Based on findings from a variety of research, Shin and Miller (2022) propose a 4-step process that children go through as they learn sociolinguistic variation. Their proposal raises many interesting questions that should inspire future research. Here, I discuss their Step 1 -- the stage in which, according to their proposal, children produce only…

Numerous studies indicate that the language and literacy development of young children is highly contingent upon the construction of an enriching home literacy environment. Using sociocultural theory as a framework, in this article I explore how a bilingual child's language and literacy acquisition is embedded as a social practice within the home…

A writer's L1 is generally believed to influence their L2 English writing significantly. However, the extent to which L1 backgrounds influence Asian learners' L2 English writing has not been wholly elucidated due to the lack of data covering various learners in Asia. Therefore, this study analysed more than one-million-word essays written by 2,318…

Purpose: The Arabic verb system features a nonlinear root and pattern derivational morphology. Previous studies suggest that young Arabic and Hebrew speakers' early verb use is based on semantic complexity rather than derivational morphological structure. The present study examines the role of morphological and semantic complexity in the emergence…

We used a Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices (S-STEP) methodology to consider how 16 teachers in an English as a Second Language (ESL) assessment course discussed 'academic' versus 'social' language while assessing a multilingual student's oral language. Using a ­figured-worlds framework to explore teachers' underlying beliefs about the…

There has been little research investigating the effects of notetaking on foreign language (FL) learning, and no studies have examined how it affects vocabulary learning. The present study investigated the vocabulary written in notes of 86 students after they had listened to a teacher in an English as a foreign language (EFL) class. The results…

L2 teachers' written feedback (WF) has been widely researched as one key cognitive factor in students' learning of a new language. Little research, however, has viewed WF as a contextually embodied and socially mediated activity that may be influenced by professional development. We compared five Iranian EFL teachers' WF before and after a…

Language planners are increasingly aware of the importance of new speakers (individuals acquiring a language outside the home, typically later-on in life) for the revitalisation of minority languages. Yet, little is known about new speakers' activation (the process by which they become active and habitual minority language users). This article…

Negation is a cornerstone of human language and one of the few universals found in all languages. Without negation, neither categorization nor efficient communication would be possible. Languages, however, differ remarkably in how they express negation. It is yet widely unknown how the way negation is marked influences the acquisition process of…

This study explored the impacts of translingual practices on English as an additional language (EAL) writing education in a non-English as a medium of instruction (non-EMI) context at a Chinese university. The findings highlighted the benefits of translingual practices in enhancing students' comprehension, easing cognitive challenges, and…

Dative alternation between prepositional and double object datives has been a popular topic in second language (L2) acquisition, but only few studies deal with discourse constraints such as the "given-before-new" principle, or given-new (GN) ordering, which describes the tendency to place given information before new information. The…

This study explores how preservice English teachers in China perceive and leverage their Chinese and English linguistic repertoires in ELT methodology training, and how a reflective understanding of their use of these repertoires can contribute to their development as teachers. To understand how their practices and conceptualizations of language…

Purpose: To avoid misdiagnosis with developmental language disorder (DLD) in bilingual children, it is recommended to evaluate both languages. However, unlike their monolingual peers, bilingual children acquire their heritage language under adverse input conditions. Focusing on Levantine Arabic, the study evaluates the clinical utility of a…

We report on U.S. middle school Arabic-speaking students who were agentive in translanguaging for disciplinary learning during social studies inquiry and suggest specific ways that students' academic learning and bilingual development can be supported through translanguaging in the context of English-dominant classrooms. We engaged in design-based…

The present study examines grammatical gender knowledge in offline production (gender marking on indefinite articles) and online gender processing (visual world paradigm) in adult second language (L2) learners of Norwegian with three different first languages (L1s): Greek, Russian, and Turkish. In particular, it investigates the role of the…