Responding to a recent call for interdisciplinary research into 'night studies', the present study attempts to put the nighttime at the centre of the sociolinguistic enquiry, seeking to explore how the nocturnal linguistic landscape (LL) differs from the diurnal LL by drawing on Singapore's Chinatown as the research site. A total of 1091 LL items…

This paper reports on a comparative case study of the multilingual practices of eight secondary teachers of English from across India, all identified as experts of their contexts using multiple criteria. Both qualitative and quantitative data from classroom observations, interviews and other sources were collected, analysed and compared across…

English features prominently in global communication as part of the knowledge economy in Indonesia and worldwide. Meritocracy represents a key concept within the rhetoric of this economy, as it promises that how well people do in life is not determined by external matters, but mostly by how hard they try. Included here is how hard they study…

Due to modernisation and Englishisation in Bahrain, noticeably different types of bilingual and bicultural experiences exist, especially among the youth. Recently, the rise of Chinese education policies in the region raises the question of how it might alter the local linguistic market and the forms of capital within it. Applying a…

Studies have found that bilinguals respond differently to personality measures in their two languages, indicating that bilinguals change their personality as they switch between their two languages and/or cultures. Across two experiments, we attempted to investigate the effect of language and culture separately on how bilingual speakers rate…

Recently, we have been witnessing the emergence of digital grassroots activism in social networking sites (e.g. Facebook) -- affording discursive tools and spaces to engage in normative approaches to preserve Turkish(ness) and raise ideological oppositions against English medium instruction (EMI). By linking Critical Discourse Analysis…

Zambia is home to a complex set of language practices, which involve languages being used in different ways across social contexts. Historically written communication has typically been associated with English with African languages mainly associated with used spoken contexts. Recently, however, there has been a shift in this pattern with African…

Most L1 (first language) Japanese speakers in Japan seem to think that they are monolingual. While it appears that Japanese people accept monolingual-ness as normative in the nation, there is little situated understanding of what makes up this Japanese monolingual-ness. This study reports on repeated, long, and mostly unstructured interviews with…

Informed by translingual practice [Canagarajah, S. 2013a. "Translingual Practice: Global Englishes and Cosmopolitan Relations." New York: Routledge] and poststructuralist conceptualisation of identity [Norton, B. 2000. "Identity and Language Learning: Gender, Ethnicity and Educational Change." "TESOL Quarterly" 35…

This paper proposes a concept of "campus vitality" of languages: the ability of a language to maintain its prestige, visibility and continuity on university campuses. A seven-factor framework is developed for on-the-ground investigation of the relevant languages in a given campus context. These indexical factors are the number,…

The present study examines the language use of 1,333 students taking English medium instruction (EMI) courses in four elite universities in South Korea. It employs a quantitative method with qualitative comments. The study investigates three language practice issues in EMI courses, including: (i) the extent of use of English in EMI courses, (ii)…

A region's identity is closely related to its semiotic landscape as well as history, economy and culture. This article explores the linguistic landscape of Jianghan Road, a historical business centre in Wuhan, P. R. China, by photographing and analysing 1308 official and unofficial signs in order to provide a snapshot of language choice and…

The Netherlands is home to an increasing number of English-language churches. These churches are often established with an international audience in mind: however, interestingly, they also attract a large number of Dutch as a first-language (L1) speakers. This article investigates the language attitudes and language choices of Dutch L1 speakers…

This article offers a decolonial reading of professional development for English-medium instruction (EMI). The article zooms into the context of Taiwan, where the promotion of EMI has intensified since the 2030 Bilingual Policy was introduced. It is unclear, however, what constitutes EMI professional development, and to what extent the…

The study investigates language use and identity navigation among Nigerian migrants with a focus on language use in public and social spaces in Cape Town, South Africa. It reports on ethnographic observation, participant observation and semi-structured interviews. Findings reveal the use of spoken Igbo and isiXhosa in interactions among primarily…