Secondary level world language programs in the United States lack efficient infusion and assessment of intercultural communicative competence in the curricula. When a learner acquires a new language, they also shape their personal identity and expand their ability to successfully interact cross-culturally, thus the need for culture and language to…

This qualitative study of a U.S. postsecondary institution's Japanese language program sought to comprehend in detail the ways by which university students develop and experience Japanese language and literacy. Utilizing the lens of Sociocultural Theory, three contexts within the single case study were examined in the form of three…

This dissertation employs a multiple case study approach to explore the views and expectations of Latino-Hispanic parents of ELLs regarding their children's school English language acquisition programs (ELAP). The central research question investigates the perceived effectiveness of these programs and their alignment with parents' aspirations for…

International sojourners who are learning a new language in an immersion environment are the focus of many second language acquisition research studies. Several studies have examined the language socialization of populations such as study abroad participants (Duff, 2007; Kinginger, 2008, 2015) and international students (Ortactepe, 2013; Umino…

The study examines students' perspectives on learning in a co-curricular language-based program at a large public university in northeastern United States. Specifically, I analyze students' motivations to enroll in the program and their perceptions of learning outcomes. The study uses the interdisciplinary construct of identity as a theoretical…

Responding to a gap in postmethod pedagogy in English-language teaching, this study details the implementation of a pedagogy of plausibility (PofP), a place-based ecopedagogy that privileges local knowledge and language practices. A PofP is informed by four pedagogic pillars: (a) teaching with particularity, (b) teaching with practicality, (c)…

Employing interpretive theory, this study investigated 331 university ESL teachers' socialization in language programs for international students. Looking beyond teacher preparatory education, in-service teachers' workplace experiences are essential to study because experience is instrumental in the shaping of belief systems (Wu and Shaffer,…

Adults who immigrate to the United States recognize the value of fluency in the dominant language as a bridge to social mobility in their new homeland. In California, many of them invest time and energy in noncredit English as a Second Language (ESL) programs offered within the community college system to gain communicative competence and enhance…

This study is an ethnographic account of the brief career of an Argentine former engineer without pedagogical experience who was hired as a middle school Spanish teacher in a small, conservative community in the northeastern United States. The focus of the case study is on how his attempts to become a teacher on the job both affected his own…