Due to the history of assimilation, power relations, and their sociolinguistic situation, the Sámi languages are categorized as endangered. The position of the Sámi languages in Sámi education is reviewed, and language immersion as a teaching method and as a means of language maintenance is discussed. Sámi language learning is described through…

This article explores social class in English-language education in Oaxaca, Mexico. To this end, first, we discuss social class in Mexico as related to coloniality; second, for illustration, the paper presents the authors' own social-class analysis as language educators in Oaxaca; third, we discuss how social class impacts English education…

This study explores the attitudes and identities of future ESL teachers in a 4-year teacher education program in a regional university in Québec, Canada. We describe the sociopolitical context of learning English in Québec and explain studies describing the position of nonnative-speakers who teach English in various political and geographical…

Latino students' educational success is central to America's prosperity--in traditional immigrant destinations and in New Latino Diaspora locations, previously unfamiliar with Latinos. Implicated in this success is the reception young immigrants receive, especially the ways in which they are identified in schools. We describe findings…

The effects of birth order have been debated in many disciplines and have been shown to be important for a number of outcomes. However, studies examining the significance of birth order in language development and practices, particularly with regard to minority languages, are few. This article reports on two sets of data collected among Spanish…

The last speakers of an endangered language often include many individuals who have acquired less than full productive proficiency in the language, language users Nancy Dorian (1977) called semi-speakers. When these individuals enter formal education and seek to learn or relearn their endangered heritage language, they are often frustrated by…

This study focuses on the ways youth in the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora in Canada, Britain, and the United States construct their ethnic identity when proficiency in their heritage language is limited. Though these youth claim only rudimentary proficiency in Tamil and identify English as their dominant language, they are nonetheless able to claim…

The issues of social, cultural, and language adjustment and the integration of repatriates into the Kazakhstani society are crucial factors in maintaining a stable society. The complicated process of self-identification of ethnic Kazakhs is a major aspect of their sociolinguistic "penetration" into Kazakh society. In this work we consider the…

This study reconceptualizes the native/nonnative dichotomy and provides a powerful lens to examine linguistic identities. In a study of 25 linguistically diverse teacher candidates in Canada, the respondents' native and nonnative self-ascription and self-assessed level of proficiency was juxtaposed with the judgment of their instructors. This…

This study aims to investigate whether English for Specific Purposes (ESP) reading relates to English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' identity and how they relate to each other if there is a link between the two. Via purposeful sampling, an experienced Taiwanese ESP reader in her 40s was recruited and received three life-story interviews.…

This qualitative case study explores one young adolescent's transitional schooling from an American context to a Chinese context. Although the student was bilingual and bicultural, she experiences multiple struggles, triumphs, and dilemmas across the two educational settings. These findings have implications for those adolescents and parents who…

This study examines heritage-language (HL) experience and identity of 12 adults of mixed-heritage backgrounds through in-depth autobiographical interviews. Each participant has an English-speaking American parent and an HL (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, or Vietnamese)-speaking immigrant parent. The interviews explored each participant's…

This article addresses the importance of language underlying the stratification process in Taiwan within the context of globalization. Specifically, I ask if one's language skills may serve as a key to getting ahead. The Taiwanese government has imposed Mandarin as the official language since 1945 and introduced English courses into compulsory…

This study examines the process of linguistic-and-cultural-identity formation as experienced by adult immigrants to Canada who consider themselves professionally successful and highly proficient in the target language. It addresses the characteristics of "good language learners" by determining how they negotiated their marginal standing in…

Studies of Mexican and Puerto Rican communities living in the same United States cities suggest that a combination of historical factors and local conditions strongly influence to what extent these two groups interact and form a shared sense of pan-ethnic Latino unity. However, few studies have examined "MexiRican" individuals, those who have one…