Schools are under increasing pressure to reclassify their English learner (EL) students to "fluent English proficient" status as quickly as possible. This article examines timing to reclassification among Latino ELs in four distinct linguistic instructional environments: English immersion, transitional bilingual, maintenance bilingual,…

This study investigated the effect of mother tongue instruction and gender on second language acquisition using a causal-comparative quantitative research design. The two distinguishing groups compared were (i) learners that were taught in their mother tongue (Afrikaans) and (ii) learners that were not taught in their mother tongue but in English,…

This study examines Arizona's restrictive language policy from the perspective of English learners (ELs) and reclassified fluent English proficient students who have been enrolled in the structured English immersion (SEI) model. While multiple scholars in the USA have analyzed Arizona's policy impact since its enactment in 2008, none to date have…

Background: Photovoice is one method that enables an educator to view an experience from a student's perspective. This study examined how teachers might use photovoice during an informal learning experience to understand the students' experiences and experiential gain. Design and methods: Participants in this study consisted of six students, three…

Considerable research documents students' outcomes in dual language (DL) programs, but there is little examination of students' perceptions of bilingualism and its impact on students' cognitive functioning and social relationships, especially with comparative studies across different target languages and student backgrounds. This study, which…

In striving for internationalisation, government and university policies in Catalonia promote the use of English in classrooms in two ways that often overlap: (1) as a lingua franca aiding the participation of international students and (2) through immersion approaches targeting local students. However, as the findings presented in this article…

The authors report the results of a phenomenological, qualitative research study involving 20 students who participated in a weekend poverty immersion experience. Analysis of the tape-recorded interviews included coding, checks for internal validity, and the generation of themes common to most of the research participants. Two overall results were…

Many educators and policymakers look to two-way dual language immersion as one of the most promising options to close achievement gaps for English learners. However, the programs' effectiveness depends on the quality of their implementation. This article reports on a large-scale study of the implementation of dual language immersion across a…

Harrisonburg, Virginia, a community nestled in the fertile hills of the Shenandoah Valley, is emblematic of the demographic changes taking shape in the U.S. for some years now. The town's agricultural industry has attracted a large number of immigrant workers from Central America. In addition, Harrisonburg's refugee resettlement center has drawn…

Language students in the UK undertake their "year abroad" with high hopes for a linguistic and social "immersion" experience. However, past research shows that language learning success, while real, can be uneven, and that many Erasmus exchange students form social relations largely with other international students. New…

The goal of this study was to examine the impact of the integration of global experiences on in-service teachers' international perspectives in mathematics classroom teaching through offering a graduate course "Global Perspectives in Mathematics Teaching" in the form of the East Meets West Program. This program engages teachers in an…

The article discusses how instead of being parts of a concerted educational reform effort, No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and the development of charter schools are in fact contradictory initiatives. Basing itself on a theoretical framework that brings together issues inherent to outcome-based school reform and arguments supporting and criticizing…

This paper responds to Michael Rosen's blog entries, "How Genre Theory Saved the World", arguing that genre theory in the tradition of systemic functional linguistics (SFL) has made an important contribution to language and literacy pedagogy. It emerged in the Australian context in about 1980 and was initially developed in response to…

In 2016, Dr. Martin Reinhardt and Dr. Jioanna Carjuzaa produced a series of three webinars concerning Indigenous language immersion programs. The first webinar focused on broad curriculum development ideas including core relationships, guidelines and principles for effective pedagogy, and models. The second webinar focused on the elements of…

Inspired by Joshua Fishman's lifetime dedication to the revitalisation of minority languages, especially Yiddish, this paper presents my personal story of the loss of the Maori language in my family in New Zealand/Aotearoa and our attempts to reverse this decline over several generations. The paper includes a description of several policy reforms…