This paper draws attention to the central concern of authors in this issue, which is to offer translanguaging and genre theory as two promising pedagogical responses to education systems characterised by linguistic as well as socio-economic diversity. It also draws attention to the agency of teachers in the processes of engaging with the…

This paper is focused on the ways in which social policy and social concerns have impacted upon and shaped provision for students who consider English as an additional language (EAL). It provides an overview of practice and provision in relation to EAL learners in the context of state-funded education in England over the last 60 years in order to…

This article focuses on teaching critical literacy in the context of Singapore. It begins with a conceptualization of critical literacy as a stance oriented to questioning and challenging the often taken-for-granted meanings and assumptions found in "everyday" texts. It then discusses how this stance can be cultivated in students through…

Observing that place may be understood in a range of sometimes conflicting ways, the paper picks up on recent work within literacy studies on notions of place-making and locational disadvantage to argue for increasingly sophisticated and reflexive uses of place in the field, as a counterpoint to both increasing educational standardisation and…

The paper offers a case study of two bilingual girls aged 10, born in London, of Albanian-speaking families who arrived in the UK as refugees. An earlier study, when the girls were aged six, explored the strategies they used as they learned to read with their mothers in Albanian using dual language books. Four years on, supported by a primary…

Despite certain important critiques, much of the work on teacher questions has centered on the distinction between referential and display questions as well as their roles in creating more or less communicative classrooms. With some notable exceptions, few have delved into the specificity of how questions work in the details of classroom…

I outline the concept of "Language Hotspots", seeking to direct public and professional awareness of the global language extinction crisis. The loss of a single language leaves the science of linguistics impoverished and yet even few linguists realize that the vast majority of "language families" will likely be lost by the end of this century.…

This paper explores the distance between documenting and revitalizing endangered languages and indicates critical points at which applied linguistics can play a role. We look at language documentation, language revitalization and their relationship. We then provide some examples from our own work. We see the lack of applied linguistics as a…

Language learning and teaching of endangered languages have many features and needs that are quite different from the teaching of world languages. Groups whose languages are endangered try to turn language loss around; many new language teaching and learning strategies are emerging, to suit the special needs and goals of language revitalization.…

As an offshoot of the Canadian Indigenous Languages and Literacy Development Institute (CILLDI), the Department of Linguistics at the University of Alberta offers a Community Linguist Certificate (CLC) program to speakers of First Peoples' languages of (mainly) Western Canada. The CLC program provides linguistic analysis and language documentation…

The success of programs that are focused on revitalizing an endangered language depends on careful implementation. This paper examines four common mistakes that are made when linguists and anthropologists get involved with documenting endangered languages or participating in revitalization efforts: a failure to appreciate the complexity of the…

The Gong are a minority group of western Thailand whose language has been in decline for over a century. In the 1920s, the first report of the language predicted its imminent demise. Since then, it has contacted to two villages outside its traditional territory. The language there is under threat, particularly since the 1970s with roads, schools,…

A strong case can be made for developing more flexible and relevant multilingual strategies for teaching and learning within the field of bilingual education. This paper aims to demonstrate how current linguistic and educational practices in countries like Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and Ethiopia suggest new directions for research and practice. A…

That our writing can be misunderstood by our readers is a conceptual difficulty for developing writers. This paper outlines a perspective-taking process that assists elementary students in composing referentially detailed descriptions. Through a procedural sequence that includes drafting, feedback, readers' perspective task, revision and drafting…

This article is about progression in further and higher education for migrants to the United Kingdom who are users of non-standard varieties of English. The focus is on the struggles of Tobi, a first-generation migrant Nigerian student. Tobi's story describes the local barriers he must navigate in order to gain access to the courses he wishes to…