Analyzes data from natural Igbo-English bilingual discourse that demonstrates how the two most important manifestations of language contact--codeswitching and borrowing--can be unambiguously and consistently distinguished. (Author/VWL)

Reviews current research in three domains of bilingual acquisition: pragmatic features of bilingual code mixing, grammatical constraints on child bilingual code mixing, and bilingual syntactic development. Examines implications from these domains for the understanding of the limits of the mental faculty to acquire language. (Author/VWL)

Examines the role of the Spanish discourse particle "no" for negotiating agreement and disagreement in Spanish-English bilingual conversations from Gibraltar. A sequential analysis of twelve conversational exchanges shows how language choice is an important linguistic resource for negotiating agreement and disagreement in interactions.…

Looks at code switching in a corpus of song lyrics within the genre of rai music. The two languages involved are French and North African colloquial varieties of Arabic. Focuses on the symbolic and communicative value of the switching found in the songs. (Author/VWL)

Reports two studies exploring whether there is a cost in switching languages in a lexical decision task. In the first experiment, German-English bilinguals were slower on switch trials compared to nonswitch trials. In the second experiment, the task was changed to one in which a word response could be given independent of language. There was still…

Studies intrasentential codeswitching (CS) phenomena at two levels of abstraction: the level of lexical-conceptual structure and the level of predicate-argument structure. Argues that lemma congruence checking between languages involved in intrasentential CS at these two levels is a fundamental organizing principle governing intrasentential CS…

Draws on two research projects in South Africa to describe and discuss the language practices of teachers in primary multilingual mathematics classrooms. Contends that while at a general political and pedagogical level it makes sense for teachers to encourage and use code-switching as a learning and teaching resource, this is not a straightforward…

Linguistic structures and cultural conflicts are the reasons why African-American students fare poorly in literacy instructions in classrooms. Some ideas for creating an accessible, research-based approach to language arts in dialectally diverse classrooms are presented.

This paper aims to contribute to elucidating the notion of congruence in code-switching with particular reference to Welsh-English data. It has been suggested that a sufficient degree of congruence or equivalence between the constituents of one language and another is necessary in order for code-switching to take place. We shall distinguish…

Arabic Literacy acquisition was studied among Israeli Palestinian low socioeconomic status kindergartners within the framework of an intervention study, implemented by teachers. On pretest, letter naming, alphabetic awareness, and phonological awareness were very low. Whereas the comparison group hardly progressed throughout the year, the…

Background: Cantonese-English mixed code is ubiquitous in Hong Kong society, and yet using mixed code is widely perceived as improper. This paper presents evidence of mixed code being socially constructed as bad language behavior. In the education domain, an EDB guideline bans mixed code in the classroom. Teachers are encouraged to stick to…

This study investigates the effects of a scientific literacy strategy which focuses on reading, writing, talking and doing science on the development of grade six and seven learners' general literacy skills, both in their home language (isiXhosa) and the language of classroom instruction (English). A mixed method design was used. Quantitative data…

As English progressively becomes the global language, many native English speakers move to foreign countries to work as English teachers. However a review of the literature reveals that there is little research on their actual performance compared to the non-native local English teachers. This comparative case study examines pedagogic practices of…

All languages encode aspects of culture and every culture has its own specificities to be proud of and to be transmitted. The papers in this book explore aspects of this relationship between language and culture, considering issues related to the processes of internationalization and localization of the English language. The volume is divided into…

This paper reports on the development and evaluation of a project to support the learning of the mother tongue by children aged 4-8 years. The aim of the project was to: actively involve and engage children with learning their mother tongue for functional use; involve parents in the learning process and support them in doing so; and increase…