Search

Aided by big-data technology and artificial intelligence, automated writing evaluation (AWE) systems aim to help students engage in self-regulated learning and improve their academic writing in the digital era. While much research on student engagement with AWE systems has been conducted in mainstream classrooms, little attention has been paid to ethnic minority students who have different educational experiences and sociocultural backgrounds. This study investigates how a group of ethnic minority students from Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region engaged with an AWE system in academic writing during an 18-week semester at a comprehensive Chinese university. Data were collected from multiple sources including student multiple-draft assignments, AWE feedback, and retrospective interviews with the students. The participants were found to engage with the AWE system behaviourally, cognitively, and affectively in their writing and revision, but the extent to which they engaged in the process is influenced by their multilingual proficiency, familiarity with digital technologies, learning beliefs and sociocultural identities. Those who were more actively engaged and obtained more learning gains tended to capitalise on their linguistic and cultural capital in their engagement with AWE feedback in their writing. The article concludes with educational implications for ethnic minority students in higher education.

Despite much research on how multilingual learners view the linguistic properties of language, how they perceive languages as cultural capital has been far less investigated. Drawing on the theories of social cognition, this study explores how multiple foreign language learners' impressions, as a lens to observe their multilingual awareness, are formed and transformed regarding the linguistic features of language as well as the cultural capital derived from language learning. In this article, we report on a multiple-case study on the multilingual awareness development of four Chinese multilingual learners who learnt and used English as their first foreign language amongst other foreign languages such as French (including varieties spoken in France, Belgium, Cameroon, and Cote d'Ivoire) and Malagasy. Findings show that initial multilingual awareness as social cognitive schema can persist into subsequent foreign language learning and use, and can also change and transform as learners take a more effortful approach to processing information from their linguistic and social circumstances when they learn and use a new foreign language. In brief, multilingual awareness development in multilingual learners of foreign languages may follow a dual-process model, encompassing different patterns of development, i.e. incremental change and diversificational change.

This study examined student teachers' beliefs about teaching multilingual classrooms across three European contexts; Slovenia, Spain (Catalonia), and Finland. Research shows that teachers' confidence in handling linguistically diverse classrooms is lacking. Linguistically sensitive teaching (LST) was used as a lens to explore different expressions of 'fears' in student teachers vis-à-vis handling plurilingual pedagogies. We collected reflections of 128 student teachers and carried out an inductive, thematic content analysis in multiple cycles. The findings showed that student teachers' fears were related to the following five categories: 1) languages in society; 2) building relationships; 3) teaching skills and methods; 4) external evaluation and teacher's autonomy, and 5) legislation and policies. Student teachers in all three contexts shared concerns over how to protect minority languages and how to obtain enough opportunities to train for LST. A major difference between the contexts emerged in the categories of building relationships and external evaluation. By examining student teachers' expressions of fear in the Slovene, Catalan and Finnish contexts, the study gives clues to better design initial teacher education courses that support the inclusion of LST in teacher practices.

This paper contributes to our conceptualization of linguistic identities in English as a lingua franca (ELF) communication by analyzing a group of multilingual international students' narrativized accounts of their ELF communication experiences in an international university in Hong Kong. The findings of the study indicate that despite their status as L2 speakers, the participants considered themselves as legitimate speakers of English when interacting with others through ELF. Moreover, they oriented to their national cultural identities and personal identities indexed through their accents in ELF communication. Their frequent use of ELF with other students from diverse linguacultural backgrounds also prompted them to identify positively with a local ELF-using community and envision their imagined identities as members of a global ELF-using community. The findings further reveal that the participants' ELF communication experiences opened up a space for them to take on new and alternative L2-speaking personal identities which they perceived to be markedly different from and more desirable than their L1-based selves. Overall, the analysis provides empirical support for applying a tripartite model of linguistic identity for understanding ELF communication experiences and calls attention to the multidimensional nature of linguistic identities and the interrelatedness between different dimensions of linguistic identities in ELF communication.

Due to the increased mobility and linguistic and cultural diversity internationally, there has been a renewed interest in the linguistic practices of immigrant families. Earlier scholarship focused on the difference between parenting in monolingual contexts and bilingual parenting conceptualised as management of more than one language in a family. To better understand the complexity of language practices in immigrant families, this article develops a new concept of plurilingual parenting. This analysis is based on empirical data from Canada and uses plurilingualism as a theoretical framework. I found that immigrant parents adopt plurilingual parenting, which is characterised by the following features: (1) parental beliefs in the dynamic and fluid nature of language practices; (2) family language policies that are flexible and allow for partial proficiency in languages in familial linguistic repertoires; and (3) interconnectedness of language and culture. Implications include the possibility to use the concept of plurilingual parenting in the scholarship related to family language policy and identity negotiation in immigrant families. Educators working with immigrant students will benefit from the familiarity with the concept of plurilingual parenting by aligning their expectations with parental practices and appreciating students' funds of knowledge.

With the number of international students growing rapidly within (international) higher education, more attention has been focused on the need to consider international students' experiences, particularly those from the global south, from more critical, ethical and qualitative perspectives. This paper examines how the lived experiences of three multilingual international students at a Canadian university were impacted by ideologies stemming from neoliberalism and native-speakerism within higher education. Through in-depth interviews with each student, the findings point to complex ways in which such ideologies gradually worked to displace the students' languages and cultures through processes of othering and inferiorisation. More specifically, the combined sociocultural and material impact of neoliberalism and native-speakerism resulted in the students appearing to reject participation in and affiliation to their cultural groups, repositioning their languages as deterrents to the development of their English language proficiencies, and adopting behaviours that could linguistically and socially approximate them to an imagined native speaker of 'standard' English, including attending speech therapy. The conclusion critically discusses the importance of reform in higher education with respect to language, diversity and social justice.

