The main argument of this paper is that the Virtual Linguistic Landscape (VLL) of advertising allows the utilisation of persuasion strategies that transcend the traditional separation of named languages to produce the maximum effect on potential customers. The paper challenges the segregational view of language, which assumes that communication…

The title for this article reflects the complex linguistic situation of the Anglophone Caribbean, where multiple English-lexifier Creoles (such as Jamaican Creole [Weh Wi Deh] and Bahamian Creole [Veh Vi Is])--all of which developed in the colonial era out of the contact between English and myriad African languages spoken by contemporary Caribbean…

The present study examined the mediating role of text reading fluency in reading comprehension in English and Kiswahili utilizing longitudinal data from 628 first- and second-grade children from multilingual contexts in Kenya. We employed path analysis to explore the mediating role of text reading fluency on decoding and reading comprehension in…

In recent (socio)linguistic research there is a growing awareness that rural, small-scale multilingualism as the most widespread communicative setting across the globe. Yet, literacy programmes accepting and incorporating this diversity are non-existent. LILIEMA is a unique educational programme currently based in Senegal that addresses the need…

Many children living in linguistically diverse low- and middle-income countries learn to read and write in multiple languages. Recent research provides implications for effective reading instruction with multilingual learners (e.g., Hall et al. in New Dir Child Adolesc Dev 166:145-189, 2019). However, there is limited empirical evidence on…

In May 2023, the World Health Organization declared that COVID-19 was no longer a public health emergency of international concern. However, this declaration does not remove severe negative impacts COVID-19 had on the education sector. This paper sets an objective to determine the impact of COVID-19 and the responses thereto in school operations…

Using a longitudinal data set, this paper examines to what extent school-entry (N = 553; mean age 6.32 years) early mathematics and literacy skills predict students' later achievement in a lower-middle-income country, Kenya. Controlling for socioeconomic status, intervention status, rural versus urban settings and parental literacy, the findings…

Drawing on an ethnographic study of academic literacy practices in the applied social sciences, this paper builds on research which seeks to make visible the increasingly complex linguistic diversity in English-dominant universities (Universities in the Anglophone Centre: Sites of multilingualism. In L. Wei (Ed.). Applied linguistics review (Vol.…

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…

The main focus of the article is on teachers' classroom language practices in eight primary schools in Oshana and Khomas school regions. Language ideologies and translanguaging practices were used as a theoretical framework to evaluate the language ecologies that were created by the language practices in the schools included in the research study.…

Storytelling passes down traditions and values while preserving languages and serving as a natural site for linguistic innovation and creativity. This article describes an approach to creating multilingual, multimodal stories that were developed for an after-school club at a rural Tanzanian secondary school. Club members told stories, wrote…

Engaging students in talking science in the classroom is key to their successful learning and the basis for more advanced practices such as developing critical thinking skills. Talking science, however, is challenging to many students who do not get to speak their mother tongue in the classroom. Although studies conducted in multilingual contexts…

Shiyeyi is one of the 28 languages spoken in Botswana. It is an endangered language because it is no longer being passed on to the children. This article describes micro language planning efforts to revive Shiyeyi over a period of 17 years. The classical and critical approaches to language planning are applied to this case to highlight the…

This book brings together a series of papers on education in rural Zimbabwe. It is informed throughout by the generative theory of rurality, which sees rural communities as the most significant agents in solving the challenges they face. Against this theoretical backdrop, the 13 chapters challenge policy makers, researchers and educators to…

In this article, I propose the idea of public applied linguistics: that is, a type of applied linguistics that sees applied linguists doing the work of activism, with language activists, in the public, are (i) invested in the artistic representation of linkages between language reinvention and new relationalities, and (ii) highlighting,…