Drawing on the concept of family language policy (FLP), this paper reports on how four Chinese-English interlingual families maintain the minority language of Chinese with their preteenager children in Australia. The study takes an integrative approach to explore both parents' and children's perspectives on language development. While highlighting…

The paper focuses on the communication of three bilingual couples, each speaking a different lingua franca (LF). Positioning theory offers a methodological framework to explain language choice in interactive positioning within personal contacts. A comparative view of the couples' storylines benefits from the differences between them. The analysis…

Exploring the Yiddish language of my father, grandmother, her grandmother, and beyond, this autobiographical article frames language as an ever-changing space where identities are negotiated, formed, and contested. Placing the history of Yiddish alongside my own familial relationship to the language, I explore how the stories of individual lives…

Singapore is an ethnically, linguistically, and culturally diverse nation-state that has always practiced deliberate language policy and planning. The bilingual education policy, introduced shortly after the young nation's independence has led to the emergence of English-knowing bilinguals who are proficient in both English and their ethnically…

This paper documents the Dominant Language Constellations (DLC) in my personal multilingual repertoire, as it traces my path and pathos (or passion) of learning languages--starting with my mother tongue which has been a point of reference for most other languages that I have learnt during my life. It is also a sort of memoir of different periods…

Migrant and refugee parents considering raising their children in their non-mainstream home language often fear that this decision may impact negatively on their children's English language ability and thus affect their academic prospects. The lack of institutional support for home languages in the Australian school system, and the…

English as a foreign language is taught almost exclusively as a school subject in most parts of the world. However, reported in this autoethnography is our practice in family language planning in English as a foreign language (non-native to either parent). The personal narratives of our bilingual parenting experience focus on our decision making…

The term translanguaging has received a great deal of attention in recent years in applied linguistics. Originally coined to describe a bilingual pedagogical approach Ofelia García extended the definition to encompass the multiple discursive practices of bilingual communities. This broader definition has been taken up in many different ways by…

In the teaching of social studies, the use of funds of knowledge is beneficial for children to understand different experiences and perspectives. Families use funds of knowledge to teach their children what is important and valuable in their culture. In the case of Latino families, being bilingual is part of their history while for other families…

As children of immigrants are increasing in number across the U.S. classrooms, schools need to develop strategies to engage with immigrant families. Structural and attitudinal issues in the school system create challenges in communicating with immigrant parents. Immigrant parents have high expectations for their children's academic achievement…

More than 50 years of research indicate that family engagement plays a critical role in supporting children's learning, encouraging grit, determination, and will to succeed. Moreover, findings show that when families are involved, children improve in a range of areas: better grades, higher scores on achievement tests, lower drop-out rates, regular…

High-quality dual language immersion (DLI) programs can be a key lever to provide every student with a pathway to multilingualism. The Dual Language Immersion Playbooks (DLI Playbooks) provide a roadmap for the creation, design and adoption of policies, processes, programs, and practices that state educational agencies (SEAs), local educational…

The Federated States of Micronesia National Department of Education (FSM NDOE) requested support from the Region 18 Comprehensive Center (R18CC) to build National and State-level knowledge of effective practices in bilingual and multilingual education. This scan offers an overview of evidence-based practices for implementing and evaluating the…

This practice brief draws upon recent evidence-based instructional recommendations regarding dual language learners (DLL) and English learners (ELs) from the report, "Promoting the Educational Success of Children and Youth Learning English: Promising Futures. Consensus Study Report." The research-based recommendations provided in this…

About one in five Minnesota children under age 8 has a parent who speaks a language other than English at home. These Dual Language Learners (DLLs), who numbered 136,000 in 2011-15, come from a wide array of national, linguistic, and cultural backgrounds--a reflection of Minnesota's sizeable refugee communities from East Africa and Southeast Asia…