As part of its ambitious Belt and Road initiative, the Chinese government, cognizant of the fact that establishing strong people-to-people bonds locally, regionally, and internationally will be key to the initiative's success and that languages will play a pivotal role in facilitating this, has called for the diversification of language programmes beyond English at the tertiary and pre-tertiary levels. The aim is to boost the plurilingual and pluricultural competence (PPC) of Chinese citizens, who are often already multilingual because of their knowledge of Chinese dialects and minority languages. This article reports on a study involving 248 university students from over 20 provinces in China that explored the interactions between their reported PPC, translingual dispositions, interculturalism, orientations toward cultural differences, and identity-related views. The results revealed that the participants' translingual dispositions entailed engaging in language negotiation practices to a greater extent than in resisting linguistic norms or exploring language. Moreover, the more multilingual the participants were, the more fluidly they reported moving between languages and the greater was their PPC, which was also positively and statistically significantly predicted by their age, ethnic background, acceptance of cultural differences, and views about their personal identity.

Studies on language shift in Singapore have focused on the language use within ethnic communities. However, despite increasing numbers of interethnic marriages, very few studies have explored the effect of such marriages on LS. This article explores the language practices within Malay-Chinese mixed marriages and examines how language policies in these marriages and families are negotiated. Through the analysis of surveys and interviews with 16 Malay-Chinese interethnic families, this study found that English transcends both Malay and Mandarin in terms of language use in all domains. The linguistic choices of participants are also dependent on their interlocutors. Parental ideologies, both overt and covert, point to Mandarin being perceived as important for their children's future while Malay was perceived to be a more familial language. This paper also highlights the influence government policies have on Singaporeans' perceptions on the status of languages. The data points unambiguously to language shift in progress within these families, away from either Mandarin or Malay towards English.

In order to distinguish between language-related ideologies, Ruiz (1984) proposed three language orientations, namely 'language-as-problem', 'language-as-right' and 'language-as-resource'. Although this typology has been applied to various countries and regions around the globe, relevant research in China, a multi-ethnolinguistic country, remains limited. Through a review of China's minority language policies and relevant literature, this paper explores the application of Ruiz's theory to the context of China and proposes two possible directions which can complement this theory. Firstly, the study found that there are different layers, complexities, and even contradictions under a broad/unified language orientation, and that minority languages can be simultaneously positioned as a 'right', a 'resource' and a 'problem'. Secondly, by investigating a particular ethnic minority language (the Nuosu Yi language), the study found that the written (literacy) and spoken (oracy) skills of the language can be positioned differently in language-in-education policies and practices. We therefore propose that a critical 'biliteracy continua' lens (Hornberger 2004) can provide further analytical nuance to the language orientations put forward by Ruiz (1984).

This is the first large-scale study of resources as a form of "language management" -- that is, a way of influencing children's language practices. We introduce the distinction between child-directed resources (i.e. those providing parents with opportunities to engage with their children in the languages they are transmitting) and parent-directed resources (i.e. those providing parents with information about multilingual child-rearing). This study focused on the awareness and use of, as well as the desire for, such resources among Québec-based parents (n = 819) raising infants/toddlers (0-4 years) with multiple languages in the home. Data were collected with a questionnaire. Quantitative data were analyzed statistically, and qualitative data were analyzed using a computer assisted discourse study. We compared parents transmitting at least one immigrant heritage language -- usually in addition to English and/or French (HL parents), and parents transmitting only English and French (non-HL parents). Overall, the findings show that non-HL parents were comparatively satisfied with existing child- and parent-directed resources in English and French. By contrast, HL parents had a stronger desire for additional resources in their HLs. All parents desired multilingual resources. The paper discusses the theoretical and practical contributions of this study as well as directions for further research.

To educate multilingual global citizens and follow the multilingual turn in language education, universities are faced with the challenge of developing their language pedagogies. This article reports on a study conducted in the context of university language studies that take a multilingual perspective to learning languages for academic and professional purposes. Although multilingual pedagogies have been widely developed in what could be traditionally considered as bilingual education, practical implementations are rarer when considering students that generally have one home language but study multiple foreign languages. To assess the effects of multilingual teaching in this kind of context, the present longitudinal, discursive study examines changes in university students' beliefs about language learning during their studies. The findings show a shift towards perceiving language more as a means of communication rather than a school subject during the research period, although this shift was clearest for English. In addition, there were small signs of multilingual perspectives towards language learning. The study indicates that there are advantages to multilingual pedagogies in higher education. The article discusses challenges in university language pedagogies and gives suggestions for further development of multilingual teaching.

Cross-nationally, urbanization is associated with the decline of minority languages and a shift towards national and official languages. But the processes that link urbanization with language shift have not been adequately documented. In this paper we consider the relationship between cities and language shift from a sociolinguistic perspective, focusing our attention on the issue of language use and language shift in Indonesia -- a large, ethnically and linguistically diverse, rapidly urbanising country. We use census data to examine how ethnic diversity shapes language shift in the context of urbanicity. We find that in ethnically homogenous regions, urbanicity itself has little relationship with language shift. By contrast, ethnic diversity is consistently associated with a greater probability of speaking Indonesian both among urban and rural Indonesians and in urban and rural areas. These findings contribute to our understanding of language shift and linguistic vitality in diverse, urbanising societies, and highlight the need to distinguish between the process of urbanization and the state of being urban.

Multilingualism is increasingly seen as a resource among researchers, educators and in society. Whereas positive beliefs about the benefits of multilingualism may foster increased motivation for language learning, little is known about students' beliefs about potential multilingual benefits. This study examined the beliefs of Norwegian secondary school students concerning the benefits of multilingualism and the role of some individual differences in these beliefs. The data consisted of questionnaires completed by 593 secondary school students. The initial descriptive statistical analysis showed that students held diverging beliefs regarding the benefits of multilingualism being more positive about benefits related to the language learning process and less positive about general cognitive advantages. Further statistical analyses with independent T-tests revealed interesting relationships between students' overall beliefs about multilingualism and the following variables: Students' who reported having friends with other home languages than Norwegian, students who had lived abroad and students with migration backgrounds held significantly more positive beliefs about multilingualism than students' without such experiences. No significant relationships were found between students' beliefs about multilingualism and the number of languages learned in school or students' multilingual identity. Pedagogical implications for students' language learning in school contexts are discussed.

