As linguistic diversity is increasing in schools worldwide, research is needed to examine how to modify teaching and learning contexts in response to emerging multilingual students' different needs. Grounded in sociocultural theory, this study examined how teachers used discourse differently to respond to diverse students' needs as they…

There has been a rich literature on the role of language in learning and on its role in knowledge (co-)construction in the science classroom. This literature, rooted in social semiotics theories and sociocultural theories, discussed research conducted largely in contexts where students are learning content in their first language (L1). In this…

It has often been found that the 'white' native English instructors were the preferred facilitators in an EFL context because of their accent and fluency in the English language however teacher's competency and by extension teacher's empathy with their students remain overlooked from the initial application and hiring process of potential…

After first discussing the ideologies (standard and monolingual) implicit in language education in the United States, we argue for a necessary ideological shift in the way multiple languages and other forms of semiotic communication are understood, used, and supported in preschool for emergent bilinguals. We present examples from a preschool study…

This study explores the relationship between language selection and identity construction in contemporary Indonesia through an examination of the function of English, a language that still receives stigma from many Indonesians and the government, particularly in Indonesian popular texts published after 1998. Utilizing hybrid critical approaches…

This paper describes the language policies at 38 institutions of higher education on the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico. As a commonwealth of the US, Spanish and English hold co-official status on Puerto Rico despite the fact that majority of islanders use Spanish as their first language. Given the colonial status of the island, English has held…

In France, dominant monolingual discourses and teachers' lack of knowledge about bilingualism and second language acquisition often result in 'French only' policies in classrooms including in pre-school classrooms where some emergent bilingual children speak a language other than the language of schooling and very little or no French. These…

Ten non-English speaking immigrant students shared their lived experiences in their secondary school mathematics classrooms in New Zealand. Through the voices of these students some understandings of the challenges they experienced as second language learners are brought to the fore. The students' perspectives of the language-related challenges…

Although the number of emergent bilinguals (EBs), also known as English language learners (ELLs) in U.S. K-12 schools is growing at an increasing rate, K-12 mainstream teachers remain predominantly white and monolingual and receive little training for working with such learners. In addition, many states mandate "English-only" policies…

The U.S. government encourages the study of critical languages spoken in geographic areas of strategic importance to U.S. national security and the global economy through a variety of discretionary grants and scholarship programs. U.S. students are traditionally underrepresented in the study of these languages; however, many of the nation's K-12…

In this article, we explain how recent research on multilingualism, multilingual education, and multimodality informs our thinking about the use of "ScribJab," a multilingual iPad application and website ("ScribJab.com"), which enables users to compose, illustrate, and narrate stories in two languages. Drawing on excerpts from…

This study explores the views, perceptions and suggestions of teacher trainees regarding L1 use in foreign language classes and search for their awareness of the issue. A qualitative research design was employed. The data were gathered by means of 5 open-ended questions. The findings revealed that most of the participants preferred mostly target…

American schools today display unprecedented levels of diversity in regard to the linguistic, socioeconomic, and cultural backgrounds of their student population. Increasingly, more American students are also emergent bilingual learners. Despite this fact, most of the standardized assessments used by schools have been designed and normed for…

This article reveals how center-periphery relations have unfolded, over time, in language policy processes in one nation--Timor-Leste--on the global periphery. We take a "longue durée" perspective on the language policy processes at work in this historical context, showing how different regimes of language were imposed, in the past, by…

This study examines the relationship between the functions and patterns of language choice in EFL classrooms in a Kuwaiti primary school. It applies the overall order model, specifically the medium of classroom interaction, to identify three patterns of language choice: an English monolingual medium, an Arabic monolingual medium and a bilingual…