The languaging curriculum involves learning to strategically make use of available tools and resources to successfully do things with English for real-world purposes. In this article, we describe how languaging was implemented in a task where students communicate about a hobby of their choice on Reddit discussion forums. Over three weeks, the…

The English as a lingua franca (ELF) and languaging research areas have challenged the norm that the goal of ELT is to teach a standardized language. This article reports on a course following the principles of ELF and languaging where the goal is to support students to use and grow their existing repertoire of resources to do things in English.…

Teaching English literacy in First Nations Australian communities is bound up with the policy aim of improving the social and economic outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the desire to acknowledge, recognise and respect their unique cultural identities, languages and knowledges. But for English literacy teachers working…

While we in composition studies may have grown more sensitive to and welcoming of cultural and linguistic differences in the classroom, we remain far from united in pursuits to combat explicitly in our pedagogies the politics of standardized English. To move toward linguistic justice, we call for unified intention and action across our field to…

Languages teachers are all aware of the significant advantages and benefits learning a language provides, and believe in the importance of second language acquisition. However, why is it that languages teachers need to justify learning a second language and work hard to encourage more students to see the importance of learning a language and to…

In efforts to improve, expand and inspire language learning to become a basic and essential component of the landscape of the educational system, one must reach out beyond the walls of the classroom to engage learners early. Real-world learning and energized, playful, interactive language experiences that inspire can drastically change the…

Many foreign and second language teachers are reluctant about shifting from traditional language instruction to TBLT. Another challenge has been the use of ICT in the classroom, a problem addressed in previous Comenius projects. The ETALAGE project aimed to build on the achievements of such projects and to address these challenges, by collecting,…

This article describes a 6-year, districtwide staff-development project that was implemented in an attempt to change teacher attitudes and practices as they relate to English learners (ELs). The specific goals of the project were (a) to help the district's teachers develop the knowledge base, pedagogical skills, and professional attitudes required…

Four years ago, teachers at International High School in Austin, TX, thought they were doing a great job. Visitors to the school for new immigrants often praised the faculty for working with such a diverse population of students, some of whom had no prior formal education. Aida Walqui's observation was different. The director of WestEd's Quality…

As a sixth year student of Spanish looking back on her foreign language education, the author believes she has a greater understanding of what attracted her to and maintained her interest in the language. Yet she also recognizes areas in her education that could have benefited from change, including flexibility in creating her own program of study…

In the United States and Canada, as in many other countries, it has become common for teachers not specifically trained in English as a second language (ESL) to have immigrant and minority language students in their classrooms. These students, who are generally learning English along with the culture of their new countries, present many challenges…

A teacher makes a case for a positive relationship between improved student motivation for learning foreign languages and positive teacher attitudes and effective instructional techniques which address student ability levels and needs. (CB)

The planning, script writing, and production of a Spanish radio broadcast by one high school class is described. Results included increased student, parent, and administrative awareness of Spanish, multischool involvement at student Spanish levels, and increased Spanish enrollment the next school year. Alternatives to radio broadcasts are…

Describes how a fifth-grade teacher intervened to bridge the language and cultural social divisions in her classroom. By experiencing a key math lesson entirely in Spanish, native English speakers quickly began to understand what it is like to not be able to understand. Teachers reported a profound effect of this experiment on the classroom. (ET)

In the context of multicultural Australia, bilingual education has generally become a viable educational option for all school age students, but there is less interest in developing bilingual skills in adults with a non-English speaking background (NESB). This paper arises out of a 1991 research study on "The Literacy Needs of NESB…