There is a sizable Hungarian minority living in Romania, who have the right to learn in their mother-tongue. While most Hungarians are enrolled in Hungarian medium education, there is a small number of families who opt for mainstream Romanian monolingual schools. According to the Law, the latter group can choose to learn Hungarian in an optional…

The Interface Hypothesis proposes that the pragmatic-discursive interface with syntax is more vulnerable to crosslinguistic influence than the syntactic-semantic interface [Tsimpli, Ianthi, and Antonella Sorace. 2006. "Differentiating Interfaces: L2 Performance in Syntax- Semantics and Syntax-Discourse Phenomena." In Proceedings of the…

In the field of educational sociolinguistics there is a body of literature with a focus on children in complementary schooling. While timely, such work often does not often pay much attention to the parents who frequent the school setting, preferring to focus on the interactions between children. This paper addresses this absence by reporting on a…

This study explored Chinese heritage language learners' prior Mandarin experiences and their current Mandarin-learning experiences to reveal factors that influence their motivation and intention to continue or discontinue their Mandarin coursework. Using a Grounded Theory approach, we conducted demographic surveys and semi-structured interviews…

A central aim of this article is to reflect on the design and implementation of a bi/multilingual Bachelor of Education foundation phase programme offered at the University of Fort Hare from 2018. It reviews three major perspectives on bi/multilingualism: mother tongue-based bi/multilingual education, language and decoloniality, and…

This paper explores the agentive role of school leaders in interpreting and implementing macro language education policies at preschool level in the Maldives. The Preschool Management Act of 2012 initiated a change in the medium of instruction from English to Dhivehi, recognising the importance of developing children's literacy skills in the…

Scholars have demonstrated that small-scale relatively private family decisions about language are intertwined with parental language ideologies. Using data from the context of multilingual Central Asian families--including those living in Central Asia and those living abroad--this study employs socially situated analysis of discourse and…

To this day, there are only a few studies that have used a controlled instructional intervention on specific linguistic structures to investigate if language instruction is beneficial for heritage learners (HLs), in the same way it is for second (L2) language learners, and more research in this area is rapidly needed (Bowles, 2018). The results…

This paper outlines the design, development, and preliminary usability study of a system comprising (1) a web-based Indigenous lesson-creation interface and (2) an accompanying mobile app for studying the lessons. The Nisotak project was developed in response to the need for the preservation of Indigenous languages and to support reconciliation…

Indiana dual-language immersion (DLI) programs have grown exponentially in the last 5 years as a result of state policies, related state funding, and increasing pressure for public schools to have a specialized presence amidst school choice provisions. Principals work with their communities to identify the DLI model they will adopt, student…

Language policy and planning in Nepal has been contested due to the co-existence of multiple contradictory discourses concerning teaching and learning of local, national, foreign, and international languages. Recently a multilingual policy was issued to create space for the once-banned ethnic/indigenous languages in public schooling, further…

This article examines from a historical and contemporary perspective the political, educational and linguistic demands of Mapuche intellectuals and organisations and how they have been addressed by public policy in Chile. In particular, the article focuses on the Araucanía Region, part of the ancestral territory of the Mapuche people. We adopt a…

The skill of reading is regarded as the cornerstone of literacy learning in the foundation phase. Although it is the most complex skill to master, it forms part of literacy teaching. Most learners begin schooling without having any kind of exposure to reading. This lack of exposure introduces a number of challenges, which are consequently…

Te reo Maori, the Indigenous language of Aotearoa (New Zealand), remains 'endangered' despite concentrated ongoing efforts to reverse declining numbers of speakers. Most of these efforts have focused on te reo Maori immersion education settings as these were considered the most effective means to ensure the survival of the language (May &…

The heterogeneous backgrounds, languages and proficiencies students bring to the classroom have always been a key challenge facing schools that wish to implement heritage language programmes. In this article I describe the evolution of one high school's approach to heritage language education and some of the roadblocks they encountered in…