Despite decades of advocacy for greater investigative attention, research into pronunciation instruction in the teaching of English as a second language (ESL) and English as a foreign language (EFL) continues to be limited. This limitation is particularly evident in explorations of teacher cognition (e.g., teachers' knowledge, beliefs, and…

This is a critical policy study of language planning and policy in Quebec regarding the new policy direction requiring the compulsory teaching of English at the early primary level (grades 1-2, Cycle 1) in francophone public schools. Based on the analysis of policy documents, archives, and narratives from interviews, the goal of this policy study…

This follow-up study reexamines the state of the teaching of pronunciation in ESL classes across Canada. The purpose of the survey was twofold: to gain a snapshot of current practices and to compare this with the picture of 10 years ago. We based the current work on Breitkreutz, Derwing, and Rossiter's (2001) survey asking teachers about…

Exploring learners' processes of memory and analysis has captivated considerable attention among language-learning researchers due to the recent prevalence of key concepts from feeder disciplines such as cognitive psychology and phraseology. However, there has been little empirical effort to describe the nature of interaction between these two…

How do ESL teacher-candidates grapple with beliefs about language during their professional training? In this article, we present the findings of a qualitative research study conducted in a large eastern Canadian university Bachelor of Education program. As Johnson (2010) has recently noted, despite extensive research and theoretical work that…

In this article we share our experiences of using poems in teacher-training courses where the students are predominantly second-language learners. We describe how we tried to help learners engage with a creative text through its language and meaning. We share our experiences of helping to facilitate the open expression of opinions and feelings in…

The claim that the words "for," "and," "nor," "but," "or," "yet," and "so" (FANBOYS) constitute a complete list of English coordinating conjunctions is examined though syntactic analysis and found wanting. This analysis is presented as an illustration of the need for teachers constantly to question the choice of material that we present to our…

Robert Courchene's 1996 article entitled "Teaching Canadian Culture: Teacher Preparation" sparked a conversation in the pages of the "TESL Canada Journal" that continues today. From advocating the teaching of significant historical events and icons to encouraging second-language learners to embrace cultural ambiguity, there is…

The language settings used on personal computers interact with the spell-checker in Microsoft Word, which directly affects the flagging of spellings that are deemed incorrect. This study examined the language settings of personal computers owned by a group of Canadian university students. Of 21 computers examined, only eight had their Windows…

English is a compulsory subject in many secondary EFL classrooms; thus the questions that arise for teachers are how to motivate learners in general and how to help them come to appreciate the value of English learning activities in particular. This article is based on the premise that learners benefit not only from becoming intrinsically…

This study investigates how one English-as-a-second-language (ESL) teacher provided corrective feedback to 15 child ESL learners that the teacher had divided into two groups based on proficiency level. Classroom data in transcripts from the CHILDES database were analyzed for type of learner errors, type of teacher feedback, and rate of learner…

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…

An ESL instructor describes her experience of using pronunciation pegs, a method to foster the self-monitoring and self-correction of pronunciation mistakes with a view to helping university-level students deal with the ongoing challenge of producing target-like pronunciation. The appeal of pegs to students led the instructor to reflect on what…

Trained peer review, as illustrated in a plethora of peer review or peer response scholarship, has a positive effect on students' writing in general and on improved revision quality in particular (Berg, 1999; Hu, 2005; Min, 2006; Paulus, 1999; Stanley, 1992). From these studies, it is evident that trained peer feedback does have a significant role…

In the field of English-language teaching, there has been increasing interest in how literacy development is influenced by institutional and community practice and how power is implicated in language-learners' engagement with text. In this article, I trace the trajectory of my research on identity, literacy, and English-language teaching informed…