The manuscript describes the designs of two teachers' online professional development (PD) projects to support teachers of English-as-Second/Foreign Language in Indiana and in Beijing, China. We provide descriptions of each of the contexts; judgments and decisions we made along the way; the contextual/cultural and pedagogical factors we took into…

State adult education systems, which receive significant funding from the U.S. government, are the primary source of many key integration services for adult immigrants--from English classes and literacy programs to civics courses and some workforce development activities. Although such programs have existed for decades, the passage of the…

This study explores the role of an online pre-sessional program in preparing students to matriculate into an English-medium bachelor's program at a Japanese university. The study covers two program sessions, the first of which consisted primarily of international students, and the second comprised mainly of graduates of Japanese high schools. To…

Many educators have created successful innovative models but have had difficulty sustaining, re-creating, and scaling these models. Classrooms and schools characterized by student-centered learning practices typically deviate from the norms of transmission teaching and the many structures and procedures that David Tyack and Larry Cuban called the…

One of the mysteries of education reform is how leaders and educators can successfully instantiate, sustain, and spread student-centered pedagogical practices from a few schools to many others. Advocates for "deeper learning" grapple with this mystery as they seek to transform teaching and learning to prepare students to meet the demands…

Essentially an antipoverty measure, the Bilingual Education Act, which is supporting 76 bilingual programs in public elementary schools, comes far from meeting the needs of any significant proportion of the disadvantaged children whose language is other than English. One of the various federal and regional organizations striving to ameliorate…

Based on the assumption that disadvantaged children suffer from two kinds of deficiencies--cultural and linguistic--this program has been designed to help train teachers who are ill-prepared to understand a child's cultural values or to promote the attainment of standard English. This program contains plans for two kinds of studies--(1)…

A metaphor sometimes used in teaching discipline-based academic writing is that the experience of learning to write in various academic contexts is like learning a new language (L2). This approach is critically examined here, and its implications for "writing across the curriculum" (WAC) programs at the college level are discussed. It is argued…

A discussion of elementary and middle school curriculum design to meet the needs of students learning English as a Second Language (ESL) focuses on the ways in which ESL instruction can be incorporated into the curriculum. It begins with a brief review of statistics on the population of limited-English-proficient (LEP) students in the schools and…

Findings from a 4-year study of exemplary science and mathematics programs for middle school students with limited English proficiency (LEP) are presented. The four programs described here provide stimulating mathematics and science curricula through instruction in either the students' native language or in English using sheltered techniques.…

The Niels Brock School of International Business in Denmark, an upper-division institution, offers a unique program in which students spend half of their time at the school and half in a real job in a participating export company. The participating companies are actively involved in developing program content and design, including joint…

This English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) journal periodically devotes entire issues to specific issues. The theme of this issue is "Incorporating Context in Teaching." Articles include: "Learning Beyond the Classroom: Developing the Community Connection" (Tim Beard); "Smiling through the Turbulence: The Flight Attendant Syndrome and Other Issues of…

The collection of articles from publications of the Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) offers a theoretical basis for construction of effective English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) programs. Articles address issues of national policy, content and design of academic programs, and the context for ESL learning. They are:…