Emigration has been and still is an essential part of Polish experience. The country’s turbulent history has often forced Poles out of their homeland. Yet whenever or wherever they went, they established communities which strived to preserve their culture and, above all, to maintain their language. This chapter provides the main characteristics and history of the Polish diaspora. It also describes Polish ethnic institutions established to help new generations uphold the heritage language while bringing to discussion their forms and organisation. It also talks about heritage returnees, whose struggle with language in Polish schools has received little attention.

The chapter presents an overview of English Medium Instruction (EMI) at Swiss universities. It describes historical and political aspects relating to languages in Switzerland. This entails the implications for the multilingual policy, language law, federalism, and the role of English in higher education. The nation’s model of communication informed by the partner-language model has evolved into multilingualism with English. Many university courses in Switzerland are offered in English depending on the research done in a given area. The analysis focuses on the data collected from the websites of major Swiss universities with regard to the EMI trends.

This chapter gives a practical description of a CLIL vector model developed in Finland and Mexico for adolescent language learning students in Mexican public education (2017–2021). The model enabled two simultaneous interlinked learning experiences in which language teachers enable the learning of content through English, and teachers of other subjects enable the learning of English through content. Although the approach can be used for the learning of any additionallanguage, this chapter describes a case study in which the model was applied with the primary objective of raising levels of English language competences of some 1,500 students aged 15–18 years.

This chapter focuses on heritage language education in major English-speaking Chinese diasporic communities. The chapter starts with a brief overview of the Chinese diasporic communities across different geopolitical contexts. It is followed by a discussion of the benefits of HLs and the impact of language hierarchies on language development. It then provides a discussion of HL development in the home and its key research contributions in the field. The discussion is devoted to a critical review of HL language schools and the development of HL learners’ identity and perceptions of their multilingual selves. In the last section, the implications of HL education are outlined and suggestions for future research are indicated.

Some preliminary contextual, conceptual, and terminological remarks on Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) create the necessary foundation for a multi-perspective evaluation of CLIL-related benefits for general English as a Foreign Language (EFL) proficiency. Theoretical perspectives suggest that CLIL has great potential to enhance students‘ language competencies. Corresponding empirical studies vary in explanatory power and show mixed results: Some indicate improvements, especially in receptive skills, vocabulary, and grammar, while others find limited effects. The chapter highlights that CLIL (research) is complex and challenging; contexts differ. It appears plausible that potential benefits not always materialise in CLIL classes.

The chapter presents an updated overview of translanguaging studies in Chinese university classrooms. It starts with a briefing of development of translanguaging research in China. Followed are systematic reviews of translanguaging studies on Chinese foreign language classrooms, English medium instruction classrooms and international students classrooms respectively. Based on review of these studies, the chapter ends by outlining the future directions of translanguaging research in Chinaand beyond.

While previous research has highlighted similarities between classroom codeswitching and pedagogical translanguaging in terms of affordances, there are also emerging commonalities in terms of constraints. Recent work conducted in multilingual classrooms in different parts of the globe reveals that the unplanned use of multilingual pedagogies can negatively affect students’ development of language proficiency. Furthermore, the non-strategic use of these pedagogies may result in the exclusion of Indigenous languages or varieties that have historically been subjected to linguistic discrimination and erasure. In light of these findings, we argue that multilingual pedagogies need to be conscious, structured, and planned for.

The introductory chapter presents the central themes and framework of the book. It presents the motivations for the study, the main theoretical underpinnings, and the cultural context in which the ethnographic fieldwork took place. The chapter discusses social belonging, prestige and material practices as central in shaping language ideologies and the construction of languages.This is linked to sociological theories of modernity, which have examined the role of social categories in late modern contexts. The latter use the metaphor of ’liquidity’ to emphasise the shifting, context-dependent nature of social categories, while recognising the conditions that temporarily stabilise them. In suggesting the study of how language practices and categories emerge, the chapter situates these processes within broader social structures and power dynamics. This sets the stage for a book that contributes to the decolonisation of linguistics by challenging Eurocentric assumptions and studies language as a socially constructed phenomenon with implications for understanding diversity and social order.

