This study investigated the impact of an innovative professional development initiative on teachers' ability to use technological resources to improve English learners' academic language. The Teaching Using Technology Studio, a collaborative effort between school district and university personnel, was designed as a responsive professional…

This yearlong ethnographic study explored the work of two Latino teachers who identified themselves as critical literacy teachers and who taught ninth-grade Latino students whose scores on standardized reading tests fell in the bottom 20th percentile. Framed in critical pedagogy and multimodality, this study sought to answer the following…

This article questions the appropriateness of communicative language teaching (CLT) in classrooms teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) to Japanese students. The four main criticisms of CLT are the ambiguity of its description, the benefits of CLT for language learning, the amalgamation of CLT methods with local classroom practices, and the…

Drawing on task-based and intercultural teaching approaches, this article presents an ESL classroom project at two different university settings in which students investigate aspects of their local communities through the use of ethnographic and observational research techniques. For related reasons, the instructors at each university developed…

This microethnographic case study discusses the effects of translating and revising documents for an English-medium master of science in engineering programme in terms of workload and value for English for Specific Purposes (ESP) teacher development, integration, and enculturation. During the changeover from the diploma to bachelor-master…

Wikis provide an effective technological tool to meet the pedagogical goals outlined in the new TESOL Technology Standards (Healey et al.,2009). A wiki, a cross between a website and a word document, is an interactive webpage that allows students to read, generate, and publish content online in an environment of collaboration. The flexibility and…

The article describes the agentive development of a group of first-year Japanese university students. They first individually wrote their language learning histories to grasp what they had been through in their junior and senior high school English education. They then analyzed the histories in small groups, discussing what motivated and…

Formulaic language is an important component of discourse and needs to be addressed in teaching pedagogy. Unfortunately, there has been little research into the most effective ways of teaching formulaic language. In this study, Kuwaiti students were taught words and idioms using the same teaching methodologies, and their learning was measured. The…

The impact of social dimensions (e.g., parental involvement) on second language literacy acquisition is not well studied in the field (August & Shanahan, 2008). Although quite a few studies report immigrant parents' belief and perspectives of their children's second language reading and writing, it remains unknown for school teachers…

This article presents results of a study examining the effects of workshops presented to a small group of elementary student teaching interns with English learners mainstreamed in their classes. The focus of the workshops was to provide the interns with training in strategies to support their English learners including instruction on teaching…

Teachers constantly question their own practice. Often, their questions remain unexplored. Collegial observation provides one way to see teaching differently and understand the tensions involved in incorporating new theoretical understandings into practice. Gebhard (1999) argues that conversations preceding and following such observations are…

Content-based instruction course designers have many important decisions to make when developing courses for postsecondary English for academic purposes (EAP) students. One important consideration revolves around deciding if students would benefit most from the use of sustained content (Murphy & Stoller, 2001) or a topical approach (Brinton,…

Elementary school English teachers in Taiwan face classes of students with differing levels of English proficiency, to the point where about one-third of the students may have never learned English before, and another third may already have read Harry Potter in English. A successful teacher recognizes that diversity may affect learning and works…

In this article the author tells the story of her experiences with a high school U.S. literature class composed of English language learners (ELLs). The students were from a variety of nations and cultures, spoke several different languages, and had a wide range of English proficiency levels. During their time together, the author and students…

"Am I a girl?" This question from a long-ago English class (quoted by Kennedy, 1983) illustrates what was once considered suitable practice for language learners. Over the decades, ideas for the content of a language lesson have reflected developing theories of second language learning and teaching. This essay draws on materials,…