Vocabulary plays a pivotal role in the ESL classroom. Whereas a considerable amount of research has examined effective ESL vocabulary teaching and learning, missing are studies that provide examples of how to put various research findings into practice: that is, apply them to real texts including target vocabulary items. In order to close the gap…

One of the central challenges of ESL teaching is striking the right balance between form and meaning. In pronunciation pedagogy, this challenge is compounded because repetitive practice, which has been shown to enhance phonological acquisition and promote fluency, is widely viewed as being incompatible with communicative principles. This article…

The process of second-language teaching is grounded in the sociocultural theory of Vygotsky, which emphasizes meaningful interaction among individuals as the greatest motivating force in human development and learning. In this theoretical framework, the concepts of meaning and mediation are considered as the two essential elements affecting an…

This article discusses the findings of an ethnographic study that explored the perceptions of ESL graduate students toward non-native English-Speaker Teachers (NNESTs) in the United States, a little researched topic. Analysis of classroom observations and interviews with 12 ESL graduate students from various countries showed that international ESL…

Many universities in Mainland China hire native-speaking teachers of English annually to teach English writing. Having been trained in Western Europe or North America, these native-speaking teachers of English are on the front line of global education contact zones as they introduce their writing instruction in an English as a foreign language…

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…

Effective mentoring of EFL preservice teachers may advance EFL teaching practices. Five factors for mentoring have been identified, namely, personal attributes, system requirements, pedagogical knowledge, modeling, and feedback. An empirically based survey instrument focused on 106 Vietnamese preservice teachers' perceptions of their mentoring for…

In this article we are calling for an interlayered and cross-dimensional approach to understanding and working with anxiety, especially as manifested in English as an additional language (EAL) teaching and learning environments. We aim to understand the phenomenon of anxiety from the multidimensional perspectives of physiology, psychology, and…

There is evidence that semantic prosody, a novel linguistic theme, should attract much attention in ESL/EFL (English as a second/foreign language) vocabulary learning and teaching. Research suggests that inappropriate word choice arising from ignorance of semantic prosody is common among ESL/EFL learners (Wei, 2006; Xiao & McEnery, 2006). This…

For years, phoneticians have tried to simplify pronunciation for EFL/ESL learners. Some have identified four degrees of primary, secondary, tertiary, and weak stress, and others only three degrees: primary, secondary, and weak. Still others have concentrated on two stress levels: accented versus unaccented, or stressed versus unstressed (Bowen,…

This article reports on the preliminary findings of a two-staged empirical study aimed at gaining insights into the variables salient in the early language and literacy development of young English language learners (ELL). Increasingly, young ELL, whether foreign-born or Canadian-born, arrive at school with little developed English-language…

This study examines whether nonverbal visual and/or auditory channels are more effective in detecting foreign-language anxiety. Recent research suggests that language teachers are often able to successfully decode the nonverbal behaviors indicative of foreign-language anxiety; however, relatively little is known about whether visual and/or…

Reticence in foreign language classes has long been a challenge for both teachers and students. With the advent of globalization, there is a pressing need for EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teachers to help reticent students develop the skills and confidence needed to take an active role in oral English lessons. This article reports on a…

Collocations are one of the areas that produce problems for learners of English as a foreign language. Iranian learners of English are by no means an exception. Teaching experience at schools, private language centers, and universities in Iran suggests that a significant part of EFL learners' problems with producing the language, especially at…

This article examines the Paper Partners program at Ryerson University, Toronto. This peer-mentoring program was developed to support the academic writing skills of students whose first language of academic study was not English. The program integrated a team of student-facilitators, a talk-aloud co-editing process, and a reflective feedback…