Language proficiency testing has long played a role as both facilitator and barrier in global migration. This paper outlines how Canada and other traditional migrant destination countries use English-language proficiency testing for immigration, asylum and resettlement, and citizenship. It identifies commonalities between these three related areas…

The Canadian English Language Proficiency Index Program (CELPIP) Test was designed for immigration and citizenship in Canada. CELPIP is a computer-based English-language proficiency test which covers all four skills. This test review provides a description of the test and its construct, tasks, and delivery. Then, it appraises CELPIP for…

New citizens are typically characterized as people who occupy an estuarial position between the global and the local: to simultaneously become authentic to their global provenience and rooted in their new local societies, they are expected to cautiously partake in processes of differentiation as they construct their identities. This article…

During the past two decades, an increasing number of European countries have introduced language requirements for residency, citizenship, and sometimes even for entry to the country and family reunification. As a result, democratic rights as well as basic human rights have come to depend upon an individual's ability to obtain a certain score on a…

In parallel with an increased focus on border security in immigration and citizenship policy in the UK (the so-called 'hostile environment' policy), Government-approved English language tests for visa and immigration purposes were officially labelled 'Secure English Language Tests' (SELTs) in 2010. The proximity of security concerns in language…

Today's world has been embracing social, political, and economical changes that result in the replacement of people for immigration and citizenship purposes. Those waves of change cause some countries to receive the movement of new people, which requires the countries to take precautions. In doing so, in the citizenship context various mechanisms…

In elementary classrooms, teaching immigration often begins and ends at Ellis Island--without discussions of racist migration policies or engagement with current issues. Although contemporary immigration is rarely discussed with elementary students, the number of young people from immigrant and/or refugee backgrounds in the U.S. continues to rise.…

This contribution examines the linguistic perceptions and ideologies of an individual of Latin American origin, Jorge, based in the German-speaking region of Switzerland, through narratives to analyse how pre-existing normative linguistic discourses influence (linguistic) identities. Connecting the micro-level of Jorge's narrative to the macro…

The Scandinavian countries currently face their largest ever wave of immigration. The immigration wave increases the need for immigrants to learn the host language to be able to participate in work life and become a citizen of the host country. Yet, the language training programmes -- 'Swedish for Immigrants' in Sweden have come under great…

The Ministry for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada includes employment-related language training in its current initiatives. This article aims to contribute to the topic of teaching soft skills for job interviews and job retention, as informed by research from the fields of business and applied linguistics, including pragmatics, as well…

Antony John Kunnan is a language assessment specialist. His research interests are fairness of tests and testing practice, assessment literacy, research methods and statistics, ethics and standards, and language assessment policy. His most recent publications include a four-volume edited collection of 140 chapters titled "The Companion to…

While Grosse and Voght (1991) set out a well-considered overview of LSP and identified areas in need of development, they limited their observations on the topic of assessment to a short section devoted to what they called the "proficiency movement." While it is true that they really did not have a lot to report on at the time they wrote their…

This chapter explores how Mexican immigrants in a small central Texas town understand their roles and/or responsibilities as citizens in a democratic society regardless of their immigration status in the country. The author interviewed two men and four women about what they thought it meant to be civically engaged, and what--if any--they thought…

This article raises questions at the intersection of immigration, citizenship, and formal civics education. Drawing from positioning theory and critical discourse analysis, this article contrasts episodes in two twelfth-grade classrooms taught by the same teacher. In the general education government class, the teacher registered students to vote,…

According to recent U.S. Census Bureau (2009) data, more than 20% of residents speak a language other than English. Today, 22.3% of U.S. children in Grades K-12 are Latino, and 21% speak a language other than English at home (National Center for Education Statistics, 2010). In California, nearly half (44.8%) of all children in the K-12 system…