This paper reports on an ethnographic case study which was carried out in a Kenyan first-grade classroom. The classroom had 89 students with their 2 teachers who taught at different times. The classroom was very crowded and had a high paucity of literacy materials. The study was guided by sociocultural and dialogic frameworks which maintain that…

This article presents findings from an exploratory research project entitled "Gaelscoileanna and Multicultural classrooms: the potential for transfer to enhance L2 learning experiences". The project focussed on two language immersion contexts in Ireland which, despite obvious differences, share a range of significant commonalities. One…

The global textbook has an enormous influence upon what is taught in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms. As Akbari has noted, our era is not simply "postmethod", but one of "textbook-defined practice". What happens, then, when a global EFL textbook is selected for use with Year 1 students at a Thai university? How…

Previous studies revealed that isolated and integrated form-focused instruction (FFI) are two effective means of improving language proficiency of students, separately. However, few empirical studies have explored their complementarity in the context of English as a second language. This study, therefore, investigates the effects of combining…

In the light of a recent curriculum reform to improve the teaching of English in primary schools in Malaysia, this study set out to investigate the extent to which teachers are adopting a communicative language teaching (CLT) approach in their teaching. A mixed-method approach incorporating systematic observation, stimulated recall and interviews…

Positioned against the background of the Council of Europe's interest in developing intercultural competence through education, the study presented in this paper investigates the impact on intercultural visual literacy of the Council of Europe's "Images of Others--An Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters through Visual…

At the editor's invitation this article was written as an analysis of the development of the intercultural dimension of foreign language teaching over the last 25 years. It is in part a personal reflection based on an article written for this journal 25 years ago, but it also draws on comments and insights from a network of researchers with…

Language pedagogy in Australia, North America and Europe has been influenced in the past 20 years by a sociocultural understanding of language and culture, which has asked teachers to adopt an intercultural approach, integrating critical cultural reflection within language learning. Due to the diversity of backgrounds, however, different groups of…

With the global spread and use of English, Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) professionals have become increasingly interested in intercultural learning. Comparatively few studies have been published, however, on the use of films in intercultural learning within the context of English as a foreign language (EFL) curricula in…

This qualitative case study examines an after-school, bilingual family literacy programme that brought together several groups to form a community of practice (CoP) that worked to support the literacy development of English language learners and their families. We explored the following question: How do parents, teachers, students, and other…

This qualitative study examined children's concept formation and writing emergence from the perspective of graphical multi-signification by observing the free drawing activities provided by four girls and six boys, aged four to five, in a Chinese class at a Chinese heritage language school in the USA. Children's capacity for graphical…

This article investigates the premise that literary texts use language in aesthetic, imaginative and engaging ways that have considerable potential to extend the learning of bilingual pupils. It draws on research findings from a qualitative study that examined the value of developing pedagogic practices for emergent bilingual learners at the…

This paper provides a snapshot of the manner in which English as a foreign language is taught in an elementary school in Helan County, China, in the nation's first decade of sweeping nation-wide educational reforms where English was first introduced as an official subject in 2001 and then as a compulsory subject in 2004. To cope with large…

The rise of English as an international language (EIL) has brought to light the needs of those who speak it as an additional language. This has in turn radically reshaped the role of culture in the EIL classroom, which may now aim at developing critical transcultural awareness. By reporting on a joint initiative undertaken by three schools in two…

This article reports on the design, implementation and evaluation of an activity used to teach non-honorific speech styles through multimedia to a class of intermediate learners at a university in Europe. Although much emphasis has been placed in Korean language learning and teaching on the importance of honorific styles, my article reveals that…