Swearing uses language forms that are taboo and potentially offensive. These are often used for emotional expression. Multilingual research shows that because the first language retains most emotional force (Dewaele [2004]. "The Emotional Force of Swearwords and Taboo Words in the Speech of Multilinguals." "Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development" 25 (2/3): 204-219; Pavlenko [2012]. "Affective Processing in Bilingual Speakers: Disembodied Cognition?" International Journal of Psychology 47 (6): 405-428), it is often the language of choice for swearing. Furthermore, swearing frequency and language preference are associated with different personality traits (Dewaele [2017a]. "Self-Reported Frequency of Swearing in English: Do Situational, Psychological and Socio-Biographical Variables Have Similar Effects on First and Foreign Language Users?" "Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development" 38 (4): 330-345). This study draws together these multilingualism research areas to investigate Persian immigrants' language choice for swearing, with reference to personality traits and socio-biographical factors, and in light of the Iranian cultural context. A mixed methods approach was adopted combining questionnaire and interview data. 204 Persian-English multilinguals residing outside Iran participated. Key findings revealed nuanced gender and personality dimensions. Specifically, women with higher Social Initiative (Extraversion) used English swearwords more frequently than Persian swearwords. Men who showed lower Emotional Stability (high Neuroticism) used Persian swearwords more frequently than English swearwords. There was also a positive relation between frequency of the use of Persian/English, self-rated knowledge in Persian/English, and Cultural Empathy and Open-mindedness. Semi-structured interviews provided deeper insight into these language choices. The study highlights how language preferences for swearing are shaped by both personality and socio-biographical factors in complex and nuanced ways.

This longitudinal inductive research unpacks the process of African post-secondary students' Chinese language identity (CLI) with the purpose of exploring a model of CLI development. We traced how 12 multilingual African students developed their CLI during the first year in a Chinese university. Data coded from three rounds of interviews conducted at different times reveal that over time, there are fewer distractors and more contributors to the development of CLI. We also found three bidirectional factors that both facilitate and impede CLI construction. In terms of dimensions of language identity, Chinese language expertise and positive affiliation with the new language increased over time without change in students' original language inheritance. Results inform both African students' adaptation in China and the instruction and administration of African students in Chinese universities. This study helps to discover patterns of change in language identity from a micro perspective and informs models of language identity development among multilingual adult learners.

This study explored the family language policy, bilingual parenting profiles, and the predictors among Chinese parents in Singapore. Altogether 175 parents of Chinese-English bilingual preschoolers (aged 2;6-5;6) were sampled and surveyed. The research results indicated that: (1) a majority of the parents (93.7%) believed in early bilingualism but differed in their beliefs about the appropriate starting age for early bilingualism; (2) two latent profiles of bilingual parenting emerged: "Radical Bilingual Parenting" (n = 91, 52.00%, bilingual reading activities from Age 2, longer hours of bilingual parent-child conversation); "Moderate Bilingual Parenting" (84, 48.00%, bilingual reading activities after Age 3, shorter hours of bilingual parent-child conversation); and (3) child's age, their preschool education experience, and parents' belief about the appropriate age to start early bilingualism predicted the profile of bilingual parenting. Implications for language policymaking and early bilingual parenting are discussed.

The Hague, the third largest city of The Netherlands, is a multicultural and multi-ethnic urban centre with many migrant churches scattered across the city. This article examines the linguistic presence and identity of a select number of English-speaking churches and their identification through Linguistic Landscaping. Our findings show that, while it is claimed that Dutch society is becoming increasingly secularised, the many migrant and other international churches currently present in The Hague suggest the opposite. In addition, it appeared that English-language churches in The Hague attract large numbers of Dutch congregants for whom English is their second language. Reasons for this are that English is perceived as a lighter language than Dutch for practising their religion, and that it brings fresh perspectives to their faith. The use of English is thus expanding to the religious domain in The Netherlands in a new way (cf. Edwards, A. 2016. "English in the Netherlands: Functions, Forms and Attitudes." Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins). Applying Linguistic Landscaping as a research tool was found to work only for older heritage-language churches, which have a more established and sometimes even officially recognised position in the city, than newer migrant churches, whose presence is often transient in line with the changing nature of superdiverse cities.

Language-specific (i.e. the ideal L2 self) and plurilingual selves are now at the forefront of scholarly inquiry in L2 motivation research. Yet, there is a lack of empirical studies examining how language learners reframe their sense of self as speakers of an L2. This study draws on a questionnaire (N = 162) and on semi-structured interviews (N = 10) and explores the ways in which university students of Italian and German describe their proficiency-related motivations. In particular, it examines their bilingual and plurilingual aspirations in relation to broader discourses on the value of L2 learning in their socio-context of learning, where the ability to speak a second language is not the norm. The findings show that learners' motivation display both language-specific and non-language-specific features. While many students viewed the acquisition of fluency in the L2 as their end goal, others connected L2 learning to the attainment of non-language-specific bilingual and plurilingual identities, regardless of the L2 being learnt. L2 proficiency enabled the respondents in this study to position themselves in their local English-dominant socio-context as educated, open-minded, cultivated and more globally connected individuals.

