In this article, we report on the results of a project devoted to improving literacy in South Africa's rural schools; specifically we report the results of an intervention study that centered on improving mother-tongue literacy instruction offered to learners in Grades 1 and 2 in South African schools. Our findings demonstrate that there are…

Two international conferences held in southern Africa in 2005 gathered education and language experts to discuss practical, theoretical, and political aspects of the development of African languages for education. Despite the diversity of the participants, there was unanimous agreement that the economic and social benefits of providing…

Guinea and Senegal are multilingual countries that use French as a language of instruction in the formal educational sector with some significant exceptions. As in many other African countries, such exceptions in Guinea and Senegal, use local African languages primarily in the non-formal sector for a variety of purposes, such as adult literacy and…

This article reports on a survey of language study motivations for first-year language learners at two large private East Coast American universities. Surveys were completed by 401 students in courses for 19 different foreign languages. Forty percent of respondents were designated as heritage language learners (HLLs), and they were divided into…

Researchers have shown that the maintenance of a minority language has positive effects on the minority students' view of self, educational attainment, and career opportunities (Cho 2000; Wright and Taylor 1995). In the research for this article, however, we found that such a focus on the effects of heritage-language education on the students is…

This article describes the educational and linguistic contributions of complementary schools (also known as supplementary and heritage language education) to their communities and the wider society. It shows the importance of these schools in providing a bilingual space where teachers and young people are able to use their linguistic resources to…

Having orally proficient Spanish speaking heritage learners in a class alongside monolingual English speakers who are learning Spanish as a second language is quite the challenge: the heritage learners' ability to converse can be intimidating to the non heritage learner, but at the same time, the non heritage learner's ability to grasp the grammar…

This article makes a contribution to the field of French immersion studies by examining the engagement realities of two groups of students in an Ottawa French immersion high school program: those with and without a parent who makes them eligible for minority French language instruction as outlined by Section 23 of the "Canadian Charter of…

The purpose of this article is to briefly describe the design and piloting of a branched, online placement and credit examination that measures receptive as well as productive and creative language abilities in the heritage language of college students entering the Spanish for Heritage Learners Program at the University of Houston, a major…

This paper examines educational practices in Spain and in particular Madrid. With this contextual frame as the starting point the following issues are discussed: the "official" conceptualization of cultural diversity, educational policies and resolutions related to cultural diversity, and school programs and resources facilitated by…

Children of foreign origin are increasingly failing in mathematics in Swedish compulsory schools. This article analyses the didactics at a school proven very successful in teaching mathematics to all children including the 70% of children of foreign origin. The situation at the studied school is compared to research of the Swedish school system…

In a multiracial and multilingual society where bilingualism is adopted as the cornerstone of education policy, mother tongue maintenance is a significant issue. An innovative initiative termed as "modular curriculum" was introduced in Singapore primary schools to cater to Chinese students, the major ethnic group, with varying Chinese…

This dissertation explores complex positionings of Chinese heritage language (CHL) learners amid several intersecting discourses, including those around globalization, identity development and language policies. Using critical, qualitative methods, the study combines textual and site-based analyses, linking the language development experiences of…

The study examines emergent literacy skills in a group of young English Language Learners who are dominant in their native language, Spanish. We investigate the relative contribution of syntactic comprehension in the L1 and L2 to the development of emergent reading skills in English. Participants were bilingual kindergarteners from two public…

This study investigated self-assessed anxious learners who enrolled in online Spanish courses to determine if their anxiety was mediated by the lack of face-to-face (F2F) and other synchronous learning interactions. Participants were enrolled in courses at two postsecondary institutions located in south-central Texas. Narrative analysis was used…