The International Mother Language Day, celebrated every year on February 21, was proclaimed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in November 1999 with the main goal to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. The term “Mother Language” adopted by UNESCO refers to sometimes interchangeably used terms in the bilingual literature, such as, “Home Language”, “Family Language”, “Heritage Language”, “Minority Language”, “Community Language”, “Indigenous Language”, or “first language (L1)”. In this Research Topic, we adopt the term “Home language” to refer to the language used at home by children and caregivers of immigrant or indigenous minority language background groups living in bilingual contexts where the dominant Societal Language is different from the Home Language.

This year’s theme of the International Mother Language Day “Fostering multilingualism for inclusion in education and society" encourages researchers, educators, practitioners, and policymakers to advocate for support of multilingualism (here used to encompass bilingualism as well) and the use of Home Language, both at school and in everyday life. According to UNESCO (2016), 40% of the world's inhabitants do not have access to education in the language they speak or understand best. This not only hinders access to heritage and cultural expressions but may also have negative repercussions for their linguistic and cognitive development. Home Language maintenance is even more critical, yet controversial, for children with language and communication disorders, whose caregivers are often advised to abandon the Home Language and switch to the Societal Language, questioning the ability of these groups to become multilingual.

The challenges of Home Language development and maintenance have been further highlighted, and in some cases, aggravated, by the on-going COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, the surge in the use of digital communication and digital education during the pandemic has provided new opportunities for multilingual communities to maintain their Home Languages and ensure their successful transmission to future generations.

In honor of the UNESCO`s Mother Language Day, we are delighted to put forward this Research Topic addressing this year`s theme of Home Language development and maintenance across early (0-8 years) and middle (9-11 years) childhood in children from immigrant and/or indigenous minority language background. The current Research Topic welcomes submissions on, yet not limited to, the following topics:
• The role of Home Language in enhancing language and cognitive skills in bi-/multilingual children.
• Parents’ and grandparents’ language use and attitudes about the transmission, maintenance, and development of Home Language in young children
• Home Language development and maintenance in children with disorders where language and communication are the primary or secondary affected areas (e.g., Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Hearing Impairments, Dyslexia, Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Intellectual Disability)
• Literacy development (reading and writing) in the Home Language in young bi-/multilingual children
• Early and middle childhood Home Language educational programs
• Digital communication and education on Home Language development
• Home Language development and maintenance during COVID-19

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