One in three children enrolled in US early childhood programs is a dual language learner. While dual language learners have been the target of sweeping educational reforms under the guise of justice, these reforms--which pathologize dual language learners as problems to be remediated rather than assets to be developed--have largely ignored the…

To examine the specific education challenges that minority language-speaking parents encounter in teaching their children heritage language, this study conducted in-depth interviews with ten Chinese immigrant parents in Korean-Chinese multicultural families. Textual analysis of the interviews revealed that 'One Parent One Language' is a natural…

Language is a contextual factor of an education system as it determines the Language of Learning and Teaching (LOLT). In order to provide for diversity in South Africa, the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, makes provision for 11 official languages and the Language in Education Policy (LiEP) promotes respect for not only these…

In the context of German linguistic policies, Heritage Language (HL) education ranges from formal and informal to non-formal offers. Families with migratory backgrounds seeking acquisition and maintenance of the HL frequently resort to educational or maintenance opportunities that are not institutionalized. In the region of Bavaria (Germany), the…

In recent years, the ways in which to read English picture books to young children has become diverse in English as a foreign language (EFL) context. The present study examined the effect of parent-child interactions and digital pen use during English picture book reading in the child's interest in learning English. A total of 320 Korean mothers…

Some theories of second language acquisition have had a major influence on the teaching and learning of a second language. This study reports the acquisition of English as a second language over a six-month period by a six-year-old Nicaraguan girl. Findings are based on a cross-sectional study and data that come from observation, journaling, and…

Purpose: Emergent bilinguals (EBs) from Spanish-speaking households are a sizable and quickly growing segment of the preschool population in the United States. However, there is limited research on the provision of opportunities for EBs to engage in language-rich classroom discussion, particularly in English-dominant contexts where most EBs attend…

We review studies that examined whether children who have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and who are from culturally and linguistically diverse communities benefit more from being exposed to one versus two or more languages. Fourteen articles fit our criteria. The findings suggest that children with ASD benefit from richer…

Abundant research has examined the literacy practices of immigrant students, but little is known about the transnational literacies of Burmese refugee children and parents. Drawing upon literacy as a social practice and transnationalism, this study investigated the transnational literacies of two Burmese refugee mothers and their children. The…

Translanguaging has recently been promoted as a socially just and academically beneficial way to teach English language learners, however, there is an absence of research on the compelling ways bilingual families in the United States flexibly apply their entire linguistic repertoire when reading, particularly within shared readings. The present…

About one-third of children under age 8 in the United States have at least one parent who speaks a language other than English at home. And as of 2016, 9.6 percent of all U.S. public school students were identified as English language learners. It is obvious that the American student population is becoming increasingly multilingual. This trend is…

This is a qualitative case study that explores conversational interactions during book-reading practices in a Mandarin-speaking Chinese American family between the mother and her two young children. The study employs a sociocultural lens and the concept of translanguaging to describe the characteristics of interactional practices during book…

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…

The authors (a) examine the available peer-reviewed research documenting the literacy achievement of deaf children educated in sign bilingual programs, (b) identify gaps in the empirical literature, and (c) propose directions for future research. This review was limited to studies that reported reading and writing outcomes. On this basis, only 3…

Latino children constitute a large and growing segment of the U.S. population. By 2060, it is estimated that they will comprise one-third (32%) of the three-to-four-year-old population. More than four million children enrolled in preschool programs in the United States are dual language learners (DLLs), and more than 75% of Latina/o children over…