Interview-based research in multilingual situations can present researchers with specific ethical challenges relating to language-based power play, data handling and presentation. Studies indicate favouring the L1 (first language) as an interviewing language may produce better quality data, but external pressures can favour English as the dominant…

What purposes might literary translation serve in the K-12 classroom? In this article, I use practitioner research to explore a heritage language poetry translation project I taught with third and fourth grade multi- and monolingual students in a suburban independent school. Students interviewed family members about their heritage languages,…

This article explores how a cohort of tertiary-level Uyghur students contested and negotiated their identities through multilingual practices in the receiving community. Drawing upon interview data from fieldwork, this study indicates that these students experienced essentialist understandings and negative views in the host society. Participants…

Voice is co-constructed, a result of the "text-mediated interaction between the writer and the reader." The present study, using the context of U.S. college writing, explores the complicated process by which an L2 novice writer--one who has a growing awareness of, yet peripheral access to, discourse practices--constructs a voice. Through…

Though definitions vary, the literature on heritage speakers of Spanish identifies two primary attributes: a linguistic and cultural connection to the language. This article profiles four Anglo college students who grew up in bilingual or Spanish-dominant communities in the Southwest who self-identified as Spanish heritage speakers, citing…

This article draws on a qualitative study which seeks to explore whether Iranian English as a foreign language learners experience any reversal conceptual transfer and whether they construct two identities as a result of learning a foreign language. The findings from the open-ended questionnaires distributed among 65 undergraduates at the…

The present study aimed at understanding the nature and potential dynamism of five pre-service EFL teachers' self-concepts in the domain of English as a foreign language (EFL). To this end, the effects of pre-service teachers' experiences gained alongside the practicum on their EFL self-concept development were also discussed. Data were generated…

This study investigates how university students in the US and Hong Kong perceive themselves as literate and biliterate beings. All the participants in Hong Kong are biliterate in at least two languages (including Cantonese, Mandarin, and English), whereas only 40% of the U.S. participants are biliterate in at least two languages (including…

A growing number of bilingual and multilingual national and international students are enrolling in graduate programs in the United States, creating an urgent need to understand how these writers build knowledge of unfamiliar academic genres and become part of their disciplinary academic communities (Selony, 2014). Such students struggle with…

Roberge defines the 1.5 Generation as "those who immigrate as young children and have life experiences that span two or more countries, cultures and languages" (2009, p. 4). In US and Canadian higher education, the term has gained considerable recognition, with the scope of the term broadening among some educators to include…

Contrary to earlier studies dealing with the cultural identity development of diasporic minorities, this paper assesses the impact of homogeneity on intra-group cohesion and ethnic orientation. To this end, Oromo-Americans, an ethnic group originally located within the national borders of Ethiopia, will be compared to Armenian-Americans,…

Educational issues in relation to ethnicity and language education policies have been underexplored in Asian contexts. In particular, issues related to ethnic and linguistic minority students have not received much attention in the post-colonial context of Hong Kong. This paper highlights challenges and tensions faced by Nepali ethnic minority…

The majority of multilinguals immersed in different cultures report feeling different when switching languages. Although the influence of personality on self-perceptions has been investigated, little attention has been paid to acculturation aspects. The present study is based on a mixed-method approach combining questionnaire and interview data.…

The study is situated in a bridge writing course that serves multilingual international students during their first year in college. Based on interviews with 36 Chinese international students and detailed tracing of one focal student's literacy activities, this study examines the social production of a translocal literacy learning space that spans…

Language is a crucial factor for the academic achievement of minority people. Speaking the mother tongue in school increases self-confidence and thinking skills, and conveys freedom of speech. Mother tongue is an inseparable element of his or her culture and that everyone has the right to learn his or her mother tongue. The main objective of this…