In the last ten years, positive emotion in foreign language learning has been increasingly investigated in many research areas, including Foreign Language Enjoyment (FLE). FLE has been defined as a positive emotion felt when an individual's psychological needs are met. This study investigates the relationship between perceived levels of Subjective Well-Being (SWB) and Stress (PS), as well as the degree of multilingualism (DM) and their effect on FLE when learning an additional language. The data were collected from 68 students (35 trilingual and 33 bilingual) who were learning an additional language (Italian or French). Statistical analyses showed that SWB and PS were unrelated. The strongest predictors of the FLE was SWB, with PS having a small but significant effect. Trilingual subjects were found to have significantly more FLE, whereas there was no statistically significant difference for SWB and PS. The findings are discussed in light of previous research on FLE, which confirms that SWB and DM, as well as a low level of stress, play an important role in enjoying learning a new language. The implication of this study is discussed both for language teaching and language policy formulation.

The processes of formulation of language policies have not been researched thoroughly. This paper aims to explore the relationship between ideas, power and agency in language policy-making and specifically with reference to the formulation of language-in-education policy for multilingualism in Ireland. Through an argumentative approach to language policy and using a discursive institutionalist framework, the paper examines data from policy documents and interviews with policy actors in the Department of Education and Skills. The paper reports on the ways in which agentive discourses are constrained and enabled by institutional structures. The analysis shows how power resulting from asymmetric internal forces and the hierarchical architecture of institutions prevailed over the capacity of some actors to promote their ideas through discourse. Moreover, it shows how static ideational elements are powerful structural constraints on agency. The paper argues for a conceptualisation of actors in policy-making as agentive individuals who engage in a dynamic struggle over ideas to realise complex and changing policy goals. It concludes by claiming that a focus on discursive forms of power in the policy analysis at the so-called macro level would be beneficial for language policy scholarship.

Despite recognising multilingualism as a reality and multilingual workforce as an advantage, language policies continue to favour certain languages over others. Using a case study of Canada's language-in-immigration policy related to three federally administered immigration programs, this study is an attempt to understand how the macro-level policy represents Canada's official languages (English and French) "vis-à-vis" the linguistic diversity that skilled immigrants bring to the country. A particular emphasis is given to the role of the Canadian points-based system and how it has emerged as a device to create power relations between the official languages and other languages. The findings reveal a disconnect between the macro policies and the social realities where a linguistic imbalance and inclusion of accountability measures have created a narrow model of social integration that expects multilingual skilled workers to integrate into the socio-economic culture through one of the official languages of Canada. Disregarding the multilingual reality of the Canadian society and not utilising the linguistic diversity of the multilingual workforce is a missed opportunity to benefit fully from these skilled workers and requires rethinking the current model of integration from a multilingual perspective.

This article discusses family language policy and the tensions between mothers' and children's language beliefs in two Vietnamese immigrant families in Melbourne. These tensions have frequently been discussed from the parental perspective, but it is less common to include the children's voice. We draw on a larger in-depth qualitative study of family language policy in Vietnamese families living in Australia to explore the language beliefs of both children and adults. Employing Fitzsimmons-Doolan's [2018. "Language Ideology Change Over Time: Lessons for Language Policy in the U.S. State of Arizona and Beyond." "TESOL Quarterly" 52 (1): 34-61. doi:10.1002/tesq.371] notions of pro-multilingual and pro-monolingual ideologies and Bourdieu's [1986. "The Forms of Capital." In "Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education", edited by J. G. Richardson, 241-258. Greenwood Press] concept of capital, we explore family language policy from the perspectives of both children and their mothers, and show how these perspectives are associated with each other. Findings reveal the pro-monolingual stance of the children in opposition to the pro-multilingual stance of their mothers where the children and their mothers appeared to attach different degrees of value to English and Vietnamese. The findings reinforce the complexities in realising family language policy across languages.

The present study contributes to recent renewed interest in the social construction of folk linguistic knowledge and directs its focus to a multilingual workplace. The article reports on an in-depth sociolinguistic investigation in a European institution in Luxembourg. Data were collected in 2020-2021 with trainees and permanent staff in a terminology and communication unit. The data collection triangulated qualitative techniques of longitudinal interviewing, reflective drawing, writing reflection and observation. Analysis of participants' stances uncovered a varying understanding of what multilingualism means in the workplace, how it changes and to what effect. During reflective participation, the trainees heightened their sociopragmatic awareness of diversity in the meaning-making process. Moreover, they ceased to construct their personal multilingualism as proof of professional competence and started to see it as the basis of their own well-being, personal self-realisation and growth. As such, they re-coupled the social and linguistic aspect of their language use and aligned their stances with the permanent staff. This study aims to inspire more innovative approaches with a potential direct effect in multilingual workplaces, especially in those welcoming workers from monolingual or otherwise homogeneous social environments.

During the last two decades, universities around the world have increased the adoption of English-medium instruction (EMI) as a way to enhance internationalisation and global competitiveness. EMI adoption presents a wide range of opportunities, but it also presents some challenges, being one of them the potential impact on students' academic performance. This paper analyses the impact of EMI on the academic performance of the students in a Spanish university. The objective is to extend previous research, that shows contradictory conclusions. In the first part of the paper, using a multiple linear regression model to control key covariates, we have compared the performance of 229 EMI vs 635 Non-EMI students, corresponding to cohorts 2013-2014 to 2017-2018, considering the average grade in the 10 subjects of the first course. In the second part, we focus on the 2017-2018 cohort (49 EMI vs 116 Non-EMI students), carrying out a longitudinal study of its behaviour during two academic years in four different subjects. The results show that there are no statistically significant differences in academic performance between EMI and non-EMI students, ie language of instruction does not play a relevant role in academic performance.

