Following substantial investments in battery production and fossil-free steel, a few select places in northern Sweden are currently undergoing rapid economic and cultural changes. The aim of this article is to explore the role language education plays for three different groups of (im)mobile subjects - refugees, labor migrants, and cosmopolitan…

This study is an investigation of the English language learning aspirations and deprivations of female rural migrant youth in technical and vocational education and training (TVET) schools in two locales in western China. This study adopted basic interpretive research focused on individual voices and experiences. The capability approach provided…

Based on data from a qualitative case study of two Chinese university EFL learners from rural backgrounds, Andy and Jimmy, this study traces their progress from being struggling English language learners to confident speakers of English. Drawing on Darvin and Norton's (2015) model of investment that recognizes the intersection of identity,…

This timely study is an investigation of the English language learning experiences and related empowerment capabilities and deprivations of female rural migrant TVET students in two locales in Western China at macro, mezzo, and micro levels during the years of the great expansion of the TVET school system. This study involves basic interpretive…

Discourses of the universality of English and its role in individual mobility and social development abound in the literature; these discourses have contributed to the global spread of English and to the development of English Language Teaching as a profession. Despite the ubiquity of the discourses of the value and universality of English, there…

Drawing on a study of current language use in a rural community in Japan, we question to what extent English actually does serve today as a lingua franca in multilingual, internationally diverse communities. Specifically, we report on a critical ethnography of a small Japanese community with a growing number of non-English-speaking immigrants,…

For over four decades, the federal Head Start program has provided millions of young children from impoverished backgrounds with access to early childhood education and basic health services. By some important measures, Head Start has helped put children on the path to academic and economic success. Teachers in the Head Start program play a…