This research-based, highly practical volume presents ways teachers and schools can accelerate literacy achievement with bilingual K-6 students in both English and their home languages. Georgia Earnest García shares innovative instructional strategies for students with different language backgrounds in multiple settings--bilingual/ESL classrooms,…

In a highly multilingual country like India, challenges and opportunities arise in education and language policy. Although multilingualism is often associated with developmental advantages, Indian primary school children generally show low learning outcomes, specifically on literacy. Here we examine the influence of mother tongue education and…

The following qualitative case study examines the ability of three South Sudanese immigrant families residing in a medium-sized Northeast city in the U.S. to meaningfully transfer their heritage languages to their children. Using a pluriversal literacy lens, we conducted interviews with six South Sudanese parents about their literacy practices…

Families that live temporarily abroad for work or education (amongst other reasons) often encounter some difficulties to maintain their children's L1; particularly when they live in English-speaking countries. This study explores the language maintenance experiences of ten Saudi Arabian families sojourning in Australia, from the perspective of…

Longitudinal data from the Early Grade Reading Study (EGRS I) in South Africa (N = 4538) were used to examine the role of instructional contexts in the relations of literacy skills between children's home language (L1 Setswana) and a second language (L2 English). All children received literacy instruction in Setswana in Grades 1 to 3. However,…

Malta, a former British colony, has inherited a legacy of formal education, which remains stubbornly in place even after almost 60 years of independence. Similarly, persistent are arguments in research and policy highlighting democracy and children's rights in early years practice and boys' underachievement in literacy. This paper examines 5- to…

Language and learning norms constitute the biggest constraint for refugee learners attempting to access education in Uganda because they struggle to demonstrate competencies in English despite acquiring them in their local language (Arabic, French, or Swahili). Learners are assigned to lower levels, contributing to misalignment between their…

Recent decades have witnessed rapid growth of K-12 transnational education programs, but little is known about how human/nonhuman assemblages impact K-12 transnational literacy curricula and how sociomaterial assemblages affect (de)colonizing literacy practices. This study of English and Mandarin literacy curricula at a Canadian transnational…

This paper proposes a framework for multilingual language-in-education policy implementation, offered as a critically constructive response to India's recent "National Education Policy 2020" (GOI, 2020). Rooted in India's existing educational language policy, our linguistically inclusive 'Languages for Learning' (LFL) framework is, we…

In countries such as Australia, the bi/multilingual student demographic is increasing. Bi/multilingual students are commonly learning alongside monolingual students and also Indigenous and first- and second-generation immigrant students who have a great range of exposure to heritage languages. In this article, we explore how literacies and…

In this theoretical paper, we aim to (re)imagine and (re)conceptualize biliteracy as an anti-colonial endeavor to destabilize colonial projects that continue to permeate how language and literacy are conceptualized in schools. We build on previous scholarship that has theorized Spanish-English biliteracy and extend this scholarship by centering…

This paper explores the agentive role of school leaders in interpreting and implementing macro language education policies at preschool level in the Maldives. The Preschool Management Act of 2012 initiated a change in the medium of instruction from English to Dhivehi, recognising the importance of developing children's literacy skills in the…

Pedagogical reforms, specifically, the Thematic Curriculum and the Local Language Policy, have failed to improve literacy in Uganda despite a concerted effort from the Government of Uganda and its international development partners. This paper distills the major literacy programs used to scale up the reforms nationwide and summarizes what they did…

Families play a critical role in promoting students' literacy development. Family literacy practices refer to oral, written, and reading strategies that impart cultural traditions and knowledge of the world and that occur in the dominant or native language of a family. It is especially important for educators to understand and build upon such…

This article explores the findings from a formative study focused on language and literacy development in an international school's K5 classroom in South America. The teacher's pedagogical goal was to increase the amount of English used by students related to the social context of a restaurant. The intervention involved an integrated literacy and…