In the present study, we have explored language learning motivation, attitudes and exposition strategies in participants' L2 and FL in an attempt to adopt a multilingual view that better suits the complex sociolinguistic context of the Basque Country. The study includes 200 young multilinguals from the Basque Country. Most of them have Basque as their L2 and have studied English as a foreign language since they were young. For data collection, a questionnaire was designed combining closed Likert-type questions and open questions. The results show that young people who have had certain exposition to the minority language at school and outside school have developed a positive attitude toward multilingualism and motivation to learn Basque and English and that the linguistic identity of these young multilinguals is built according to the characteristics of a globalised world. This highlights new challenges in the goal of preserving and revitalising the minority language as the strategy of isolating the language is no longer valid, and it points at a need to delve into new strategies.

This article examines linguaculturally diverse university students' affective translingual practices of using emojis and languages in computer-mediated communication. Research studies have investigated the sociopragmatic uses of emojis from the perspectives of social semiotics, language socialisation, and translingual practices. This study expands on these perspectives and further adopts enregisterment as a conceptual framework to explore the emergence of emoji variations and other affective expressions in online discussions about news and social media content. The primary data were collected from written discourses on Facebook across 8 weeks and through follow-up data-focused interviews. The results present the multilingual participants' metapragmatic commentaries on particular uses of face emojis in relation to emotive discourses, enregistered voices, and embodied contextualisation. The results exemplify the multimodal enregisterment of affective translingual practices through which emoji users' playful performances can be recognised and enacted in online socialisation.

This paper reports on a comparative case study of the multilingual practices of eight secondary teachers of English from across India, all identified as experts of their contexts using multiple criteria. Both qualitative and quantitative data from classroom observations, interviews and other sources were collected, analysed and compared across cases. It finds that, while there was noticeable variation among the participants, all engaged in complex translingual practices that were inclusive of their learners' languages, invariably prioritising learner participation over language choice. It also finds that, in each context, learners invariably mirrored the varied translingual practices of their teachers, and that the practices of the classroom community were found to be reflective of practices in wider Indian society, enabling learners both to meet the normative requirements of monolingual written exams while also learning to integrate English more flexibly in their spoken repertoires. Given these findings, two recommendations are offered for educational policy and practice, both in India and comparable multilingual contexts across the Global South: for policy-makers and institutions to avoid the unqualified endorsement of monolingual target language (e.g. 'English-only') practices in language instruction, and for teachers to prioritise learner inclusion in classroom discourse and activities over maximal target language use.

Quantitative research on the linguistic acculturation of sojourners in non-Western and multilingual social contexts remains scarce. Revising the Framework of Acculturation Variables (FAV), we propose a parsimonious model exploring the effect of acculturation conditions (trilingual language usage and perceived discrimination), orientations (social connectedness to mainstream and minority community), and outcome (psychological well-being). In particular, we examined the alternative paths enabled by non-local languages in the acculturation process, revealing the complexity of multidimensionality in trilingual linguistic acculturation. The findings highlight the crucial mediating role of acculturation orientation in the acculturation process. The effects of Cantonese, Mandarin, and English usage on the acculturation process of Mainland Chinese students in Hong Kong (N = 798) were examined.

This study explores a Japanese-Korean-English trilingual Asian-American child's identity negotiation in a multicultural book club. Drawing upon the conception of "figured world" (Holland et al. 1998. "Identity and Agency in Cultural Worlds." Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press), it investigates how the book club as "a space of authorship" offers the 9-year-old girl of migrants opportunities to negotiate her multiple identities while responding to the books and interacting with the book club members. The weekly multicultural book club was held in a local public library for 34 weeks. The data included field notes of the book club sessions, transcripts of the book discussions, interviews with the child's mother, and the child's journal entries. The data were analysed on a weekly/monthly basis with interpretative approaches. The findings revealed that the child appreciated diversity and fortified her identity as an activist self who stood against social practice that marginalised people from different backgrounds. However, the identity was questioned and challenged by the book club members. The book club pushed her into a space where she encountered different perspectives and negotiated conflicting identities.

Early childhood professionals can act as catalysts in encouraging home language maintenance in multilingual families. However, there is a dearth of research on whether these professionals advise parents to speak their home language(s) to their offspring, and furthermore, little is known about what prompts professionals to proffer language advice. To respond to these queries, we relied on two theoretical frameworks: Spolsky's language policy model and Bandura's perceived self-efficacy theory. We gathered data from professionals (N = 305) employed at infant welfare clinics in Belgium and examined whether a high sense of multilingual confidence (i.e. a form of perceived self-efficacy), together with positive multilingual beliefs and multilingual practices, would induce professionals to offer multilingual advice (i.e. a form of language management). Our logistic regression results revealed that multilingual practices and multilingual confidence were positively associated with multilingual advice. Additionally, multilingual training was found to be strongly related to advice-giving. Multilingual beliefs, however, were only connected with multilingual advice when they were considered without the inclusion of multilingual confidence, as multilingual beliefs seemed to operate via multilingual confidence. We, therefore, suggest an enrichment of Spolsky's model by taking into account multilingual confidence when investigating individuals' language policy dynamics.

Responding to a recent call for interdisciplinary research into 'night studies', the present study attempts to put the nighttime at the centre of the sociolinguistic enquiry, seeking to explore how the nocturnal linguistic landscape (LL) differs from the diurnal LL by drawing on Singapore's Chinatown as the research site. A total of 1091 LL items constitute the database. Altogether 808 LL items were collected during the daytime and 283 of these LL items were found to be illuminated during nighttime site visits. The quantitative analysis reveals that the nocturnal LL differs from the diurnal LL in several ways: at the top-down level, the nocturnal LL shows a strong monolingual English tendency, while the diurnal LL has a tendency towards multilingualism; at the bottom-up level, fewer languages are used in the nocturnal signs than in the diurnal signs and Chinese is used as the prominent language in nocturnal signs, whereas English has a leading position in the diurnal signs. Our findings complicate previous scholarly understanding of bilingual and multilingual configurations in Singapore, suggesting that the LL has its own unique representation at night. The potential for integrating nighttime as a new dimension to examine LL is discussed .

