In this article, we study a simple mathematical model of a bilingual community in which all agents are fluent in the majority language but only a fraction of the population has some degree of proficiency in the minority language. We investigate how different distributions of proficiency, combined with the speakers' attitudes toward or against the…

This paper explores the position of 'linguistic expert', and how being positioned as an expert affects the linguistic and ethnic identity construction of a group of Polish-English bilingual adolescents living in the UK. Findings indicate that while the participants are often positioned as linguistic experts in English and/or Polish, this may not…

In Vietnam, language teaching and learning have recently been a concern of not only educators and language learners but also parents and families who have school-aged children. When finding a suitable language course, language learners and their families tend to ask questions about the nativeness of the teachers and their language fluency. Being a…

This study investigated the Family Language Policy of second- and third-generation Turkish parents in Melbourne, Australia. Earlier research has shown that the family home is a crucial site for language maintenance [Fishman 1991. "Reversing Language Shift: Theoretical and Empirical Foundations of Assistance to Threatened Languages."…

This paper primarily aims to explore how the notion of "Good English" and its sister terms, such as good writing/writers and good speaking/speakers, are perceived by ELT students and secondly attempts to determine the language ideologies that lie behind their perceptions. A phenomenological research approach was adopted making use of…

The University of KwaZulu-Natal has a bilingual language policy (2006) where students may receive instruction in isiZulu as well as in English. An online survey was carried out for all academic and support staff to gauge their linguistic capacity in isiZulu. Staff profiles were created in relation to their respective Colleges, Schools and…

The study reported in this article investigated the proficiency in French of a group of anglophone adult L2 learners of the language, all of whom reported passing regularly for native speakers of French. Tests were administered to these learners to gauge their proficiency in different aspects of French, including a lexico-grammatical measure. A…

In the context of English as a global language in which the interaction is not only between native speakers and ESL speakers but also among non-native speakers themselves, there is a need to investigate how well L2 listeners can judge and successfully comprehend accented English produced by other L2 speakers; particularly, how the specific…

By centralizing the issue of test fairness in language proficiency assessments, this study responds to a call by researchers for developing greater social responsibility in the language testing agenda. As inquiries into language attitude and psychology indicate, there is an underlying uncertainty pertaining to the validity of test use and score…

This paper focuses on how latent knowledge of an ancestral or heritage language affects subsequent acquisition by adults. The "latent speaker" is defined as an individual raised in an environment where the ancestral language was spoken but who did not become a speaker of that language. The study examines how attitudes, latent knowledge and…

Three articles on near-native English language proficiency are presented. "Attitudes to English Usage: A Comparison between Native and Non-Native Speakers," by Ann-Christin Miemois, reports on a study of attitudes toward usage of certain lexical items in English in four distinct situations. Subjects were natives of Finland and New…

Study of the relationship between attitudes of native speakers and improved nonnative performance in Spanish and the relationship between increased degree of bilingualism and positive evaluations of nonnative speech suggested that language background has some influence on the perception of others' level of fluency. (CB)

This study examined the loss of proficiency in English as a Second Language (ESL) by Japanese children returning to Japan after a period of time in the United States. Three children who lived in the United States with their families for between 4 and 7 years were interviewed on a monthly basis after their return to Japan. The interviewer engaged…

Analysis of responses of native French-speaking (N=10) and English-speaking (N=10) college French instructors rating students' errors in French revealed that (1) native French speakers were more critical evaluators than native English speakers; (2) teachers were generally more critical evaluators than students; and (3) more fluent speakers were…

Reports on a study designed to investigate the second language development of francophone children in an experimental intensive English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) program in Quebec. Results indicated that subjects outperformed students in regular ESL programs on listening and reading comprehension tests and in oral fluency and had more positive…