakhtin is a latecomer to the field of child development. His contributions emphasize the dialogic nature of language as a lived event of becoming for all and de-thrones any monologic truths that might be told otherwise. Dismantling any master theory that might determine the ways children are known (or know-able), Bakhtin offers a…

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…

Children who have more opportunities to engage in discourse that reflects the use of inferential language have better outcomes than children who have limited exposure to the use of inferential language. Many interventions that aim to improve children's language and comprehension however continue to focus more on literal language. Many language…

Several federal mandates have eradicated developmentally appropriate early literacy practices in primary grade classrooms across the country. Studies show that patterns of oral language use are developed extensively during the preschool years and lay a foundation for literacy development. In recent years, high quality pre-kindergarten classrooms…

Researchers agree that attention to bilingualism and biliteracy can and should be a goal in all educational settings where young dual language learners are present. The challenge, however, is how to promote biliteracy development while remaining congruent with principles of developmental direction, specifically the idea that children's…

Home and English language learning is essential for young DLLs with disabilities. Early educators as well as parents and other caregivers can implement promising strategies to support home and second language development for young children who are DLLs. This article reviews the importance of adult (e.g., teacher, parent) feedback and language…

Research interest in heritage speakers and their patterns of bilingual development has grown substantially over the last decade, prompting sign language researchers to consider how the concepts of heritage language and heritage speakers apply in the Deaf community. This overview builds on previous proposals that ASL [American Sign Language] and…