This paper reports on an investigation of differential item functioning (DIF) in the Iranian Undergraduate University Entrance Special English Exam (IUUESEE) across four native language groups including the Azeri, the Persian, the Kurdish, and the Luri test takers via Rasch analysis. A total sample of 14,172 participants was selected for the…

The "early grade reading assessment" (EGRA) is frequently used in low and middle-income countries to inform the state of reading outcomes and reading instruction (Dubeck & Gove, 2015). Although the EGRA has been administered in languages with varying orthographies and scripts, there is little research on the cross-linguistic…

This study examines identity construction and conflict in the case of a woman whose parents replaced the local language with the official language at the home in the city of Tabriz in northwestern Iran, where the local language, Azerbaijani, is overshadowed by Persian as the official language of the state. In such contexts, Shifting away from the…

The present study sought to uncover the effect of previously acquired languages, Azeri and Persian, on the acquisition of English adjective properties of bilingual learners. It further investigated the role of L3 general proficiency and its interaction with the effect of previously acquired languages on the development of English adjective…

This article is the first large-scale study to document the speaking proficiency outcomes of intensive programs in less commonly taught languages in US higher education. Speaking proficiency was measured by pre- and postprogram ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interviews (N = 484) in 14 languages: Arabic, Bengali, Brazilian Portuguese, Hindi, Indonesian,…

Do assimilationist restrictions on a minority language lead to greater national unity or a more rebellious minority population? Under what conditions might short-term backlash to language assimilation evolve into greater national unity in the long term? While much of the literature on ethnic politics implicitly treats language simply as an…

The study explores language maintenance and shift patterns from a family language policy perspective in Azerbaijani-Farsi bilingual families in the City of Zanjan, Iran. The city is the capital of Zanjan province which is surrounded by Azerbaijani, Kurdish, and Farsi speaking provinces giving it a specific demographic make-up to explore language…

This paper investigates the role of supplementary schools as grassroots educational initiatives whose reach extend beyond individual educational trajectories for minoritized youth. We examine how these schools serve as community forces, emphasizing the importance of resources and relationships. Drawing on the theoretical frameworks of funds of…

Language planning and policy has evolved from considering policy as one of states' affairs at its early stages to how policy actors exercise their agency to appropriate and enact policy in micro and local contexts. Ethnography of language policy is predominantly used today to explore why policies are enacted in a certain way and not otherwise,…

This paper addresses Iranian English as Foreign Language teachers and learners' perceptions of explicit grammar instruction and corrective feedback and the effect of language background on learners' perceptions of explicit grammar teaching. The research background indicates that explicit instruction and corrective feedback can play a significant…

This study responds to scholarship that has examined "folk concepts" of (non)nativeness through the lens of imagined ideals of the native speaker, by proposing a framework that integrates both ideals and habits. We operationalize these concepts by drawing from the theoretical notions of chronotope, scale, and habitus. Using data from…

The article represents structural semantic analysis of the grammatical number of nouns in the Indo-European (English, German), Semitic (Arabic, Hebrew), and Altai (Tatar, Japanese) languages. The category of number comprises numerous phenomena, including some transitive and historical aspects, which complicate and enrich the system of language.…

Although Article 15 of the Iranian constitution endorses non-Persian Languages, speakers of these minority languages are latently obligated to speak Persian, the majority language, in most social settings. Consequently, these Iranian L2 speakers of Persian give rise to certain attitudes towards their accented speech, particularly from speakers of…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to assess the intercultural sensitivity of students in teacher educational programs at higher education institutes (HEIs) in Georgia. Design/methodology/approach: This research explored the intercultural sensitivity among 355 randomly selected students in teacher education programs at higher education…

This paper aims to demonstrate the implications of health mobility on language practices in the medical tourism industry in India and on the ways, language workers become entrepreneurs. Drawing from ethnographic fieldwork that traces the trajectories of three former students of Russian, we highlight their future aspirations as language learners…