This article reports on a case study that investigates the learning preferences and strategies of Chinese students learning English as a second language (ESL) in Canadian school settings. It focuses on the interaction between second language (L2) learning methods that the students have adopted from their previous learning experience in China and…

The Miqqut project was a participatory action research project through which Inuit language and literacy learning was embedded in a traditional skills program. Community-based researchers tracked learners' progress through entrance, exit, and post-program interviews and questionnaires, as well as through participant observation. Results show that…

The present study provides an in-depth, longitudinal account of an undergraduate student's L2 discourse socialization in an academic exchange program in Canada. By invoking Rogoff's (1995) notion of participatory appropriation, this qualitative case study examined an L2 student's task-related strategies and performance as they evolved over time in…

The use of projects and project-based learning has recently received much attention as a way of promoting meaning-focused communication and integrating different language skills into second and foreign language classrooms. However, perspectives on the effective implementation of projects have not been fully explored. This study examines and…

Bilingual language education in Canada comprises Bilingual Programs in minority languages and programs in official languages (e.g., French immersion). However, pedagogy in Bilingual Programs has not been studied to the same depth as it has been in French Immersion, so little is known about the teaching practices within them. Immersion pedagogy,…

Due to the growing number of plurilingual learners in the world today (Hammarberg, 2010), the present multiple case study examines four plurilingual participants' beliefs toward first language (L1) and second language (L2) mediation in the acquisition of French as a third language (L3). During a 16-week classroom-based study in a French university…

This article focuses on the experiences of Grade 12 students using a language portfolio based on the principles and guidelines of the European Language Portfolio (ELP) in their second language classes in a large urban high school. As part of a larger action-research project, focus group interviews were conducted to gather data related to…

This study examines the longitudinal trajectories of two Korean ESL immigrants' L2 learning motivation from an Activity Theory perspective. Two highly skilled immigrants participated in monthly semistructured interviews over a period of 10 months. The research questions are as follows: (1) How does the relationship between ESL learners and their…

The purpose of this article is to examine the use of English discourse markers (EDMs) in medical consultations that were conducted in Spanish. Data are collected from an audio-recorded corpus of Spanish-language consultations that took place in a small community clinic in the United States as well as post-consultation interviews with patients and…

Although considerable research has examined the use of literature in the second language (L2) classroom, there has been less investigation into the integration of learners' personal stories in the English as a second language (ESL) classroom. Following Wajnryb's (2003) categorizations of story as language learning, genre, and the creation of what…

Although second language (L2) teachers spend a significant amount of time marking students' writing, many of them feel that their efforts do not pay off. While students want teachers to give them feedback on their writing and value teacher feedback, they might experience feelings of frustration and confusion once they receive it. What is amiss in…

In recent years, language researchers and teachers have attempted to put meaningful communication at the centre of learners' classroom interactions. Yet the majority of existing computer-assisted language learning (CALL) applications have relied on largely non-communicative learner-computer interactions. The challenge facing CALL developers,…

This phenomenological study explores students' decision-making about whether to remain in an optional French immersion (FI) mathematics course in Grade 11, as well as students' subsequent experiences in their mathematics course of choice. Interview data were collected from 10 students who remained in FI mathematics and from six students who did…

This article reports on two components of a micro case study of a Grade 8 Core French teacher's experiences in meeting the various learner needs in her classroom. Using sociocultural theory (SCT) to unite the constructs of special education and second language (L2) education, this analysis explores the role of both global and discrete teaching…

The aggressive internationalization of Canadian universities and increased immigration to Canada over the past 20 years have resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of second language (L2) students in Canadian universities. However, little is known about the factors that influence academic acculturation of L2 students or about the role of…