As K-12 schools in the United States continue to experience increases in enrollment of English learners (ELs), educators and researchers seek to identify effective teaching practices. Previous research in the area of teacher effectiveness with ELs has focused mainly on pre-service and elementary-level teachers, with studies of coursework and…

Research into second language acquisition (SLA) has shown that individual difference (ID) variables can be strong predictors of language achievement (e.g., Dornyei, 2003; Skehan, 2003). Traditionally, this research conceptualized ID variables as static and monolithic variables (e.g., Dornyei, 2010). More recently scholars have questioned this…

Digital multimodal projects (DMPs) are both common and popular. Adolescents and young adults compose digitally and multimodally in their daily lives, and digital multimodal composition projects are incorporated in K-12 (Smith, 2017, 2018) and university settings (Balaman, 2018; Dzekoe, 2017), including writing programs (Blakely, 2016; Ericsson et…

Multilingual college students often struggle with writing and revising for academic purposes. This dissertation explored the effectiveness of a Concept-Based Language Instruction (C-BLI) approach to teaching revision processes to college-level multilingual writers. Although a significant body of research exists on effective feedback on…

As online collaboration continues to normalize in the post-pandemic digital age, how students engage online through collaborative learning has grown in importance. Web 2.0 has led to a shift in learner engagement that impacts the ways students interact with class content, and this provides opportunities for more meaningful collaboration and…

The purpose of my dissertation study was to explore the experiences and perceptions of English language instructors about the use of multimodal digital technologies in the teaching of academic writing. Writing academically in English as a second language (L2) is complex and multilayered for international students, and multimodal digital literacy…

Scholars have been studying the reading challenges of English language learners (ELLs) for decades. ELLs from an urban high school in the Northeastern United States were failing to meet the annual adequate yearly progress target for English language arts (ELA) reading assessments. Although studies have demonstrated that ELLs continue to face…

The research problem for this study was teachers in grades 6-12 at a particular school district on the West Coast are not provided targeted professional development needed to support lower-performing English speakers of other languages (ESOL) students in their school districts. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore these teachers'…

This phenomenological study explores the experiences of machine translation (MT) use among Chinese undergraduates in a Chinese-foreign, English medium instruction (EMI), joint degree program in southern China. Advancements in MT technology have raised questions about its application in academic settings, particularly in foreign and second language…

The present study explored perceptual and articulatory techniques addressing the pronunciation of Spanish rhotics by means of a week-long computerized training. Through a quasi-experimental design approach, the study tested the utility of the online training and its effects on the phonetic production of taps [voiced alveolar tap or flap] and…

The purpose of this interpretive qualitative study was to explore the challenges faced by Taiwanese professors when implementing EMI and to understand their perspectives in the context of Taiwan's Bilingual 2030 Policy. Spolsky's (2004) language policy framework was utilized to guide the research. Semi-structured interviews with seven Taiwanese…

The recent world pandemic has highlighted the need for effective procedures to teach language in Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) environments. Fully online and asynchronous classrooms are especially challenged when addressing learning to speak a foreign language toward greater communicative competence. Current CALL research is…

Writing in an L2 presents particular challenges (e.g., acculturating into new conventions) but also opportunities (e.g., the Joseph Conrad phenomenon, Scovel, 1988). In general, writing plays diverse roles in social, professional, and academic contexts and can significantly influence a writer's life experiences. Neither L1 nor L2 writers…

This study investigated how English language writers in a Chinese university were able to paraphrase following instruction with an online module. Participants were separated into two groups: Group A (Individuals) and Group B (Dyads). They were then trained and assessed in their ability to complete paraphrasing tasks with a pre and posttest.…

This dissertation investigated the current experiences of school-age English Language Learners (ELLs) placed in English reading interventions, having never learned to read in Spanish, their first language. Research on ELLs receiving literacy interventions, from a meaning-based, socio-cultural perspective, hasn't been sufficiently addressed in the…