This case study describes how sociocultural and activity theory were applied in the design of a publicly funded, Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB)-based English as a Second Language (ESL) credential program and curriculum for immigrant and international students in postsecondary institutions in British Columbia, Canada. The ESL Pathways Project…

This article examines the treatment of culture and the development of interculturality in the transcripts of a complete 36-hour ESL course organized by a community center in Montreal. The adult participants came from a variety of linguistic and cultural backgrounds. The adult second-language class has been identified as a potentially rich context…

This article, based on a larger longitudinal multiple-case study of Generation 1.5 Korean-Canadians, explores two female students' experiences in high school and then university. Foregrounding aspects of language socialization (Duff & Hornberger, 2008) and identity (Norton, 2000) in language-learning and use, the study examines the contextual…

This article recounts the experiences of six Generation 1.5 teacher candidates (TCs) as they grapple with the significance of their racial identity in asserting their native-English-speaking status. A one-year qualitative case study, it draws on critical race theory and positioning theory to elucidate how native-English-speaking status is linked…

This article outlines a researcher's struggles with conducting "ethical" research when her case study reveals racializations faced by a minority teacher in a Canadian ESL program. How might becoming privy to research participants' experiences of inequity in ESL education complicate the notion of research ethics when "doing the right thing" runs…

Two contradictions are inherent in our research into referencing practices and the subsequent development of teaching strategies to remedy inappropriate practices. First, aggregate studies and teaching strategies that tend toward a one-size-fits-all formula for researching and teaching referencing do not consider individual differences in…

This longitudinal study tracked five public junior and senior high school Japanese teachers of English (JTEs) who were sponsored by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) to study English and Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) pedagogy at a host university in Canada. This qualitative case study found…

Through multiple case studies, this article examines the learning experiences of three Korean students in a MATESOL program and how they made sense of the Discourses (Gee, 1996) that they encountered in their course work. The students experienced enculturation on three interrelated dimensions: disciplinary, linguistic, and cultural knowledge, the…

This case study addressed issues of ESL mainstreaming by examining a teacher's experiences and needs in teaching a social studies class where ESL students were mainstreamed. Extended observations, semistructured interviews, and documentary analysis served to unravel classroom dynamics, showing that the teacher modified various aspects of teaching…

This case study of an undergraduate student in a Canadian university analyzes her resistance/acceptance of practices and possibilities for participation in academic discourses. Analyzing her responses to feedback on her writing, this study shows the strategies she engages for negotiating her multiple and contradictory identifications as she learns…

Studies investigating cultural influences on second-language writing have been mainly product-oriented. Moreover, research on writing processes has mostly focused on the strategies of writing and learning to write. Writing processes where we can see the evolution of the writer's identity and beliefs have been less adequately addressed. Therefore,…

Reflective practice, a popular item in current second-language teacher education and development programs, can help bridge the gap between a teacher's beliefs and classroom practices. This article outlines a case study, highlighting how one teacher of academic writing initiated the exploration of her teaching and how she used classroom…

This case study examined factors that affected a Korean physician's learning and use of ESL in an English-speaking country, using data from interviews, observations, notebook memos and e-mails. The findings indicated that individual factors-personality (perfectionism and extroversion), occupation, beliefs, and motivation--and social-contextual…

The purpose of this study was to investigate ESL instructors' feedback techniques and the rationales behind these techniques, to explore ESL students' beliefs about the relative effectiveness of various types of feedback, and to compare students' beliefs with those of their instructors. A university-level ESL instructor and two of her students…

This case study investigated the revising patterns and intentions in L1 and L2 of Japanese writers with various writing experiences. Three participants were selected through purposeful sampling to do within-case comparisons. One participant was an experienced writer in both Japanese and English; one was an experienced writer in Japanese, but not…