Category: Plurilingualism – Bilingualism
Language-Specific Gesture Patterns in Bilinguals: Differences Between L1 and L2
Bilingualism involves mastery of both speech and gesture patterns in a second language (L2). Previous studies on first language (L1) production have shown that speech and co-speech gesture form a tightly integrated system, with co-speech gesture mirroring the patterns observed in speech. However, less is known about the online effect of language on gesture in …
What Languages Are Present in My Ideal School? Analyzing Prospective Teacher Beliefs About Language Learning in the Basque Country
The beliefs and thoughts of future teachers can offer valuable information, among others, to see how they understand the profession, to analyze how their teacher identity develops or to explore the decisions they would take in the teaching-learning process. In this study, we analyze the responses given by a group of 56 pre-service teachers in …
Why Do Secondary School Pupils in Wales Choose to Study a Modern Foreign Language?
This paper reports on research examining why pupils choose to study a Modern Foreign Language at examination level in Wales. The Modern Foreign Language (MFL) is the third language, at least, for pupils in secondary schools in Wales. Pupils who attend Welsh-medium schools are fluent in both Welsh and English with pupils who attend English-medium …
How the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages Limits Itself From Harnessing Its Economic and Societal Benefits
Previous qualitative and quantitative studies (Liu, 2015) argue that promoting minority languages increases in FDI and GDP and societal public trust. However, quantitative comparisons of four Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, and Serbia) suggest the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML), is not reliably providing these benefits. Negative outcomes were …
Children’s Incidental Learning of English Through Cartoons: An Italian Case Study
The presentation concerns a qualitative and longitudinal case study of two young Italian children acquiring English incidentally, while enjoying cartoons in a domestic environment. The data from a log kept by a participant observer over eight years are investigated to reconstruct the main steps of the process, from reception to various forms of production. Unlike …
Family Language Policy and Immigrant Chinese Children’s Bilingual Development in New Zealand Context
The concept of Family Language Policy (FLP) and the studies on how immigrant families transmit their heritage language to the next generation had already drawn interest from researchers worldwide (Schwartz, 2010). Spolsky (2012) argues that language policy in the family domain should be further studied for a better understanding of the establishment and the sustainability …