Post-colonial Hong Kong is an officially trilingual city with significant numbers of residents speaking English, Cantonese, Mandarin, or some combination of all three. Competency in these languages is promoted through educational policies and practices at all levels of schooling. Using concepts from the Deweyan framework of democracy and education, this article explores relational practices among bilingual co-teachers at a private, international early years programme in Hong Kong that emphasizes democratic philosophies of learning in their efforts to promote trilingualism. Findings point to co-teachers' interest in developing collaborative relationships, and prompting interest in additional language use through promotion of children's interests, along with tensions they experience as they grapple with instruction in multiple languages. Findings point to a need for more nuanced understandings of co-teaching dynamics in post-colonial multilingual learning contexts.

Employing ethnography and the theoretical paradigm of "language ideology" (Silverstein, M. 1979. "Language structure and linguistic ideology." In "The Elements: A Parasession on Linguistic Units and Levels," edited by P. Clyne, W. Hanks, and H. Carol, 193-247. Chicago Linguistic Society), this article examines how ideologies of language inform language practices among migrant workers in a Vietnamese restaurant in South Texas. Data is drawn from participant observations, audio-recorded interactions, semi-structured interviews with participants, and collection of artifacts. Findings suggest that the participants hold certain ideologies, namely: (1) standardised English as an impediment or a resource; (2) polite language as access to community membership and career opportunities; and (3) multilingualism as a marketable commodity. Those beliefs, in turn, shape their trajectory of language practices and socialisation patterns. The participants' language ideologies, therefore, do not exist separately as a theoretical divide, nor a static social construct, but constantly evolve, mutually inform, and contest each other, dynamically transformed during their socialisation process. The paper concludes with the emphasis on exploring linguistic dynamics, such as language ideologies and multilingual turn in language socialisation, across similar transnational communities.

As plurilingual/multilingual research advances, factors that contribute to or hinder individual's flexible language use are still underexplored. Questions such as "Why do some people identify as plurilingual and pluricultural while others do not?" and "What factors contribute to high levels of plurilingual and pluricultural competence (PPC)?" remain unknown. This article presents results of a mixed methods study with 250 plurilingual participants in the multilingual city of Montreal, Canada. Data was collected through a demographic questionnaire, the Plurilingual and Pluricultural Identity Questionnaire (PPIQ) and the Plurilingual and Pluricultural Competence (PPC) scale. Results show that a vast majority of participants identified as plurilingual and pluricultural, and seven reasons for shaping this identity were found: rich repertoire, lived experiences, awareness of differences and similarities, transculturalism, adaptation and integration, translanguaging, and openness. Moreover, there was a significant difference in PPC scores between Canadian-born participants and participants born outside of Canada, suggesting that speakers of minority languages in Canada have lower PPC scores compared to speakers of Canada's official languages. These results are significant as they enhance our understanding of language use and identity, suggesting that plurilingualism and pluriculturalism can be the new norm in multilingual contexts but minority languages need further recognition.

A substantial body of research has examined the role of English in South Africans' linguistic repertoires. Many of these studies have investigated whether a language shift towards English might be underway among first-language (L1) speakers of the indigenous languages. At the same time, the role of English in the repertoires of L1 English speakers has received little attention, the implicit assumption being that English remains dominant for them. This paper presents an empirically informed comparison of English experience within and across L1 and non-L1 (Ln) English speakers in order to shed light on the importance of English in these individuals' repertoires. Cluster analysis is employed to analyze language background data from bi-/multilinguals (n = 200). The analysis produces two clusters, which differ in extent of English exposure and preference for English use. All but one of the L1 English speakers belong to the 'higher exposure, higher preference' cluster, while the vast majority of the Ln speakers fall into the 'lower exposure, lower preference' cluster. The results indicate that English experience is relatively homogeneous across L1 speakers but differs, for the most part, across L1 and Ln speakers. The findings are relevant to our understanding of language use in multilingual South Africa.

In an increasing context of internationalisation, the European Commission announced in 2019 the creation of the first seventeen 'European Universities' (EUnis), a Pan-European consortium of higher education institutions designed to promote European values, cooperation and identity. Against this backdrop, this paper aims to examine the ways in which these newly created EUnis construct their views of linguistic diversity and multilingualism. The research used as a case study the example of UNA EUROPA, an alliance of eight leading universities with eight different languages. Drawing mainly on content analysis combined with a discourse analysis approach, three data sources - the project proposal for the EU Commission, the UNA EUROPA website documents, and a research interview with one of its representatives - were examined to look into the ways in which languages and multilingualism are conceptualised. Findings reveal that linguistic diversity and multilingualism are given different degrees of visibility in the three sets of data examined and that utilitarian objectives seem to predominate over identity ones. It is expected that these findings will help unveil the ways in which language issues are problematised or not in the agenda of these newly created transnational universities.

Regular and sustained contact with speakers of other languages might offer members of multilingual societies opportunities to develop cultural awareness through interactions with diverse individuals. This study examines how the language awareness of individuals in a highly multilingual setting can act as a resource to support their learning about culture and development of cultural awareness. Participants were students, faculty, and alumni of an English teacher preparation program in Central Java, a community where Javanese, Indonesian, and English are used regularly. Data sources included class observations, interviews, and journal entries. The research participants appeared to be using their Javanese language awareness as a resource in two ways as they discussed and learned about culture: by using the Javanese language as a marker of cultural difference, and by connecting to structural and sociolinguistic aspects of Javanese, notably the use of indirect communication and the appropriate speech level. Educators working with students in both multilingual and monolingual settings could draw on these findings by purposefully building on students' language awareness as a resource to help them develop cultural awareness.

