Drawing on the concept of figured worlds, we examined how four preservice teachers in a monoglossically oriented teacher preparation program developed their professional identities and sense of agency as dual language teachers. Figured worlds are socially constructed and culturally recognized realms with a story line and actors who also actively…

This paper is based on an analysis of chat transcripts from an English-language telecollaboration project between students at universities in Chile and California. This research found that the richest intercultural interactions involved events that could not have been foreseen: the immigrant rights demonstrations in the USA and the massive student…

In its late colonial history and early years as an independent nation, Australia practised a policy of ruthless exclusion of immigrants on the basis of race by means of a language test: the notorious Dictation Test. In the 50 years following World War II, Australia adopted policies encouraging immigration with bipartisan political support.…

As demographics shift and immigration is a hotly contested area of US civic life, the civic preparation and participation of Latin American immigrant youth is becoming increasingly important. The author examines the growing literature on this topic, inquiring into the political and demographic changes that have stimulated this area of inquiry, the…

Reports on a teacher-education project in which English-as-a-Second-Language teachers from five community-based organizations in Chicago developed a textbook about immigrant rights in the United States. The process not only produced significant course materials, but it also changed teachers' understanding of their classes, students, and teaching…

The United States is home to the largest number of immigrants of any nation (United Nations 2006). In 2005, 38.5 million residents of the U.S. were foreign born. As a result, an increasing number of children in the public schools are either immigrants or the children of immigrants: more than one of every five. Most of these children come from…

Teachers' beliefs, conceptualised as heuristics encompassing perceptions and ideologies regarding aspects of their profession, strongly influence their practices. Grounded in this perspective, this study investigated teachers' beliefs and perceived practices in the context of teaching English as foreign language (EFL) to immigrant students in…

This article explores Brazilian immigrant parents' perspectives about a newly established Two-Way Immersion (TWI) program in their community. The analysis of parental answers to a family engagement survey, using the framework of investment, reveals that the Brazilian parents in our sample assembled narratives of gratitude through overt statements…

This report describes a 1998 consultation conducted to examine the impact of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 on legal immigrants and refugees in Rhode Island. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act restricted access of documented immigrants to a wide range of government programs such as…

The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting shift to virtual learning brought into sharp relief the inequities that English Learners (ELs) experience in New Jersey's public education system. Despite tremendous work on the part of educators, parents, and other caregivers to provide continuity of learning during this time, their efforts were hindered by…

Purpose: There has been a significant increase in the number of immigrant families moving to rural communities across the United States. Yet limited research exists that explores relationships between immigrant families and schools in these communities. Rural school districts are often challenged by insufficient resources, expertise, and…

All parents of eligible students with disabilities have the right to collaborate as equal members of educational teams developing their children's Individualized Education Programs (IEP). However, culturally and linguistically diverse families typically experience barriers to collaboration with school professionals. In this paper, we describe…

There is a need to embrace translingualism in order to avert covert tensions that emanate from the ascription of linguistic supremacy to "standard" English, especially among teachers of immigrant children and in overall public discourse. Drawing inspiration from the 1974 resolutions of the Conference on College Composition and…

In 2012, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) implemented a requirement that all aspiring Canadians who wish to take the citizenship test must have an adequate level of English- or French-language skills, defined as Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 4. The CLB 4 language policy directly and, we argue, problematically links language abilities…

The notion of agency is being used with increasing frequency in early childhood policies, replacing traditional assumptions about young children's immaturity and their role as mere recipients of adults' arrangements. Agency is thus both an educational aspiration as well as a signifier of a strong rights-based political commitment to countering…