In our article, we investigate the complex dynamics of linguistic understandings and mis- or non-understanding within multilingual contexts. Through the lens of sociolinguistic exploration, we navigate the multifaceted landscapes of language use, applying a multi-perspective approach and the triangulation method to explore the depths of linguistic…

The current article studies the competencies of plurilingual students and how these competencies are exploited in the learning of French as a Foreign Language. Adopting a translanguaging theoretical approach, we argue that learners of foreign languages who already speak at least one other language have some linguistic competencies which manifest…

This paper discussed Cross-Linguistic Transfer (CLT) and Language Proficiency in multilingual education in general and highlighted samples of CLT in Burundi as the existing literature reveals. As there exist CLT on all linguistic levels, this discussion has provided examples of phonological (including phonetics), lexical and semantic, and…

This article investigates what is commonly called multilingual writing. Based on case studies from Mali, and drawing on a number of West African settings, it argues that in fact, not all 'multilingual' writing is in effect multilingual. The article proposes a two-tiered classification of types of writing, based on linguistic properties of texts…

This paper contributes to current sociolinguistic research on the rapidly-changing landscape of digitally mediated communication (Androutsopoulos and Staehr 2018) by presenting mediagrams, a new method for research on transnational mediated interaction. Based on an ethnographic study of mediated multilingual communication in four families with…

In many countries of sub-Saharan Africa, the release of each year's results for the end of high school examinations heralds an annual ritual of public commentary on the poor state of national education systems. However, the exoglossic/monolingual language regime for these examinations is infrequently acknowledged as contributing to the dismal…

This paper aims to explore student experiences resulting from collaborative teaching and learning of academic literacy and content knowledge, for multiple objectives at a South African University of Technology. Using the qualitative research approach, undergraduate students who attended the Communication Skills course were randomly selected. Data…

This article features personal narratives that condemn ideologies that work to render invisible the identities of translingual individuals. The author engages members of the language and literacy field, particularly teachers and researchers, in conversations that will not only denounce antiminoritized groups rhetoric but also counter prejudiced…

How do teachers define literacy, and how do their perceptions influence their approach to the teaching and learning of literacy? These and other questions relating to literacy generally formed the focus of this ethnographic case study in two urban public primary schools in Ghana. The paper also considers teachers' views on mother tongue literacy.…

Second generation immigrants tend to shift their loyalty from their own languages ("immigrant language") to the language of the host country ("societal language"), given the socioeconomically weak vitality position of the immigrant languages. This language shift makes intergenerational communication, especially with folk left…

In describing the different types of codeswitching used in Dakar, this paper questions the frequent assumption that the use of two languages within a single conversation violates a norm. In Dakar there is a fluid and unmarked switching between Wolof and French, "Urban Wolof," that has become the most common mode of speech among urban…

Examines language practices in rural and urban schools in Burundi, looking at specific episodes in two classrooms that show how Kirundi/French code contrasts contribute to the marginalization of Kirundi to the status of village language and reinforce the dominance of French as a vehicle for knowledge of the larger world outside school. (eight…

Thirty-five papers, all but one in French, presented at the conference on research in linguistics are presented here. Topics include: verb tenses in English; computerized text analysis program; study of specialized terminology; court translation in Canada; subject-verb agreement in English; bilingual editing; swearing with religious words;…