In many contexts of multilingualism, language learners can initiate communication in the target language (TL), or a contact language (such as English). Patterns of use emerging from these choices affect TL development. They also vary between individuals. Willingness to communicate (WTC) needs to be investigated in ways that capture these variations. So far, WTC has not been studied in multilingual contexts, or using individual-level longitudinal designs. Employing a single-case, time-serial design and focused on a critical period of TL growth, this study explores WTC trajectories of adult learners of Swedish for whom the TL and English provide viable communication options in community interaction. Change point and moving window correlational analyses reveal the operation of mutually interacting influences that shape WTC and have system-level effects. With light shed on processes at the developmental timescale, findings are discussed in the context of language choice, co-evolution, and the trait--state dichotomy.

In many contexts of multilingualism, language learners can initiate communication in the target language (TL), or a contact language (such as English). Patterns of use emerging from these choices vary between individuals and affect TL development. Willingness to communicate (WTC) needs to be investigated in ways that capture these variations. So far, WTC has not been studied in multilingual contexts, or using individual-level designs. This case study explores intraindividual variability in the WTC propensities of adult learners of Swedish for whom the TL and English provide viable communication options in community interaction. Carried out over a period where TL skills began to develop, the purpose was to explore the process characteristics of changes in communication-initiation propensities. A person-context dynamics perspective was employed, and analyses of time-serial data were combined with analyses of concurrently generated interview data. Results reveal how changes in WTC could be gradual and nongradual, continuous and discontinuous.

The cognitive advantage (CA) hypothesis claims that multilingualism promotes the development of several basic cognitive capacities. A large number of empirical findings support this hypothesis, but recently there have also been numerous contradictory findings and methodological objections. The present paper extends the investigation of possible cognitive advantages from basic cognitive (executive) functions to broader cognitive competencies such as cognitive flexibility. A promising candidate for this is 'flexibility of goal adjustment' (FGA), a capacity of developmental regulation that solves problems through flexible adaptation processes. In a study with N = 119 monolingual and multilingual adults we found the predicted positive correlation between multilingualism and FGA. However, the mediator function of executive capacities entailed in the CA hypothesis operationalised as Stroop and flanker tasks could not be demonstrated.

This article uses reflective drawing to explore representations of multilingualism by Anglophone migrants in Luxembourg. Analysing twelve interviews in which participants drew and described their language experiences, we examine the language ideologies Anglophone migrants adopt in response to the ideologies of English they encounter. Participants adopt various ideologies, sometimes aligning with the ideology of global English, sometimes with counter-ideologies of resistance to it, and sometimes a mix of the two. Visual features indexing affective states include colour, gesture, facial expression, and composition. Monolingual cringe -- expressed as shame, embarrassment and being 'bad at languages' -- performs several functions for the participants. Sometimes it serves as an affective disclaimer, allowing them to lean on their privilege in a more socially acceptable way. Sometimes it appears to express genuine distress, in the form of searing linguistic insecurity. Sometimes it performs a distancing function, enabling them to oppose themselves to the stereotype of the monolingual English speaker. The affective intensity of the drawings suggests the ideology of global English does have costs for Anglophone migrants. Fundamentally, though, monolingual cringe reinforces privilege, allowing participants to apologise for their monolingualism even as they continue to benefit from it.

This study examines L2 speakers' accent attitudes in relation to their linguistic profile and current practices, recruiting 107 multilingual postgraduate students of 34 different nationalities enrolled in leading research universities in Japan. The participants completed a survey regarding their perceptions of different English varieties in English as a lingua franca (ELF) contexts. Interviews were additionally conducted to solicit in-depth perspectives on their accent attitudes and contextual accent variation. Factor analysis of the survey data generally supported the thematic trends observed during the interviews, in which three-quarters of the interviewees expressed a wish to attain native-like English accents. However, those who aspire to native-like pronunciation do not necessarily maintain negative attitudes towards others who speak with foreign accents. Rather, they appear indifferent to others' accents and varieties of World Englishes, and they do not associate their accents with nationhood or cultural identity. Thematic analysis of the interview data revealed that participants' pressing need to sound native-like stems from not only pragmatic considerations such as better intelligibility but also their context specificities, which entail frequent high-stakes ELF interaction and arrangements for professional entry in the imminent future. These observations imply that a linguistic hierarchy still lingers in the World Englishes paradigm.

Psychological variables (e.g. L2 grit) remain a much under-investigated sub-category of individual differences compared with cognitive ones (e.g. aptitude). The present paper aims to gain a better understanding of the psychological effects of multilingualism by investigating tolerance of homosexuality (TH), which has received little scholarly attention from multilingualism researchers. Relevant data from the 2015 Chinese General Social Survey, which utilised a representative national sample (N = 10968) from China, were analysed. Out of the 11 initial independent variables, multilingualism and Internet use emerged as statistically significant predictors for TH; their effect sizes fluctuated around the typical-effect benchmark, suggesting that both were important predictors. Although gender role belief was also a statistically significant predictor, its effect sizes fell well below the small-effect benchmark and hence its link with TH was negligible. As the first systematic attempt to link multilingualism with TH in the field of applied linguistics, the present multidisciplinary study: (1) confirms and expands previous studies which show that multilingualism can be considered as an enduring social factor contributing to the shaping of individuals' psychological profiles, and (2) helps broaden the scope along the research line on homophobia in gender studies by linking it with more social correlates (e.g. multilingualism).

