This paper reports on an investigation of differential item functioning (DIF) in the Iranian Undergraduate University Entrance Special English Exam (IUUESEE) across four native language groups including the Azeri, the Persian, the Kurdish, and the Luri test takers via Rasch analysis. A total sample of 14,172 participants was selected for the…

This study explores the reading strategies (RSs) of bilingual and monolingual young learners in their first and second languages (L1 and L2, respectively)--either Kazakh or Russian as the L1 and L2--and English as a foreign language (L3). It also examines the influence of RSs on the learners' performance on reading comprehension tests in the three…

This critical interpretive study aims to contribute to the scholarship that calls for epistemological recognition and representation of the global South. This call is seen as displacing questions of redistribution. The article utilizes interviews and focus group sessions with Kazakhstani graduate students to explore their experiences and…

The importance of addressing the linguodidactic problems of intercultural communication in the multilingual educational space of the Republic of Kazakhstan lies in the fact that by 2021, the Programme of trilingual education in the region, adopted for implementation in the early 2000s, will have reached its final stage. The purpose of this study…

Recent developments in multilingualism and multilingual education in minority-dominated regions in China highlight the importance of policy studies to support the national goals of achieving multilingualism [Feng, A. W., and B. Adamson, eds. 2015. "Trilingualism in Education in China: Models and Challenges." Dordrecht: Springer],…

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2011 and 2018, this article examines how Uyghurs, a Turkic-speaking ethnic minority in China, found ways to excel in English language learning despite efforts by the national education system to focus their training in Chinese, the language of the colonizer. It argues that the alienation that…

This paper explores eight Kazakhstani postgraduate students' reflections of their international educational experiences in the UK after their immediate re-entry into Kazakhstan. Special focus was on their language identity development after their one-year stay in the UK. It was informed by Benson et al.'s ([2013]. "Second Language Identity in…

This paper builds on a collaborative pilot project on "Critical Multilingual Language Awareness" (CMLA) in a linguistically diverse Preparatory Class with migrant adolescents in Sweden. Importantly, the approach involved Multilingual Study Mentors (MSMs), whose role normally is to provide scaffolding in the strongest language of recently…

This commentary discusses Westergaard's (2021) keynote article, which presents a comprehensive model of first language (L1), second language (L2), and third language (L3) acquisition. The commentary presents evidence from a previous study of L3 learners that provides support for Westergaard's property-by-property transfer proposal. The commentary…

While substantial research has looked backward at the colonial history of language and forward to the potential of decolonizing English for linguistic justice, there is a lack of investigation looking "inward" at the lived raciolinguistic experiences of multilingual scholars. This edited collection opens a healing space for storytelling…

Assessing language skills in an integrative form has drawn the attention of assessment experts in recent years. While some research data exists on integrative listening/reading-to-write assessment, there is comparatively little research literature on listening-to-speak integrated assessment. Also, little attention has been devoted to the role of…

Do assimilationist restrictions on a minority language lead to greater national unity or a more rebellious minority population? Under what conditions might short-term backlash to language assimilation evolve into greater national unity in the long term? While much of the literature on ethnic politics implicitly treats language simply as an…

This paper examines the translanguaging practice of two EFL teachers in a Xinjiang university, where English and Mandarin Chinese are predominant but Uyghur is minoritised as a medium of instruction. We focus on data in which the teachers translanguage across all three languages and make a case for the conception of pedagogical translanguaging…

This study adopted a social network perspective to explore the academic discourse socialization experiences of eight degree-seeking multilingual international students at a university in eastern China. Based on a triangulation of ethnographic interviews, social network questionnaires, and supplementary sources (e.g., voluntarily submitted…

This paper addresses Iranian English as Foreign Language teachers and learners' perceptions of explicit grammar instruction and corrective feedback and the effect of language background on learners' perceptions of explicit grammar teaching. The research background indicates that explicit instruction and corrective feedback can play a significant…