Bilinguals can be proficient in oral language without necessarily knowing how to read and write in at least one of their languages. Literacy has been shown to affect language processing in monolinguals. In the present study, we test if literacy affects grammaticality judgments for Cantonese-English bilinguals who varied in Chinese literacy…

Success in higher education relates in part to competence in the medium of instruction. But the academic literacy literature provides compelling evidence that competence in the medium of instruction is insufficient to ensure success. Crucially, students need to take on the literacy practices of the discipline or field. This study offers a thematic…

This article proposes basic (shared) and extended (nonshared) language cognition in native speakers as a function of two types of extralinguistic attributes: (a) degree of being multilingual and (b) variables related to amount and type of literacy experiences (e.g., level of education). This approach may throw new light on the question of whether…

Determining how and why adult outcomes of heritage speaker (HS) bilingualism differ from monolinguals is difficult because it requires the reconstruction of developmental paths from end-state data. In an effort to address this issue, we examine HSs of Turkish in Germany at an early age of development (10-15 years old, n = 22), as well as…

The advance of new hearing technologies has generated high expectations regarding the development and learning of deaf children, but little research has been done on the language levels of this generation of deaf learners who receive education at the same pace as their hearing peers. The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between…

Quality Education is the bedrock foundation of primary level of educational pyramid. It helps not only in the development of individuals but also improve their living standard at academic and professional domains. Government of Punjab has initiated a literacy and numeracy drive movement to enhance the literacy rate. English is the major focus of…

This article explores the complexity of learning the literacy practices and conventions in the discipline of English language arts. Literacies are explored in the areas of writing/composition, reading/literature, and language/grammar, with attention to the situated nature of proper expression and understanding with respect to each. The author…

Access to digital technology in the classroom enables the composition and organization of ideas on screen with a variety of semiotic systems of different modes and media. This study explores patterns of communication and preference of design in digital meaning-making of twelve 7-8 years old students. Meanings were shaped in complex uses and…

The "Teaching Academic Content and Literacy to English Learners in Elementary and Middle School" practice guide was developed by the What Works Clearinghouse™ (WWC) in conjunction with an expert panel to support teachers in providing language instruction. The practice guide provides teachers with guidelines and examples of ways to…

Within the Australian education system, Aboriginal students' use of non-standard English features is often viewed simplistically as evidence of non-attainment of literacy and oral-English milestones. One reason for this is the widespread use of assessment tools which fail to differentiate between native-English speakers and students who are…

This study analyzes the ability of advanced Russian learners of English as a foreign language (FL) to compose authentic essays in the target language (TL) reflecting morphosyntactic, discursive, and cross-cultural expectations. Thirty-four students at Russian universities were asked to utilize their TL, English, to write compositions focusing on…

Recent negative media attention surrounding the use of text speak (shorthand abbreviations of words such as "gr8" for "great") and the potentially detrimental effects of text speak on literacy prompted this study of texting and literacy in 80 college students. Thirty-four text speak users and 46 nontext speak users were assessed on their…

Background/Context: While different instructional approaches have been proposed to integrate academic content and English proficiency for English language learning (ELL) students, studies examining the magnitude of the relationship are non-existent. This study examined the relationship between the "form" (i.e., conventions, organization, and…

This paper reports on the writing of grade seven learners in English as an additional language at four differently resourced schools in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Because grade seven is the start of the senior phase of schooling, it is vital that learners achieve grade-level competence in the language used as medium of instruction.…

A review of selected research studies and practices on the teaching of literacy to limited English proficient (LEP) students suggests that there is considerable variation in the way literacy is defined. Several methods currently being used to develop LEP students' literacy skills are reviewed. Many LEP students continue to be taught reading skills…