Language acquisition is a human endeavor par excellence. As children, all human beings learn to understand and speak at least one language: their mother tongue. It is a process that seems to take place without any obvious effort. Second language learning, particularly among adults, causes more difficulty. The purpose of this series is to compile a collection of high-quality monographs on language acquisition. The series serves the needs of everyone who wants to know more about the problem of language acquisition in general and/or about language acquisition in specific contexts.

In the first decade of life, children become bilingual in different language learning environments. Many children start learning two languages from birth (Bilingual First Language Acquisition). In early childhood hitherto monolingual children start hearing a second language through daycare or preschool (Early Second Language Acquisition). Yet other hitherto monolingual children in middle childhood may acquire a second language only after entering school (Second Language Acquisition). This Element explains how these different language learning settings dynamically affect bilingual children's language learning trajectories. All children eventually learn to speak the societal language, but they often do not learn to fluently speak their non-societal language and may even stop speaking it. Children's and families' harmonious bilingualism is threatened if bilingual children do not develop high proficiency in both languages. Educational institutions and parental conversational practices play a pivotal role in supporting harmonious bilingual development.

By far the majority of South African students get their schooling in a second language, which means that our classrooms are multilingual. This state of affairs is not exclusive to our country, as can be seen in the many academic conferences on multilingual learning and teaching. Terms like translanguaging and biliteracy appear in many articles and books that discuss the role language in education. What makes the multilingual nature of our South African classrooms challenging, is the fact that many learners switch from one language of learning and teaching to another at various points in their school career: from home language to English or Afrikaans after the foundation phase, from one language of learning and teaching to another when they move to new schools, high school or tertiary institutions. This book is an attempt to highlight the transitions; from home to school, from foundation to intermediate phase, from primary to high school, and from high school to tertiary institutions.

Diaspora or 'ethnic return' migrants have often been privileged in terms of citizenship and material support when they seek to return to their ancestral land, yet for many, after long periods of absence - sometimes extending to generations - acculturation to their new environment is as complex as that experienced by other immigrant groups. Indeed, the mismatch between the idealized hopes of the returning migrants and the high expectations for social integration by the new host country results in particular difficulties of adaptation for this group of immigrants, often with high societal costs. This interdisciplinary, comparative volume examines migration from German and Jewish Diasporas to Germany and Israel, examining the roles of origin, ethnicity, and destination in the acculturation and adaptation of immigrants. The book presents results from various projects within a large research consortium that compared the adaptation of Diaspora immigrants with that of other immigrant groups and natives in Israel and Germany. With close attention to specific issues relating to Diaspora immigration, including language acquisition, acculturation strategies, violence and 'breaches with the past', educational and occupational opportunities, life course transitions and preparation for moving between countries, The Challenges of Diaspora Migration will appeal to scholars across the social sciences with interests in migration and ethnicity, Diaspora and return migration.

Through case studies from around the world, this book illustrates the opportunities and challenges facing families negotiating the issues of language maintenance and language learning in the home. Every family living in a bi/multilingual environment faces the question of what language(s) to speak with their children and must make a decision, consciously or otherwise, about these issues. Exploring links between language policy in the home and wider society in a range of diverse settings, the contributors utilize various research tools, including interviews, questionnaires, observations, and archival document analysis, to explore linguistic ideologies and practices of family members in the home, illuminating how these are shaped by macro-level societal processes.

Today’s growing mobility in European urban regions results in a more widespread language diversity, which is increasingly challenging current language policies. Against this background, this volume deals with the interface between language policy, language planning and actual practices. The impact that prevailing language policies have on language practices is observed in a series of urban settings, leading to a reflection on the changes that need to be brought about to promote social inclusion and valorise linguistic diversity in a context of globalisation-affected and migration-related multilingualism. The topics of discussion draw on different theoretical perspectives and span the research fields of linguistics, education, (family) language policy and planning, language acquisition and sociology.