This paper reports on a survey conducted in Australia among parents raising their children with a heritage language (HL). We found strong awareness of the importance of HL maintenance (95%), but only moderate levels of engagement (37-44%) with community initiatives for HL support. There were significantly more primary school-aged children reported…

Sociolinguistics has seen an emergence of new theoretical perspectives that somehow cater for the, according to Li, 'complex linguistic realities of the twenty-first century' (2017, p.14). Thus 'overwriting' conventional ways of understanding language/language use and its relation to identity construction. Taking these changes as a starting point,…

In the field of educational sociolinguistics there is a body of literature with a focus on children in complementary schooling. While timely, such work often does not often pay much attention to the parents who frequent the school setting, preferring to focus on the interactions between children. This paper addresses this absence by reporting on a…

Drawing on interviews with staff from Language Supplementary Schools (LSS) in Manchester (UK), we discuss the emergence of makeshift ideologies whereby actors seek to legitimise choices and policies of heritage language transmission in the diaspora setting. Actors discuss the use of regional and vernacular varieties, the consideration given to…

For diasporic communities, beyond the obvious dichotomy between the home language and the language used by the host community, there lie the complexities of language use and language ideologies related to standard and non-standard versions spoken by the community members. These complexities galvanise various attitudes performed through linguistic…

I explore the ways in which language ideologies are transformed when they are transplanted to diasporic settings as a result of migration. I examine the labelling of Cypriot Greek features as "slang" by young British-born speakers of Greek Cypriot heritage. Drawing on the analysis of data collected in a Greek complementary school in…

This article examines the potential of pedagogical translanguaging in a community/heritage language context. With focus on Arabic as a multidialectal and multiglossic language, the paper primarily examines the function of translanguaging practices in teacher-learner and learner-learner interaction to construct and negotiate linguistic knowledge in…

This paper examines diasporic language ecology based on a sociolinguistic study of a Chinese complementary school (CCS) in Birmingham, England. The study applies a historical perspective to investigate local multilingual practices in relation to language ideology and identity. The discussion in this paper draws on "heteroglossia" to…

When linguistic minority parents wish to develop and maintain their children's literacy in heritage languages (HLs), what can they do to help? How and to what extent do the individual contexts of language use and background affect the development and maintenance of HL literacy, compared with the sociocultural context of community? What are the…

Investigates the status of Arabic in the U.S. in four institutional areas: (1) the periodical press; (2) radio and television; (3) ethnic community schools; and (4) places of worship. Findings based on responses to questionnaires distributed in 1981 and 1982 indicate conscious efforts to maintain Arabic in these communities. (SED)

Investigates the characteristics of Beijing's community English language programs as well as those of the participating students. Findings reveal that community English as a foreign language (EFL) programs provide a needed component to EFL instruction in China. It is concluded that these programs offer an effective educational experience to…

Discusses a community-based nonformal education movement in Papua New Guinea to use hundreds of the country's languages to teach initial literacy in local preschool and adult education programs. The article describes this movement, the proposed government reform of the English-only formal education system and the ensuing conflicts. (37 references)…