All school leaders understand the importance of providing meaningful feedback. Done well, it supports pupil progress, building learning, addressing misunderstandings, and thereby closing the gap between where a pupil is and where the teacher wants them to be. However, not all feedback has positive effects. Done badly, feedback can even harm…

Literature is important in teaching English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL), because it motivates students, provides language models, offers ways to think creatively, provides opportunities for interaction, and enhances reading development. Criteria for selecting literature include student interest, linguistic accessibility, quality language, cultural…

Alternating between languages in the construction of stories offers students creative opportunities for bilingual learning. Describes how a storyteller can code switch to tell stories to children who are becoming bilingual and presents an example from early-immersion classrooms in Colombia, discussing code switching and discourse control, and…

Examines the challenges facing new assistant professors in general and language program directors (LPDs) in particular, offering the perspective of two individuals who made the leap from graduate student to LPD, outlining the most significant and universal issues facing new LPDs, and providing insight into balancing the demands of the position…

Argues that the best moment for responding to student writing is before any draft is completed. Analyzes ways in which this can be put into practice in the composition classroom and reports on how a group of undergraduate, intermediate-level Portuguese English-as-a-Second-Language writers reacted to this kind of pre-text feedback. (Author/SM)

Discusses multiple challenges faced by community-based English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) and adult-literacy programs, explaining how to integrate ESL instruction into existing literacy programs, respond to diverse student needs, create community partnerships to support and fund the ESL program, contribute back to the community, and build capacity…

As the numbers of migrant farmworkers active in the United States increases, so does the need to provide effective literacy programs for them and their families. Homestate and upstream programs are designed to meet the needs of migrant workers. The paper provides examples of successful programs that involve whole migrant families in literacy…

Discusses six recent books for educators that focus on young adult literature, and on responding to literature. Describes how adolescent literature can be the center of transdisciplinary, concept-based units in a middle school curriculum. Outlines use of reading response logs and learning journals. Lists recently published books by and about…

Describes the aim, preparation, and procedures of five cooperative learning activities for educating teachers of English as a foreign language. Reports that the activities integrate content and methodology, motivate student teachers, and maximize communication, reinforcement, and cognitive work. Documents the prospects and problems of…

This guide examines the problem of providing orientation for foreign students attending U.S. universities. Ideas and suggestions for the design and conduct of orientation programs are provided. Inherent constraints that may impair program success are enumerated, including erratic student arrival times, lack of motivation to participate in…