Despite an increasing interest in pronunciation instruction in English as a majority language or international "lingua franca," less is known about pronunciation learning in non-English minority languages, especially among child learners. Bilingual education programs provide a unique context to address this research gap, as they involve…

This article capitalizes on the notion of linguistic risk-taking by focusing on a new pedagogical initiative at the University of Ottawa, an institution where courses, programs, and services in both English and French are available. In this bilingual context, we define linguistic risks as authentic communicative acts in learners' second official…

In this article, preProgress in Reading Literacy Study (prePIRLS) 2011 data is used to compare the performance of different language of instruction groupings (English, Afrikaans and African languages) in primary schools on the more complex, higher-order reading comprehension items tested in a large-scale international test. PrePIRLS 2011…

It is generally accepted that second language (L2) acquisition becomes more difficult as one grows older and that success in adult L2 acquisition is highly variable. Nevertheless, humans in language contact situations have to cope with intergroup communication. This article examines the ways society has responded to this challenge. It describes…

This article discusses the implications of "multicompetence" (Cook, 1991), defined as an individual's knowledge of more than one language, for language assessment. The growing psycholinguistic evidence highlighting variability in native speaker performance as a result of multicompetence is reviewed, evidence that further questions the validity of…

Due to the global momentum of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), Anglophones may perceive that there is less urgency for them to learn other languages than for speakers of other languages to learn English. The monolingual expectations of English speakers are evidenced not only in Anglophone countries but also abroad. This study reports on the…

The simplified documents produced by the British and Rhodesian governments to explain the settlement proposals to Africans are compared in terms of syntactic complexity and lexical choice, and in terms of the audience to which the documents are addressed. (Author/RM)

In 2002 the language policy for teaching mathematics in Malaysia was changed from the national language Malay, to English, to be implemented from the beginning of 2003. This gave the curriculum developers and importantly the teachers just six months to prepare for this change. This small study investigated how after 18 months, 22 secondary…

The materials status report for Pashto, the national language of Afghanistan, is one of a series intended to provide the nonspecialist with a picture of the availability and quality of texts for teaching various languages to English speakers. The report consists of: (1) a brief narrative description of Pashto, the areas where it is spoken, its…

The materials status report for Slovak, the official language of the Slovak republic in Czechoslovakia, is one of a series intended to provide the nonspecialist with a picture of the availability and quality of texts for reading various languages to English speakers. The report consists of: (1) a brief narrative description of Slovak, the areas…

The materials status report for Somali, the official language of Somalia, is one of a series intended to provide the nonspecialist with a picture of the availability and quality of texts for teaching various languages to English speakers. The report consists of: (1) a brief narrative description of Somali, the areas where it is spoken, its major…

The materials status report for Khmer, the majority and official language of Cambodia, is one of a series intended to provide the nonspecialist with a picture of the availability and quality of texts for teaching various languages to English speakers. The report consists of: (1) a brief narrative description of Khmer, the areas where it is spoken,…

The materials status report for Sinhala, the majority and official language of Sri Lanka, is one of a series intended to provide the nonspecialist with a picture of the availability and quality of texts for teaching various languages to English speakers. The report consists of: (1) a brief narrative description of Sinhala, the areas where it is…

The materials status report for Mongolian, the official standard language of the Mongolian People's Republic, is one of a series intended to provide the nonspecialist with a picture of the availability and quality of texts for teaching various languages to English speakers. The report consists of: (1) a brief narrative description of Mongolain,…

The IADIS CELDA 2012 Conference intention was to address the main issues concerned with evolving learning processes and supporting pedagogies and applications in the digital age. There had been advances in both cognitive psychology and computing that have affected the educational arena. The convergence of these two disciplines is increasing at a…