Migration, among the most important sociocultural phenomena of contemporary global societies, is complex, dynamic, and multifaceted. At the heart of migration is language, the indispensable agent of migration. Hence, in this article, a new sub-discipline of linguistics is presented, and that is 'migration linguistics'. It is the interdisciplinary…

In this article, we reflect on the extent to which 'new speaker' research feeds into recent theoretical discussions in language policy scholarship, especially in connection to the discursive and ethnographically oriented perspectives which of late have become increasingly prominent. We begin with a brief overview of the 'new speaker' concept, its…

French immersion (FI) programs in Canada have historically served predominantly Canadian-born, English-speaking students and families in their endeavour to learn both of the country's official languages, French and English. However, FI programs are becoming increasingly culturally and linguistically diverse as a result of increased global…

That learners who want to develop good pragmatically-appropriate speaking skills in a language also need to develop good pronunciation is beyond dispute, and yet research continues to report that both areas still have low visibility in the curriculum and are often treated as poor relations in the classroom. Many teachers are still wary of what…

Migrant speakers of endangered languages living in urban centers in developed countries represent a valuable resource through which these languages may be conveniently documented. Here, we first present a general methodology by which linguists can compile a meaningful set of visual (and sometimes audio) stimuli with which to carry out a reasonably…

Social class has been underresearched in the field of applied linguistics. The central goal of this forum was to stimulate more conversation about social class as it impacts language learning and teaching. In this article, I comment on 3 salient themes that have emerged in the 5 articles: (1) agency and structure in language learning and teaching,…

Introducing a pioneering series of studies of family language policy and management, this paper points out that classic language policy dealt almost entirely with the nation-state, although it did recognise the critical role of the family in determining natural intergenerational transmission of a variety. After arguing for the need to look at each…

This article presents the development, rollout, and subsequent uptake of the Alberta Teachers of English as a Second Language (ATESL) document Best Practices for "Adult English as a Second Language (ESL)/Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) Programming" in the light of literature on teacher engagement with second-language…

Calls from policymakers to assimilate immigrants through English literacy have grown urgent. Yet the 2007 U.S. Census has reported that one in five U.S. residents speaks a language other than English at home. What's more, new immigrants often settle in long-standing immigrant communities in which these non-English languages are the lingua franca.…

This article presents an overview of the Arabic language in the United States. Drawing on archival research and statistical analysis, the article is divided into 4 major sections. The first discusses the history of immigration from the Arab world to the United States, as well as past efforts at Arabic language maintenance. The article continues…

In this introduction, we situate the theme issue within a growing body of research on Indigenous youth language practices, communicative repertoires, and ideologies, articulating points of intersection in scholarship on Indigenous and immigrant youth bilingualism. Our geographic focus is North America. Ethnographic studies from the Far North to…

From a critical language perspective, the main issues facing education of immigrant populations are the ways in which these populations are segregated as the Other and how educational practices often work to perpetuate a fringe status. In this paper, I draw upon both discursive perspectives on policymaking and pedagogical practices to address the…

Studies investigating the possible effects of age at immigration (a proxy for age at onset of second language learning) on second language acquisition among immigrants often explicitly take the effect of length of residence in the destination country (a measure of exposure to opportunities to learn the second language) into account. A third…

This paper briefly considers past and recent research in the field of bilingualism and then proceeds to describe the project that attempted to turn the educational failure of a group of children in a situation of subtractive bilingualism into success. (Contains 18 references.) (JL)

Discusses the results of research to determine the success of the efforts currently being made in schools to teach pure Italian to the second generation of Italians in Australia in order to replace Italian Australian, a mixture of Italian dialects, Italian, and English. 33 references. (CFM)