This article explores how the development of mother-tongue instruction (MTI) policies in the Danish welfare state have created varying notions of difference and sameness in the schooling of migrant students and how they experience these notions locally in practice. Based on an analysis of MTI's policy history and oral history interviews with…

This study inquires how students of Arab heritage in an urban setting in Denmark interpret Islamic literacy artefacts available in their homes, and how these interpretations reflect broader faith literacy practices in the students' diaspora community. Through a linguistic ethnographic study design students have been invited to photograph literacy…

Studies exploring grammar teaching in first and foreign language subjects in Scandinavia are very rare. In this article, we present findings from a focused ethnographic study (Gramma3, 2018-2019) of grammar teaching practices in the three major first and foreign language subjects at lower-secondary level (age 13-15) in Denmark: Danish L1, English…

Adult second-language learners are a growing population of students in many countries throughout the world as the global community continues to expand beyond not only physical borders, but cultural and language borders as well. 200 expatriates, who lived in Denmark during the time span of 2006-2016, who were required to show proficiency in their…

According to previous studies, Japanese learners of English (JLEs) have a negative perception of their own variety of English along with a strong desire to sound native-like. Language attitudes toward L2 (second language) English accents may affect their active participation in English communication situations. The present study is cross-national…

Multilingualism is a major feature of European schools. The current study examines Danish data regarding teachers' behaviours, beliefs and attitudes about multilingualism. Data were collected using the Multilingual Classroom Questionnaire (MCQ) devised by the European Literacy Network. Sixty-one participants contributed to the Danish sample (85%…

Many scholars have highlighted the great variability of second language acquisition outcomes and, thus, the inconsistencies and inconclusiveness in the study abroad literature. These have called for longitudinal, case-based research that focuses on the students' processes (rather than outcomes) and that showcases the heterogeneity of…

As humans, we all experience the fundamental need to belong. Often, this sense of belonging is inherited and nurtured by our families and their histories, the languages we speak and the cultures we adhere to; and it is in our experiences and engagement with these aspects of ourselves that our identities are formed, contested, negotiated and…

Exploring multilingualism as a complex, context-related, societal and individual phenomenon, this book centres around perspectives on how multiple languages are made (in)visible within educational settings in the Global North. The authors of each chapter compare and contrast findings across geographical contexts with the goal of understanding the…

The continued concern of English Learners (ELs) being overrepresented in special education coupled with the 2020 global COVID-19 pandemic that urged educators to ramp up online instruction, has left educators to deliver instruction to ELs via e-learning. This issue is further exacerbated by students in the United States (U.S.) continuing to lag…

The role of students' first language(s) in foreign language classrooms has been hotly debated in the last decades. Although this line of research has advanced our understanding of language choice in the L2 classroom, it has mostly dealt with adolescent and adult learners. From a contextual perspective, then, more micro-analytic research that…

Students and teachers from different language backgrounds are at risk of becoming victims of conflicting trends and conventions when writing in English. This study compares conventions of English academic writing at several European universities with what is taught in English-speaking countries. Data were collected with questionnaires and by…

Based on Bourdieu's theory of practice, this article explores pedagogical ideals and educational policies in teachers' everyday practice in a postcolonial bilingual university setting in Greenland. Greenlandic and Danish teachers' teaching ideals were explored during a one-year pedagogy qualifying course for assistant professors organised by the…

This article focuses on mother tongue teaching in Arabic, Dari, Pashto and Somali as it is practised in a linguistically diverse primary school in Denmark. The article draws on a linguistic ethnography of language teaching across the curriculum, and the analysis focuses on three mother tongue teachers. Drawing on classroom observations and…

This study compared receptive English grammar skills of two groups of 7- and 9-year-old Danish children at the beginning of second language (L2) instruction in English, and two groups of Spanish/Catalan children of the same age after several years of instruction. The study examined the influence of two language-related factors (receptive…