Migration, among the most important sociocultural phenomena of contemporary global societies, is complex, dynamic, and multifaceted. At the heart of migration is language, the indispensable agent of migration. Hence, in this article, a new sub-discipline of linguistics is presented, and that is 'migration linguistics'. It is the interdisciplinary…

French immersion (FI) programs in Canada have historically served predominantly Canadian-born, English-speaking students and families in their endeavour to learn both of the country's official languages, French and English. However, FI programs are becoming increasingly culturally and linguistically diverse as a result of increased global…

This study is located in a lesser-known educational context and investigates aspects of migration, religion and multilingualism. Focusing on the discourse of second-generation adolescent migrants in a Tamil Hindu temple school in urban Australia, I discuss how flexible language practices manifest in this migrant faith setting. I argue that the use…

That learners who want to develop good pragmatically-appropriate speaking skills in a language also need to develop good pronunciation is beyond dispute, and yet research continues to report that both areas still have low visibility in the curriculum and are often treated as poor relations in the classroom. Many teachers are still wary of what…

Our purpose is to use a Deleuzian-informed conceptual and theoretical framework to disrupt predominant representations of "the" immigrant experience in Canadian official language education and to open up to the affective potential of "an" immigrant life to become otherwise. Employing a rhizoanalytic research approach that…

The chapters in this volume, all written by experts in the field, present an array of new research on second language acquisition (SLA) that touches on several current theoretical debates in the field and present a rich range of new empirical data and a number of innovative findings. The studies address questions relating to ultimate attainment,…

Social class has been underresearched in the field of applied linguistics. The central goal of this forum was to stimulate more conversation about social class as it impacts language learning and teaching. In this article, I comment on 3 salient themes that have emerged in the 5 articles: (1) agency and structure in language learning and teaching,…

This article examines several "language practice" interactions among adult immigrant students in an ESL classroom in the U.S. from the perspective of performativity theory. In drawing on performativity theory, it conceptualizes such classroom interactions, along with the research practices used to investigate them, as constitutive actions. That…

This article presents the development, rollout, and subsequent uptake of the Alberta Teachers of English as a Second Language (ATESL) document Best Practices for "Adult English as a Second Language (ESL)/Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) Programming" in the light of literature on teacher engagement with second-language…

This review presents a broad picture of recent work on L2 Spanish in educational contexts. The thematic and geographic scope of the review is wide, in order to capture the diversity of learners and learning contexts of L2 Spanish, just two decades after teaching and learning the language gained impetus worldwide. Traditional second or foreign…

This article presents an overview of the Arabic language in the United States. Drawing on archival research and statistical analysis, the article is divided into 4 major sections. The first discusses the history of immigration from the Arab world to the United States, as well as past efforts at Arabic language maintenance. The article continues…

Many adolescent and adult L2 learners in language classrooms, both in the US and other countries, have little or no alphabetic print literacy. Language teachers may turn to SLA research for assistance, yet almost all research on oral SLA has focused on educated, highly-literate learners (Bigelow & Tarone 2004; Tarone, Bigelow & Hansen 2009). The…

This article focuses on how attitudes toward HLLs [heritage language learners] have changed, both with regard to program development and in learning and teaching. First, the ambiguity towards heritage language preservation is illustrated by examining historical aspects of heritage languages in the United States. Secondly, a closer look at two…

Discusses research on English-as-Second-Language for the workplace, identifying gaps in existing literature and promising directions for new explorations. A qualitative study was conducted in one type of program for immigrant women and men in Western Canada seeking to become long-term resident care aides or home support workers. (Author/VWL)

Discusses the linguistic systems of children of Italian immigrants in Australia and the children's mastery of standard Italian and various dialects. Also reviews evidence for claims of the emergence of a new linguistic form labelled "Australitalian." (EKN)