This study investigates designing and implementing a speaking course in which face-to-face instruction informed by the principles of Task-Based Learning is blended with the use of technology, the video, for the first-year student teachers of English in Turkish higher education. The study consisted of three hours of task-based classroom…

Research in both the anthropology and sociology of education has increasingly come to consider the institutional effects of migration, globalization, and transnationalism on learning environments. Yet, most studies examining transmigration and education have only looked at migrant children in schools rather than at the "transitions" they…

The purpose of this paper is to reconsider the concept of the native speaker of English in light of the heightened status of English as a global language. The broadening and acceptance of criteria regarding who is a native speaker is historically discussed and placed in a modern context. In particular, perceptions towards the English native…

The goal of this article is to examine the factors that are proposed in the literature to explain the success--failure in the child L2 (second language) acquisition of grammatical gender in Dutch definite determiners. Focusing on four different groups of bilingual children, we discuss four external success factors put forward in the literature:…

This paper sets out to review 14 years of developments in language policy and practice in South Africa under its new, democratic Constitution. The paper begins with an overview of language policy developments since 1994, with particular reference to the role of English, of indigenous African languages and the learner in the classroom. It examines…

It is widely acknowledged that globalization has made a considerable impact on multidimensional aspects of human life including the language policies of many countries. This article examines the adjustment of Turkey's language policy in response to the global influence of English at different levels of Turkish national education, including its…

Last spring, the author distributed a survey to majors and minors in Hispanic studies at Connecticut College and at other schools to informally gather student attitudes toward the nature of Hispanic-studies courses as it pertained to their interests and goals. Although results were somewhat predictable, an unexpected finding was that of 148…

This study presents a profile of Spanish as an international language and offers the most recent information on its demographics. The countries in which Spanish is the official language as well as the territories where it is not the official language are considered. The work compares the number of Spanish speakers with the number of other…

The five papers in this issue cover a range of perspectives on the acquisition and use of the Spanish copulas "ser" and "estar" in a variety of contexts, including language contact, bilingual language acquisition, and classroom second language learning. The fact that these papers cite work in this area as far back as the early part of the 20th…

The paper explores how we think of English and "English Studies" in present-day Europe. It questions the apparent neutrality of the term lingua franca by suggesting a more differentiated set of terms. It relates the current consolidation and expansion of English to processes of global Americanisation and Europeanisation. The European…

A generation or two ago, the achievement of children who came to school knowing little or no English was not a prominent national issue. Today, with the increased focus on school accountability and educational equity, it is. This comprehensive resource explores the research on promoting academic success among language-minority students. The…

The evolution of Rwanda's language policies since 1996 has played and continues to play a critical role in social reconstruction following war and genocide. Rwanda's new English language policy aims to drop French and install English as the only language of instruction. The policy-makers frame the change as a major factor in the success of social…

English plays an important role for the life of the people of East Timor. So it is studied from secondary to tertiary schools. However, the resources of English are not sufficiently available. Under the development concerns the conditions that are faced by both the educator and learners in English as a foreign language course at the university.…

In its late colonial history and early years as an independent nation, Australia practised a policy of ruthless exclusion of immigrants on the basis of race by means of a language test: the notorious Dictation Test. In the 50 years following World War II, Australia adopted policies encouraging immigration with bipartisan political support.…

This paper reports on an analysis of meetings data which forms part of a broader study investigating the use of English as a lingua franca in international business meetings. This discourse analytic stage of research builds on an initial survey which explored the use of English for International Business (EIB) in a particular European…