The purpose of this paper is to examine how Russian became a commodity in the global service industry in the decade between 2004 and 2014 and, in some places, much earlier. I will begin with a discussion of sociolinguistic theory of "commodification of language", focusing on aspects critical for this case study. Then, I will trace the…

The purpose of the paper is to shed light on potential driving forces that guide principals' decisions on how to implement language policies in their schools in Kazan, Russia. Kazan is the capital of Tatarstan and home for the second biggest ethnic group in Russia, called Tatars, whose native language proficiency is gradually declining. After…

Explores the understandings that young Mexican-American students develop about the status of languages and language use in their bilingual school. A case study documents the the social and educational processes through which bilingual children in one U.S. school come to appreciate the prestige and power of English versus Spanish. (Author/VWL)