The appropriate amount of first language (L1) and second language (L2) to use in L2 learning has been constantly debated (e.g., Cummins, 2007; Hall & Cook, 2012). This study situates the debate of L1 and L2 use in the context of vocabulary learning from reading. By examining the potential moderating factors on the comparison of L1 and L2…

This qualitative comparative case study investigates the links between parental motivations and young (aged 4-12) heritage language learners' heritage language school attendance. The study aimed to understand parental motivations, drawing on the instrumental and integrative motivation framework. The study addresses two research questions: 1) Why…

Research on Spanish heritage language (SHL) education has grown exponentially in the last two decades. The most recent nationwide study on SHL programs in US postsecondary institutions was conducted a decade ago. To continue this line of research, the primary aim of this study is to provide an update about the current state of SHL course offerings…

Language classroom anxiety is a significant concern for applied linguists and English language teachers. As an affective variable, foreign language anxiety has the potential to harm learners' language learning and performance. While the impact of language anxiety on the academic achievement of learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) has…

Framed by family language policy (FLP), in conjunction with the Douglas Fir Group's ecological transdisciplinary framework for second language acquisition, this multiple case study investigates the FLPs of two Hmong-American families in relation to a Hmong-English dual-language program (DLP) where their children are enrolled. Interviews,…

Contrary to prevailing research on willingness to communicate (WTC) which treats spoken second language (L2) as the predominant indicator of WTC, this study examines a young English as a second language (ESL) learner's WTC expressed through multimodal means and her utilization of multimodal and multilingual resources for mediating WTC in…

In the history of psycholinguistics, there are traditional accounts that have been told about language learning and processing. These accounts revolve around the constraints imposed by the age of language learning and by universal principles that are assumed to be natively given. The contribution of Brian MacWhinney and his collaborators has been…

This regional dossier aims to provide concise descriptions and basic statistics about minority language education in a specific region of Europe. Lithuanian is a Baltic language that belongs to the Indo-European family. Most of the Lithuanian-speaking minority in Poland is confined to three municipalities near the Polish-Lithuanian border.…

Background: Second language (L2) reading is a complex process in which two languages constantly interact. L1 reading and L2 proficiency are two well-acknowledged factors contributing to L2 reading comprehension. Other factors, such as strategy use and anxiety, might also predict L2 reading comprehension, but their roles have not been examined in…

Migrant communities settle and appropriate spaces in their new home through deterritorialisation and reterritorialisation processes, which involve the reconceptualisation of the language and symbols of the homeland and those spoken and used in the diaspora. The public sphere is one of the most distinguishable places where this contextual relation…

Research has shown that bilingual individuals might encode autobiographical memories in either their first language (L1) or their second language (L2), depending on the language spoken at the time of the event. Although language mixing is a common occurrence among multilingual speakers, previous studies have largely overlooked mixed…

Purpose: This study aims to examine how language background and grade level influence the voiceless sibilant fricative production of two groups of children enrolled in a Mandarin-English bilingual school in Canada. One group of children was exposed to Mandarin at home as heritage language (HL), and the other group had little to no exposure to…

Grammatical complexity has been established as a key indicator of language and writing development (Ortega 2003; Bulté and Housen, 2014; Crossley and McNamara 2014). The present study uses the Register-Functional approach to complexity (Biber et al. 2022) to compare the development of L1 English and L2 English writers across year of study and…

Drawing on positioning theory and Vygotsky's sociocultural theory of mind, this study analyzes the discursive processes through which expert and novice positions are negotiated in heritage-second language (HL-L2) learner interaction. It examines how positioning practices shape collaboration between HL and L2 learners, determining what types of…

Translanguaging theory and pedagogy have emerged as central to the recent multilingual turn in educational linguistics and language teaching, including ELT. This article will explore translanguaging from theoretical and practical perspectives, aiming to clarify what it is and is not claiming, and what types of pedagogic practice it advocates, both…