Although it is disregarded and banned, a person can be discriminated in the society according to various attributes--due to the person's language, religion, nationality, social background. The problem touches upon not only individuals but minorities as well. Almost all states have one or several groups--minorities--that differ from the main…

The US Census projects that the Hispanic community in the United States will reach 128.8 million by 2060, and this growth requires a better understanding of Spanish as a heritage language (SHL). This essay examines three future areas of development within SHL instruction. First, more communication between communities of research and practice is…

This regional dossier aims to provide a concise description of the European minority language, Romansh, in education. Aspects that are addressed include features of the education system, recent educational policies, main actors, legal arrangements and support structures, as well as quantitative aspects such as the number of schools, teachers,…

Prior research describes the positive benefits of dual language education as increasing students academic performance in addition to promoting bilingual development. However, these studies have not adequately addressed the tensions that exist in developing Latina/o communities bilingualism. This paper addresses the issue of bilingual development…

Language shift happens when a group of people stops using one language in favor of another, such that subsequent generations no longer acquire the original language. Research on the sociolinguistics of language shift has tended to focus on languages in advanced states of endangerment, where most or all children in the community have already…

Based on small case-study illustrations from a variety of European countries, this study aims to explore methodological aspects of the study of curriculum history by expanding its traditional research scope. In so doing, it is argued that sociolinguistic issues are essential to this discussion. The main argument is that sociolinguistics and…

The lexical restructuring model (LRM) is a theory that attempts to explain the developmental origins of phonological awareness (PA). According to the LRM, various characteristics of words should be related to the extent to which words are segmentally represented in the lexicon. Segmental representations of words allow children to access the parts…

The purpose of this study was threefold: to examine unique and shared risk factors of comorbidity for reading comprehension and word-problem solving difficulties, to explore whether language minority (LM) learners are at increased risk of what we refer to as "higher order comorbidity" (reading comprehension and word-problem solving…

In this randomized trial study, the authors examined the efficacy of a practitioner partnership language intervention addressing oral language learning (expressive and receptive) in young language-minority learners from multiple-language groups in Norway. Resource teachers in 16 elementary schools implemented the intervention in the first and…

This paper seeks to understand why the educational experiences of ethnic minority Chinese lag behind the educational experiences of Han Chinese through the lens of multiculturalism education. We conduct a critical discourse analysis of educational laws and policies from 1982 to 2012 to trace how multicultural education is articulated in Chinese…

The increase and popularity of dual language (DL) or two-way immersion programs nationally, and specifically in California, is due to the acceptability of bilingual programs that are inclusive of students whose first language is English, and who are typically of a White, middle-class background. This phenomenon can be explained through the idea of…

Discourses which seek to position different speakers/users of Breton through the use of labels such as 'traditional', 'new', 'learner', 'néo-bretonnant', 'brittophone', etc. draw on persistent essentialist ideologies of language and create, in the process, contested elites and counter-elites in Breton-speaking networks. These discourses can be…

A growing and increasingly diverse immigrant population in Spain, and in particular in the region of Catalonia, places new and challenging demands on the educational system. In this study, we use a minority language rights framework to examine how Catalan educators conceptualize the linguistic and cultural rights of immigrant students, and the…

The paper describes the transformational role technology plays in the management and transmission of heritage (minority) languages (HL) in two UK-based multilingual families. Data were collected in the form of a language background survey, parental interviews, and recordings of interactional events within the home. Findings suggest that parents…

This study examines the attitudes of German-speaking pupils towards Sorbian-language education and the problems these pupils indicate as an obstacle to becoming bilingual through educational settings. Based on the research carried out in the Upper Sorbian Grammar School in Bautzen/Budyšin (Germany) combining a statistical survey, in-depth…