We are pleased to present a special issue of BEIS/TED’s Bilingual Basics, this time devoted to examining issues related to the impact of national curricula on English language learners (ELLs), nonnative speakers of majority languages, and native users of sign languages.

The articles by Becerra, Gouleta, and Kleyn address this issue from different perspectives. The first two articles even add an international flavor to our publication by describing the plights of the Mapuche population in Chile and those of linguistic minorities in Pakistan, respectively. For her part, Kleyn tackles a complex and difficult topic—the situation of undocumented students in the United States who, after completing their years of mandatory schooling, attempt to enter college. Three other manuscripts, by Karam, Mellor and Ramirez, and Wei, respectively, contain a literature review of the impact of foreign influence on the linguistic situation in Lebanon, offer suggestions on how to improve writing in order to meet the demanding requirements of the new Common Core standards, and reflect on the lack of sensitivity for the culture of ELLs in both EFL and ESL contexts.  Finally, Rodriguez, a voice from the field, reflects on her own bilingualism and sheds light on the erroneous interpretation that bilingualism is monolingualism times two.

We take this opportunity to thank each of the authors for their contributions and each of our reviewers, Sandra Musanti, Jaime Ramirez, Alcione Ostorga, Janet Medina, Karen Lillie, Karie Mize, and Kristin Grayson, for their time and constructive comments. We sincerely hope that our readers enjoy this special issue of BEIS/TED’s Bilingual Basics as much as, we are sure, they have enjoyed the previous ones.