Natural language is known to play a crucial and specific role for children's learning in school mathematics. Not only does it carry special vocabulary, but subtle differences between natural languages may lead to surprising challenges, for instance, for learners who are not taught mathematics in their mother tongue. In this paper, the…

While mobile app-mediated communication between children and members of their family represents a substantial part of contemporary family communication and language input, we still know very little about the role of these technologies in family language policy (FLP). With an explorative questionnaire survey, the current study set out to examine…

This study focuses on students' orientations towards multilingualism in a Swedish-speaking educational degree program in Finland. Swedish is one of the two national languages in Finland and basic education is provided separately in Finnish and Swedish, even if the current national policies strongly support multilingualism in education. We analyzed…

Language aware schools need to be supported by language aware teacher education. In this study we analysed teacher socialisation among class teachers in Swedish immersion in Finland by qualitative content analysis of immersion teacher group discussions. We found that immersion teacher socialisation occurred mainly after entering the profession, as…

In the present article, the interlinking between language and sexuality in a secondary language classroom is explored. The aim of the article is to examine use of performances of sexuality in conversation practices in an English classroom in a Swedish secondary school. The data production method is classroom observations, and the examples analysed…

Linguistic diversity emerging from international student mobility, in non-anglophone universities, is typically eclipsed by the existing tensions between the national language(s) and English as 'Lingua franca'. Through a series of semi-structured interviews with university lecturers, this study highlights the tensions surrounding national…

Sweden is often commended for the inclusion of home languages in the formal education system: both mother tongue instruction (where a pupil's home language is taught as an optional school subject) and study guidance (where a pupil is given content support in their home language or prior language of schooling) are offered. Still, while many…

This article aims to explore and clarify how students' use of first and second languages in a translanguaging science classroom (TSC) may affect the continuity of learning in science. In a TSC, participants can use all available language resources, in all meaning-making situations. An ethnographic data collection and research design is used to…

Purpose: The aim is to analyse linguistic aspects of education in Social Sciences for L2 students. Method: Linguistic ethnography is used for studying the hybridity of Social Sciences with material from nine lesson observations and interviews with three teachers. Findings: Findings showed that students' earlier experiences, knowledge, and…

In this paper we reflect on the article, "Science education in a bilingual class: problematising a translational practice," by Zeynep Ünsal, Britt Jakobson, Bengt-Olav Molander and Per-Olaf Wickman ("Cult Stud Sci Educ," doi:10.1007/s11422-016-9747-3). In their article, the authors present the results of a classroom research…

This article is aimed to demonstrate how language policy at the local school level may create space for translanguaging. Focus is on a Mother Tongue (MT) classroom for Somali in a primary school in Sweden by way of an analysis of layers of language policy, with focus on spatial aspects. The empirical material consists of policy documents,…

In this study, we examine how bilingual students in elementary school use their languages and what this means for their meaning-making in science. The class was multilingual with students bilingual in different minority languages and the teacher monolingual in Swedish. The analysis is based on a pragmatic approach and the theory of…

The research question of the present paper is the following: to what degree (if any) is gender relevant as an explanatory factor in, firstly, the process of assimilation and later, the process of (re)vitalisation of indigenous and minority languages in northern Fenno-Scandia (the North Calotte)? The assimilation of the ethnic groups in question…

Finland is constitutionally bilingual and there are several small minority languages. With recent migration from different parts of the world, the linguistic environment has become even more diversified. National curricula take linguistic diversity among the pupils into consideration and stress the importance of supporting pupils' language…

The importance and amount of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) usage and English Medium Instruction (EMI) lectures continue to increase on university campuses as universities worldwide seek to promote internationalization among both the student body and the faculty. While EMI has become a priority, the teaching and learning that occurs within this…