Languages in the Mesoamerican linguistic area have been reported to lack a dedicated means of expressing the privative meaning that encodes the absence of a participant in a situation. This micro-typological study identifies alternative strategies that the languages in this area employ to function without dedicated privative markers, namely…

Speaking skills help students to articulate and express their knowledge, feelings, thoughts, and ideas. In many situations, language proficiency is socially judged through productive skills, especially speaking. This paper examines the factors that hinder English speaking competencies of students at Nakhon si Thammarat Rajabhat University (NSTRU)…

We report on the development of a new instrument for measuring teachers' knowledge of language as an epistemic tool in science classes. Language is essential for science learning, as all learning requires the use of language to constitute one's own ideas and to engage with others' ideas. Teachers with knowledge of language as an epistemic tool can…

This paper aims to determine the functions of hybridizing languages in the television talk show discourses in Bangladesh. Though hybridization of Bangla is harshly criticized in the media discourses for its alleged pollution of Bangla language, this linguistic practice, which seems to be rampant and pervasive in the society, is demonstrated not…

Background: In the past decade, the laws governing teachers' employment have been at the center of legal and political conflicts across the United States. Vergara v. California challenged five California state statutes that provide employment protections for teachers. In June 2014, a California lower court declared the statutes unconstitutional…

Background: In many classrooms, science textbooks remain a significant tool, functioning in some instances as the de facto curriculum and influencing pedagogical practices. Such conventions are more noticeable in the science classrooms of developing countries, like Jamaica, because of a chronic shortage of specialist science teachers and the…

In conversation, individual utterances are almost always ambiguous, with this ambiguity resolved by context and discourse history ("common ground"). One important cue for disambiguation is the topic under discussion with a particular partner (e.g., "want to pick?" means something different in a conversation with a bluegrass…

Gender differences are manifested not only in the physiological characteristics of a person, but also in the speech communication. This article presents the research data obtained at the phonetic and lexical levels of the language. The purpose of this work is to determine the speech characteristics that distinguish men and women at the studied…

Previous research has raised concerns that equity may be compromised in content and language integrated learning (CLIL) education, creating schisms in otherwise fairly egalitarian education systems. In Andalusia (southern Spain), where bilingual education has expanded, this article aims to analyze the difference between CLIL bilingual education…

The paper describes the role parental language ideology and the home literacy environment play in heritage language (HL) literacy learning of bilingual Arabic-English-speaking children in the UK. Information about the under-reported literacy practices of Arabic-English-speaking families will enhance current knowledge about HL literacy practices…

English has undergone several transformations recently. One of them is the use of English as a lingua franca (ELF) among its linguistically diverse speakers. Many studies have been conducted on ELF in different settings, including Turkey. However, most studies were concerned with preservice language teachers. Thus, this study explored 40 EFL…

Three experiments investigated adult learners' acquisition of a novel adjective. In English and other languages, meanings of some gradable adjectives are said to include an absolute standard of comparison (e.g., "full" means completely filled with content). However, actual usage is often imprecise, where a maximum absolute standard of…

Metaphors are recognized as bridging scientists' challenges in communication with the public. In mathematics, however, which often involves abstract concepts and relations, less attention has been paid to the role of metaphors in public communication. In this article we examine the metaphors appearing in the discourse of 10 mathematicians in five…

We celebrate the worthy efforts of creative educators working to reach marginalized children around the world, including children living in refugee camps.

The current study seeks to probe the use of refusal strategies and their frequency among Saudi EFL students of Bachelor of Science (BS) at Moon University (pseudonym), Saudi Arabia. Through a convenient sampling procedure, 20 students were selected, and Discourse Completion Test (DCT) was administered. This test comprised 12 situations eliciting…