The words in a language or language variety are often rank ordered in lists that are meant to reflect the relative importance of those words to language users and learners of a language. This rank ordering is done on the basis of the relative prevalence of words in a corpus. Lexical prevalence is often operationalized as measures of frequency,…

The number of non-academic adults who need English as a second language (ESL) classes is ever increasing, yet little is known about the instructional practices used to teach this population of learners. The focus of this article is to describe an exploratory single case study of the instructional practices used by teachers in a nonacademic adult…

Multilingual learners (MLs) are the country's fastest-growing student population: One in five students speak a language other than English at home, and 10 percent of the student population across the country is identified for language development services in school. Despite these students' growing presence nationwide, relatively few best practices…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of education for sustainable development (ESD) approaches in English as a foreign language (EFL) in Japanese higher education. Design/methodology/approach: A content and language integrated learning (CLIL) University-level course was run over two separate semesters--the first as a…

This paper describes the project 'ITALO (MyLearning Log)', introduced as part of the Institution-Wide Language Programme (IWLP) at the University of Manchester. The project aimed to encourage student engagement with the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), monitor usage and effectiveness of the resources deployed, and develop learner autonomy.…

Purpose. The purpose of this quantitative study was to identify the external and internal political strategies used by principals that allow them to successfully navigate the political environment surrounding dual language programs. Methodology. This quantitative study used descriptive research to collect, analyze, and report data that identified…

Overrepresentation of Dual Language Learners (DLLs) in special education remains a problem even after 40 years of inquiry. One factor is that the U.S. federal government has neither clearly explained the definition of Specific Learning Disability (SLD) nor operationally defined it to identify children for special education services. This lack of…

At an international school in Taiwan, English learners have struggled to meet the U.S. national average in vocabulary on standardized testing instruments. This problem has become more significant since 2009. The purpose of this research was to conduct a case study on successful vocabulary teachers to determine their perceptions of effective…

This paper presents the analysis of a case study on EFL experienced teachers in the English Language Institute of King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The aim of the study is to investigate if the expectations of the environment affects the intentional activity and the agency of the teachers in their classrooms. The focal area of…

This paper engages the perspectives of teachers working in an English language department of a vocational college in China. It takes a transdisciplinary approach, applying constructs from the fields of comparative education, postcolonial theories in education, and critical applied linguistics to a case study of English language teaching; while the…

This paper adds to the emerging dialogue on best practices in teacher education for preparing future teachers to use technology to promote grounded theory-based practices in their classrooms. In it, I report on an evolving model for such training that resulted from a longitudinal case study examining how teacher trainees' identities, learning and…

Parental engagement in education has proven to be important to children's academic success. Research suggests that when parents are involved in their children's schooling, children tend to be motivated learners, have high educational aspirations, get good grades, and experience a sense of school belonging (Cheung & Pomerantz, 2012; Hill et…

In the digital age, numerous technological tools are available to enhance educational practices. When used effectively, student engagement and mobile learning are significantly increased. "Social Media in Education: Breakthroughs in Research and Practice" contains a compendium of the latest academic material on the usage, strategies, and…

This study explores the possible causes behind the disproportionate percentages of English language learners (ELLs) classified into U.S. special education. Elementary school classroom teachers were examined, from school districts that exhibited growth in the percentage of English language learners with Individual Education Plans during 2007-2010.…

In spite of the increased use of virtual worlds for language teaching and learning, few empirical studies have addressed the teachers' perspectives regarding teaching in these 3D virtual environments. An understanding of how virtual worlds such as Second Life may be beneficial for the design of enriching language learning experiences helps…