Demographic changes continue to challenge educators across the United States. Currently, five million English language learners (ELL) attend the country's public schools, and immigrant populations are expected to increase by 85% by 2060. Despite teacher education programmes offering English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) courses to prepare…

To address the needs of English Language Leaners (ELLs) in grade-level content-area classrooms, teacher education programs are moving toward "infused" models of instruction where preservice general education courses include ELL-specific content. Little is known about how this curricular change is accomplished. To address this gap, this…

A comparative lexicogrammatical and logicosemantic systemic functional analysis of two third-grade science curricular units on the topic of "matter" written in Spanish is presented. One of these curricular units, translated from an English textbook, or "mirror text," is used in dual language programs (Spanish-English) in the…

To develop dispositions essential to linguistically responsive teaching (Lucas & Villegas, 2011), preservice teachers need opportunities to engage in reflection and dialogue about the sociocultural and sociopolitical dimensions of identity, language and culture pertinent to Latino/a English language learners. In this article, we present two…

The relationship between English Language Learners' (ELL) academic achievement and teacher education programs that prepare preservice teachers for working with those students has largely been ignored in the literature to date. This article reports findings from a study of how graduates from one elementary teacher education program, in which the…

While there has been growing interest in the last few years to address the literacy needs of adolescents, this interest comes when alarming numbers of students are challenged by academic literacy demands in high school. Many students entering high school without passing state assessment examinations are required to take developmental reading…

The issue of school achievement among k-12 English language learners (ELLs) has grown in recent years to become one that policy makers and school officials can hardly afford to ignore. A range of indicators including graduation rates, and Florida's High stakes test the FCAT, attests to this general trend. English language learners in Florida are…

School has become a high-stakes environment for K-12 English language learners (ELLs) who are increasingly taught in mainstream classes where they are expected to meet grade-appropriate standards developed for fluent English speakers and where they must demonstrate achievement through standardized tests in English. The mainstreaming of ELLs, along…

Discusses Florida's requirement that staff development be provided to teachers for teaching English-as-a-second-Language students. Colleges of education in Florida crated various professional development models. One of these models is described. (Author/VWL)

This report describes successful programs abroad that use foreign languages in courses on foreign-language teaching methodology and that enable participants to experience first hand the language and culture of the language. (Contains six references.) (Author/LB)

This article outlines the results of an issues-based study conducted over a 12-month period that investigated how the systematic inclusion of teachers within the design, operationalization and implementation of an online curriculum development project in Florida led simultaneously to teachers' own professionalizing in areas of education they were…

The Palm Beach County, Florida, Adult ESOL Curriculum Development Project, which was funded by a state Section 353 Demonstration Project grant, is described. The primary goal for this 2-year project was to develop a model adult English-for Speakers-of-Other-Languages (ESOL) curriculum for the state. A needs assessment was conducted statewide and a…

Current emphasis on teacher effectiveness in educational policy poses a challenge for the evaluation of special education teachers and English language learner (ELL) specialists. Most evaluation systems focus on student achievement and teacher practice; however, few systems have the capacity to differentiate among specialty area educators, address…

In Florida, foreign language teaching has consistently followed national trends. Currently, there is a renaissance in language study. Enrollment has increased dramatically at all educational levels, due to a mandated state university system entrance requirement and two programs, the Florida Academic Scholars Program and Foreign Languages in the…

The IADIS CELDA 2012 Conference intention was to address the main issues concerned with evolving learning processes and supporting pedagogies and applications in the digital age. There had been advances in both cognitive psychology and computing that have affected the educational arena. The convergence of these two disciplines is increasing at a…