This study compares two linguistic landscapes and the concurrent language policies of two scenarios where minority languages coexist with Spanish. On one hand, in the Archipelago of San Andres, Colombia, Spanish is in contact with an English-based Creole (Raizal Creole). Similarly, Valencian (Spain) coexists with Spanish as a national language.…

This targeted, qualitative study examines language attitudes, educational language policy, and literacy in an underrepresented segment of Haiti's multilingual society. Drawing on decolonizing theory, we take a critical stance, arguing that colonial language ideologies that privilege French and disempower Kreyol are reproduced in the…

This article presents findings from a six-month Language and Social Justice course collaboratively designed with multilingual educators in the Dominican Republic. Teaching and learning processes with Dominican and Haitian youth (ages 18-24) illustrate how opportunities to learn about English and Kreyòl from a transnational perspective can disrupt…

Haitian Creole, or Krey'ol, has a unique history because it is historically an oral language; however, significant efforts have been made to standardize its orthography and to promote its literacy base. It also comes from a diglossic society: Haitian Creole is spoken in familiar settings such as the home, while French is used in formal settings…

Suriname represents an interesting case of unidirectional multilingual convergence in a linguistic area. The multilingual ecology of Suriname is hierarchical. The Germanic language Dutch exerts structural and lexical influence 'downwards', but other languages do not do so 'upwards' to the same degree. This study analyses the development of word…

With a focus on Australian Aboriginal students, in this article we argue that translanguaging provides a useful resource for multilingual learners. We point out that although translanguaging is a relatively recent term, in Indigenous Australia is has been used consistently throughout the ages as people from different languages communicated with…

This study investigated the changing patterns of language use and language attitudes of younger generations of Mauritians over the last two decades. This article discusses the shift in language attitudes of students in secondary education with special emphasis on Kreol, taught since 2012 in primary schools and from 2018 in secondary schools. A…

The Focus on the Outcomes of Communication Under Six (FOCUS) is one of a few validated outcome measures related to children's communicative participation. Additional validation of the FOCUS measure could address the paucity of validated outcomes-based measures available for assessing preschool-age children, particularly for those who are…

Multilingualism in European classrooms is the norm, not exception, and while the management of linguistic diversity is increasingly at the fore of language policy debates, policy engagement with the multilingual realities of schools continues to be inadequate, and the linguistic habitus of present-day education systems remains largely monolingual…

Beyond his contributions to the field of psychology, Vygotsky may be considered as 'one of the first thinkers in complexity' (Jörg, 2011 p. 14). Vygotsky challenged linear causality and defended the idea of the transcendence of individual learning to focus on the generative potential of learning and development through social interactions,…

This article undertakes a textual analysis of an autobiographically informed novel, "American Street," to analyze the process of identity formation of a Black Haitian immigrant youth in the United States. Black immigrant youth remain an understudied demographic in literacy research compared with their Latinx and Asian immigrant…

Eight adult Aboriginal people residing in a remote community in the north-west of Australia participated in this research. The data were collected from an 'inside' perspective and, as culturally appropriate, through informal interviews (yarning) and ongoing conversations. These data were recorded as field notes and audio files which were…

In 2009 the Philippines introduced a mother tongue-based multilingual education language policy requiring the "mother tongue" as the language of instruction (LOI) in kindergarten through grade 3. Using teacher classroom language data collected from four LOI groups in 2019, we compared the frequency of teachers' use of the target LOI in…

In January 1982, the Republic of Seychelles became the first country to make its Creole, Seselwa, an official medium of instruction in its multilingual education system. Overall, this innovative language policy has positively affected student levels of personal motivation and academic success. Nevertheless, the nation's continued use of…

Informed by the theory of identity in practice, this study examined an immigrant student's (Yulia's) language learning experience. A narrative analysis of Yulia's personal stories reveals that her perceived identities as an intelligent, different, and special multilingual speaker have isolated her from her communities. She desperately tried to fit…