This article analyzes how multilingual education in the Madrid region has been addressed through the medium of Spanish/English content and language integrated learning (CLIL) bilingual programs, widely implemented in public schools of this region in the last decade. By adopting a critical interpretive perspective (Tollefson in "Language…

This study describes the use of literacy--including the written word--in the maintenance and practice of Lukumí, a Diasporic African spiritual tradition. While Lukumí is decidedly orally transmitted, the written word is still a critical part of its contemporary practice. Relying on data collected during participant observation of ceremonies and…

The transgressive use of language by out-group speakers, or crossing is used in a variety of ways to achieve both affiliative and disaffiliative ends among youths. However, crossing can also be used as an affiliative resource in asymmetrical power relations between teachers and students. Reporting on the findings of a 1.5 year ethnography of an…

This study reports on the dilemmas of practice experienced by a parent-school facilitator, Melanie, within a large urban school district. Melanie struggled to reconcile her commitment to families in her school with the demands placed on her by an administrative ideology that viewed families as adversaries. Her attempts to manage the conflicts…

There has been a long-standing debate about how 'English' can be defined. Educational policy changes have typically been driven by differing representations of the subject, and have ranged from broad 'aesthetic' definitions to more narrow 'functional' views. The present study aims to analyse areas of consensus and contention in stakeholders'…

Purpose: This paper aims to outline the misguided underpinnings of the "word gap" concept promoted by Hart and Risley (1995). This concept posits that a "30 million word gap" between children of poverty and those from affluent households accounts for widespread academic disparities. Based on this premise, there has been a…

The proliferation of online simulation games across the globe in many different languages offers Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) researchers an opportunity to examine how language learning occurs in such virtual environments. While there has recently been an increase in the number of exploratory studies involving learning experiences of…

Given the Common Core's dual emphases on mathematical modeling, there is a need to understand modeling as a practice and content standard to develop students' mathematical modeling skills. This study of 12 students from differing levels of mathematics instruction and English Language proficiency includes analysis of their modeling with mathematics…

To meet the demands of today's society and working life, higher education should support the development of learner agency. How the agency of individual learners emerges in university courses and what kind of agency empowers the learners to face new challenges should be considered. In this article, the focus is on learner agency enabled and…

This essay examines the theme and trope of "copies" in Kazuo Ishiguro's novel "Never Let Me Go." Whatever one's final reading of the novel, the theme and thread of copy, copies, copying and copied is never far off. In a semantic sense then, the act of "copying", both as a verb and the indexing of "copies" as…

A letter of recommendation can catapult a woman into the next phase of the interview process for a particular job--or land her in the slush pile. Word choice in describing this female candidate can make or break her career. Letters of recommendation--especially when a reference's word choice paints a negative, less than stellar picture of the…

The author's mother, an emigrant, wanted to talk right before she dies and so attended a free English lesson in their community. She recalls her father as a great storyteller and because of him, she grew to think of the world in terms of the stories it could tell. She became addicted to unfolding drama, winding narrative threads, the lyricism of…

This paper describes how a linguistic form, rap, can evolve in tandem with technological advances and manifest human-machine creativity. Rather than assuming that the interplay between machines and technology makes humans robotic or machine-like, the paper explores how the pressure of executing artistic visions using technology can drive…

Theories of pronoun resolution often assume that pronouns' referents reside in the immediate discourse context. However, language users regularly produce and comprehend "unheralded pronouns" that violate that assumption. This article provides a taxonomy of unheralded pronouns that makes reference to speakers' and addressees' common ground. Data…

Purpose: In the present study, the authors explored whether pragmatic language use was associated with, and perhaps accounted for, the social skills problems that children with varying levels of hyperactivity and inattention experience. Method: A community sample of 54 children aged 9-11 years participated. Pragmatic language use, hyperactivity…