The increasing influx into Australia of (im)migrants whose first language is not English has made Australia linguistically more diverse than ever. Despite this, Australia remains a strongly Anglocentric nation, and migrants, in response, tend to abandon their heritage languages (HL) and shift to English relatively quickly. Korean migrants in Australia buck this trend, as they show a relatively high level of language maintenance. The Australian Korean community, nevertheless, experiences a language shift to English among different generations, and a sharp decline in the rate of high school students enrolled in Korean community language schools. The present study expands existing accounts of HL maintenance in Australia. Specifically, drawing on interviews with six Korean-speaking children, it compares the views about the HL of primary and secondary school students. In line with language ideologies (Kroskrity [2004]. "Language Ideologies." In "A Companion to Linguistic Anthropology," edited by A. Duranti, 496-517. Malden, MA: Blackwell.; Woolard [1998]. "Language Ideology as a Field of Inquiry." In "Language Ideologies: Practice and Theory," edited by B. B. Schieffelin, K. A. Woolard, and P. V. Kroskrity, 20-86. New York: Oxford University Press.), data analysis and interpretation employ positioning theory (Davies and Harré [1990]. "Positioning: The Discursive Production of Selves." "Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour" 20 (1): 43-63.). A key finding is that their ideologies around the HL vary by school age. The comparison also suggests that their language ideologies are associated with the domains where they practise their HL, and the ways they position themselves. The study contributes to a dynamic understanding of multilingualism and HL education in a multicultural society.

This study examines the role of age of arrival (AoA) in immigrant students' perceived multilingual proficiency. Additionally, the study investigates the demographic, linguistic and social-psychological variables distinguishing young-arriving immigrants from their middle and older-arriving peers. The sample included 274 eleventh grade Russian (L1) speaking immigrants acquiring Hebrew as a second language (L2) and English as a third language (L3), divided into three groups according to arrival ages in Israel: 0-6; 7-9 and 10-12 years. The instruments included a 'can-do' questionnaire measuring multilingual self-assessment, (SA) and a background questionnaire. The results indicated a strong relationship between AoA and students' SA in L2 and L3 extending research, based primarily on language tests, demonstrating that AoA is an important factor explaining multilingual proficiency. Further, the findings revealed that students' self-assessed listening in L2 and L3 distinguished the young-arriving immigrants from their middle and older-arriving peers. Current use of L3, parental encouragement to study L2 and an inverse integrative orientation to study L3 distinguished the older-arriving group from the other two groups. These results highlight the role of the sociolinguistic context and the specificity of each language as a source of variation in L2 and L3 acquisition besides individual characteristics.

Increasing numbers of Chinese students are pursuing graduate degrees in Catalonia. Although highly proficient in both Castilian and English when they arrive, they find themselves in a bilingual society where Catalan, not Castilian, predominates both at universities and in the broader social context. Acquiring Catalan is hence important for both academic and social purposes. Using a longitudinal ethnographic study, this paper explores the factors motivating 25 Chinese students pursuing MA or Ph.D. programmes at Catalan universities to learn Catalan. Their motivation is examined over time using the L2 Motivational Self System, categorising it in "ought-to L2 self," "ideal L2 self," and "learning experience." The results reveal that Chinese graduate students in Catalonia are initially motivated to learn Catalan mainly by the ideal L2 self. The desire to integrate themselves into the Catalonia society is the most reported factor, followed by ought-to L2 self, such as academic needs and future career considerations. Once the learning process begins, learning experience becomes another important (de)motivation for the learners. Even when the initial future image has faded over time, personal satisfaction obtained from learning can still motivate learners to continue the investment.

The Rivers of Reading methodology has been used previously to explore children's reading development, but very little research focusing on multilingual children exists. Similarly, reading for pleasure in multiple languages has received little attention. This paper addresses both these gaps. Seven children aged 8-13, across six multilingual families in England, constructed Rivers of Reading -- a critical incident technique linked to reading resources and experiences. These were supported by three interviews per family, over a period of 10-12 months, with children sharing detailed narratives linked to their reading and languages. This data set was coded to explore what influenced children's choices for inclusion of resources in their narratives, as well as surrounding strategies and experiences. The study found that children had complex reasons for the inclusion of books and other reading material, many of which linked to what books represented for them in their language and literacy development. Asynchronous literacy development frustrated several children, but many had innovative ways to overcome these in their journey towards biliteracy. The Rivers of Reading methodology is particularly useful in exploring multilingual children's reading pathways, facilitating family discussion around frustrations, support needs, and positive memories.

Globalisation has resulted in European families that have a variety of home languages, leading to the need for heritage language learning (HLL). The purpose of HLL is to ensure that in addition to learning the language of their schools, children with migrant backgrounds also maintain their heritage language (HL). Besides the 'regular' teaching, in many countries, there are usually voluntary, extra-curricular maintenance courses available for migrant children. The purpose of our study was to investigate the impact that HL teachers working in Finnish schools have on the process of learning HLs. The data were collected using a Likert-scale questionnaire (N = 25) and semi-structured interviews (N = 15) with HL teachers representing 24 different languages. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was conducted to check the survey construct validity. The statistical and qualitative analysis of the data indicated that HL teachers act as multilingual identity supporter, that is that they showed understanding of their students' multilingualism and were convinced about the positive impact of HL for students' future lives. Our study also reported on the challenges teachers face in the classroom.

This paper addresses the necessary complementarity between a translanguaging and named language-perspective by critically examining risks of 'overshooting' when a translanguaging view is theoretically posited as the ultimately superior (sociolinguistic) theory of language use and learning in today's multilingual world.

While English as a medium of instruction (EMI) is becoming a global phenomenon across higher education contexts, little attention has been paid to the instructional experiences of EMI teachers. Informed by a spatial perspective, this study explored how a cohort of Chinese university teachers navigated their EMI instructional settings. Different from the conventional discourse that depicts EMI teachers as deficit due to their being nonnative speakers of English, this study shows that the teachers were able to capitalise on their spatial repertoires for alternative ways of meaning making in their EMI classrooms. Instead of reducing EMI into an English-only space, the findings show that the teachers constructed EMI as three major spaces, including a space for drawing upon local experiences as spatial resources, a space for redefining internationalisation, and a space for translingual pedagogy practice. Through the construction of these spaces, the teachers reclaimed their legitimacy of being EMI teachers. The findings lend further support to refute the monolingual bias in EMI practice and call for attention to how EMI teachers can act as agents in reconstructing EMI instructional settings as spaces for multilingual and multimodal meaning making.