This chapter provides an overview of Japanese language education in diasporic communities linked to Japan, concentrating on five key English-dominant regions with established Japanese communities. The key guiding principle used for comparison is the distinction between hoshuko schools, which offer components of the compulsory curriculum in Japan, and keishogo schools, which are community-operated heritage language programmes. The chapter discusses key features and affordances of the programming in these schools as well as their concomitant challenges, many of which are intrinsically connected to the diversification of the student demographic.

This chapter provides an overview of Japanese-as-a-heritage language (JHL) education in the USA, where the number of Japanese residents and Nikkei (Japanese immigrants and their descendants) stands out. The chapter starts by reviewing two conventional ways of conceptualising HL learners. This is followed by a discussion of Japanese diasporas around the globe, especially those in the USA. The chapter then examines the issues and challenges of teaching and learning JHL in the USA. It also discusses identity issues in relation to HL development in general and JHL in particular. The chapter concludes by recommending future JHL education and research endeavours.

This chapter explores material language practices and their interaction with language ideologies. It investigates how oral, literal, and digital forms co-constitute discourses of normativity and prestige. Through observations of literacy practices, teaching, media, and participants’ reflections, the chapter studies materialisations of language and their ideological implications. The dominance of English writing in formal and institutional contexts contrasts with the variable use of oral Kriol, which resists standardisation. Efforts by the National Kriol Council to create a standardised orthography reveal tensions between fostering linguistic legitimacy and maintaining the anti-standard nature of Kriol. Digital communication amplifies these dynamics, bringing to the fore non-standardised writing that reflects local linguistic realities. Kriol’s oral and multimodal characteristics, perceived as spontaneous, creative, and resistant to disciplinary norms, challenge Western-centric ideologies that prioritise fixed standards. This shows that material language practices are culturally specific. A consideration of the role of materiality in language ideologies challenges universalised epistemologies.

Originally conceptualised as a pedagogical practice of language alternation in the Welsh/English bilingual classroom, translanguaging has acquired new meanings over the past decades. In this chapter, I highlight the transformations of the term and show how translanguaging research in Canada has pushed it outside bilingual boundaries. Increasing multilingualism in the Canadian context, coupled with calls to decolonise education and empower speakers of minoritised languages, including in Indigenous and immigrant communities, make translanguaging within a bilingual framework no longer viable, nor inclusive. In Canada, translanguaging pedagogy is implemented within an overarching social justice plurilingual framework and has developed new tenets which must be considered in translaguaging research moving forward: disaffiliation of translanguaging from its bilingual origins, embracing multilingualism, and viewing language users as dynamic plurilinguals rather than emergent bilinguals.

The chapter explores complex ascriptions of linguistic prestige in Belize’s multilingual and postcolonial context. The observations made challenge traditional binary models of overt and covert prestige. English, the former colonizer’s language, holds formal prestige linked to its global status, economic utility, and educational norms. However, this prestige coexists with linguistic insecurity, as many Belizeans combine local and exogenous norms. Conversely, Kriol carries polycentric prestige rooted in national identity, creativity, and resistance to colonial hegemony. It indexes reputation rather than respectability, aligning with Afro-European traditions and anti-standard ideologies. Despite its rise in public and formal domains, Kriol remains ideologically linked to informality, creativity, and resistance. The chapter also highlights the emic construction of ‘code-switching’, valued as the ability to distinguish English from Kriol, reflecting education and social status. This linguistic liquidity – marked by overlapping functions, fluid boundaries, and contradictory discourses – reflects the complex interaction of different forms of prestige in Belize.

This chapter examines multilingual education in Australia, focusing on Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), immersion, and bilingual programmes. It highlights the profound impact of these programmes on individuals, emphasising various purposes around fostering linguistic diversity, intercultural understanding, and cognitive benefits. The chapter explores the diverse implementations across Australian states, with a special focus on the Queensland Model and its unique second language immersion programmes. The chapter underscores the need for effective implementation and support, acknowledging bilingual education’s niche but crucial role in this predominantly English-speaking context.