Minority languages in diglossic situations with a majority language face the danger of eventual loss of vitality. The first sign of this is when child language acquisition begins to erode. This dissertation investigates the intergenerational transmission of the Isan language, spoken in the Northeastern region of Thailand. While the Isan community…

In this article, we report the results of a study undertaken at the University of Cyprus (2017-2020) in the framework of the research project MapCyArS financed by the Leventis Foundation. The study concerns the design and development of an assessment test to evaluate proficiency in Cypriot Arabic (CA), a severely endangered language spoken in…

Testing is increasingly recognized as a vital part of language revitalization. I demonstrate here that assessment of linguistic knowledge should also be part of the planning process that precedes the creation of a revitalization program. I take as an example Jejueo, the language of Korea's Jeju Island. Whereas previously published work…

This study explored the relationship between the period of Turkish EFL (English as a Foreign Language) graduates' not using English as well as their ages with the attrition of their oral communicative ability. The study also indicated the language maintenance strategies the Turkish EFL graduates pursue to prevent the attrition of their oral…

The assessment of language endangerment requires accurate estimates of speaker populations, including information about the proficiency of different groups within those populations. Typically, this information is based on self-assessments, a methodology whose reliability is open to question. We outline an approach that seeks to improve the…

This paper examines the language planning situation in the Sultanate of Oman with emphasis on the planning of Arabic, English, French and German, and their choice and spread in serving different interests and purposes. The paper explores the historical, social, political, and ideological processes and complexities of the language policy and…

Second language (L2) learners of tone languages do not perceive and produce the different tones of the target language with equal ease. The most common explanation for these asymmetries is that acoustically salient tones are the easiest to learn. An alternative explanation is that tones are easiest to learn when they are highly frequent in the…

Voxy, an English-language-learning company, has developed a custom, in-house proficiency exam, the Voxy Proficiency Assessment (VPA), which is given to all learners at the beginning and end of their courses. Using Multinomial Logistic Regression (MLR), the impact of covariates, such as total learning activities completed and total number of…

In situations of language endangerment, the ability to understand a language tends to persevere longer than the ability to speak it. As a result, the possibility of language revival remains high even when few speakers remain. Nonetheless, this potential requires that those with high levels of comprehension received sufficient input as children for…

This study examines the problems encountered by trainee language teachers who strive to maintain their language skills at their optimum level in the classroom. Many trainees will admit that their language skills need refreshing and a significant number of mentors agree with them. This article explores language attrition and strategies that can be…

This study investigates the effects of weekly heritage language (HL) classes on first language (L1) proficiency in speakers who arrived in the second language (L2)-dominant setting before the onset of puberty. Two groups of L1 Spanish--L2 Swedish bilingual high school students living in Sweden participated in the study. One group currently…

The father's role in children's L1 maintenance and L2 learning is a relatively unexplored area. This study considers the L1 and L2 proficiency of 30 Korean-English late bilinguals who immigrated to New Zealand during their adolescence and how their L1 and L2 proficiency is influenced by the language use of family members. Data were collected…

A study investigated the retention and loss of school-learned foreign language skills. Subjects were 150 students of Dutch secondary schools with 4 or 6 years of French language instruction and 0, 2, and 4 years of disuse. Nine tests of general language proficiency, listening and reading comprehension, phonology, vocabulary, and grammar were…