1. First up today, Li Wei in conversation with Zeinab El-Khateeb on The power of language, identity and education https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2026/mar/power-language-identity-and-education-academia-et-al

This conversation traces Professor Li Wei’s path from classroom teacher to Director and Dean of the UCL Institute of Education, showing how lived experience drove his research questions. He explains language shift in three generations and why some children become English‑dominant despite living in multilingual homes. With deep expertise in bilingualism and multilingual education, he shares evidence‑based ways to support heritage language maintenance. There’s practical insights for educators, families, and early career researchers alike.

And here’s a piece Li Wei wrote for TESOL Journal a little while back, TESOL educators can contribute to the fight-back against racial discrimination and hatred: A personal view from Britain https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/tesj.618

2. More grumpiness from Richard Watson Todd, Breaking the ivory tower https://grumpy.hcommons.org/2026/04/03/breaking-the-ivory-tower/

The gap between researchers and practitioners is one that has been frequently raised. There are numerous papers arguing for the need for more practitioner research, none of which appears to have had much effect. Partly this is because researchers and teachers have different concerns. As I argued in ‘Nice analysis – shame about the data’, what is the point of most structural equation modelling research? Some researchers may be interested, but it’s gobbledygook for teachers. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, there was eminently useful research into teaching strategies with clear practical applications – think of the research of the benefits of wait time in questioning – but this has all but disappeared.

3. Here’s Tobias Carroll’s monthly ‘Watchlist’ of newly translated fiction for Words Without Borders, featuring Canada, France, Indonesia, Spain and Sweden https://wordswithoutborders.org/read/article/2026-03/the-watchlist-march-2026-tobias-carroll/

4. By Samantha Floreani for The Guardian, Australia’s teen social media ban is a flop: but there’s no joy in ‘I told you so’ https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/apr/01/australia-teen-social-media-ban-criticism

Around seven in 10 children remain on major platforms. Who could possibly have predicted that this wasn’t going to work? Well, lots of people.

5. And, finally, a traditional “coffin merit-making” ceremony from Thailand, Norn Long Sadao Kroh https://www.thainewspix.com/en/preview/34653