Verbal Fluency (VF) task total scores are widely used in language attrition studies, but they do not provide insight into the processes underlying optimal performance. We analyse the efficacy of clustering (subcategories within a category) and switching (shifting between these subcategories) strategies in phonemic (PVF) and semantic (SVF) tasks.…

The Iban language of Sarawak is an indigenous language that has an orthography and has been taught as a subject in Malaysian schools since 1968. However, no findings are available on whether Iban is used for written and formal communication. This study examined the extent of the formal use of Iban among the Iban community. Questionnaire data from…

Malaysia is a multilingual and multiethnic country with a substantial population of ethnic Chinese, who use standardized languages such as Malay, English, and Mandarin, as well as various Chinese dialects in their daily lives within and beyond Chinese communities. Cantonese is a community language that significantly impacts the lives of local…

Indigenous peoples of Taiwan, the most disadvantaged of the minority groups, account for only about 2.4% of the total population. Within the Minnan dominant society of Taiwan, the Indigenous minority groups are confronted by critical language loss often attributed to cultural and structural assimilation factors. This study aims to investigate…

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…

In this article, we study a simple mathematical model of a bilingual community in which all agents are fluent in the majority language but only a fraction of the population has some degree of proficiency in the minority language. We investigate how different distributions of proficiency, combined with the speakers' attitudes toward or against the…

This study investigated the Family Language Policy of second- and third-generation Turkish parents in Melbourne, Australia. Earlier research has shown that the family home is a crucial site for language maintenance [Fishman 1991. "Reversing Language Shift: Theoretical and Empirical Foundations of Assistance to Threatened Languages."…

This longitudinal study examined the development of narrative micro- and macrostructure in Japanese-English bilingual returnee children. Returnees are children of immigrant families who move to a foreign country, spending a significant portion of their formative developmental years in the foreign majority language context before returning to their…

This study explores the language use of Southeast Asian marriage-migrant mothers in South Korea with their mixed-heritage children, and the challenges related to heritage language (HL) transmission. Drawing on interviews with nine women, the study finds that they encountered multiple obstacles to teaching the HL to their children. Their Korean…

The paper discusses sequential language acquisition of the researcher's daughter Safa who transformed from a monolingual Bengali speaker to an almost monolingual English speaker in a few months after moving to the UK. Safa was born in Bangladesh and was a monolingual Bengali speaker until she was three years and nine months when the family moved…

In the Basque Country, Northern Spain, Basque (Euskera) and Spanish are official languages. In recent decades, Basque language revitalization and the efforts to make this an unmarked language (normalization) have co-existed with the rapid increase in immigration from outside the Basque region, and most recently from outside Spain. Given the…

This article examines youth assessment of the quality and success of languages provision. The discussion draws on data collected from students and graduates of Victoria's 16 secondary Turkish programs in large-scale surveys (n=858) and follow-up interviews (n=177). Surveys revealed that upper secondary Turkish classrooms serve predominantly…

Analysis of language research and observation of two language classes suggest that, when teachers devote efforts to promoting students' encounters with and use of natural language, students will have the opportunity not only to learn about language, but also to arrive at proficiency in its use. (CB)

Speech material gathered from Dutch-English bilinguals in Australia questioned in 1971 and 1987 was analyzed, showing no evidence of attrition in Dutch. It is concluded that first-language attrition does not necessarily occur in an immigrant setting and that immigrants who maintain their language in the first years of their stay will likely remain…

Examines factors influencing language maintenance among secondary school students of Vietnamese ethnic background. Students' Vietnamese language ability and frequency of Vietnamese language use were evaluated and correlated with demographic, cultural, social, and attitudinal factors. Length of residence in Australia was more influential in…