This phenomenological study explored elementary educators' identified needs for effective professional development, focused on the instruction and assessment of English Learners (EL) in schools with low EL incidence. Addressing teacher preparation through effective professional development was guided by Bruner's (1960) constructivist theory and…

This article recounts my experience in enhancing my students' boredom regulation by designing, implementing, and evaluating a strategy instruction project. The project was undertaken with 25 Thai university students enrolled in my English oral communication course for 15 weeks. The project began with exploring how and why my students experienced…

The main purpose of this study was to design and implement a professional development programme on technology integration for teachers in a public education centre based on the technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) framework and learning by design approach, and to evaluate the programme's impact. Ten adult education teachers in a…

The developments in the digital age are reflected in foreign language classrooms today, yet, teachers' incompetence resulting from insufficient training about various technologies during their previous education prevent them from integrating technology into their classrooms effectively. Especially with the sudden increasing demand of online…

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of a program based on the Toastmasters Approach on developing EFL student teachers' oral communication skills. The study adopted the pre-experimental one group pre-posttest design. Participants comprised a voluntary group (N = 9) from third year, English Department (basic education),…

The Instructional Leadership Corps (ILC) is a California collaborative teacher professional learning project in which expert teachers organize local professional development to spark iterative changes in practice. Launched in 2014, ILC is a joint effort of the California Teachers Association (CTA), the National Board Resource Center (NBRC), and…

The Instructional Leadership Corps (ILC) is an innovative professional learning project in which teacher leaders in California collaborate to lead sustainable professional development to support implementation of new student standards within their districts. Over more than 4 years, the ILC has served over 100,000 teachers. The responses of these…

This paper presents a four-year longitudinal study of student teachers' beliefs about language learning and teaching over the course of an English teacher education (ELT) program. The study attempts to track possible changes in the beliefs and to analyze the impact of an ELT pre-service program by taking the program itself as a dynamic variable.…

In this paper, I argue that in-service language-teacher education programs should consider all elements of the linguistic, geographical and cultural context of the teachers the course is designed for, and respond to this context in a constructivist way in program design and implementation. Using qualitative case-study data, I focused on the…

For many decades now, applied linguistics studies have investigated the impact of second language acquisition on various aspects of the development of school children. Few studies, however, have focused on the simultaneous acquisition of two additional/second languages in the classroom. The present paper explores the impact of a spoken Arabic…

Experiences with family and intergenerational programs in English Second Language (ESL) literacy are reviewed, and factors that contribute to their success are discussed. It is suggested that as the notion of literacy expands, conceptual boundaries of the population of learners must expand also. While there is much to be learned from existing…

This brief overview of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language (ACTFL) points out its essential role in organizing and improving the profession and suggests that continued work is needed in terms of professional support through money and member activities. (CB)

The characteristics of Canadian language immersion, bilingual education, and modified immersion programs are described, and their characteristics are compared with research findings on the characteristics of effective dual language programs. The information provided is intended to assist policymakers, educators, and community leaders in making…

Results of a large-scale evaluation of early and middle immersion programs in the Toronto (Ontario) area, involving 4 districts and 26 grade 8 classes, suggest that middle immersion yields less consistent performance levels than early immersion. Overall, findings favor early immersion. (11 references) (Author/MSE)

This Digest discusses the increase in the number of immigrant secondary school students who come to the United States with limited education and effective programs for serving this student population. For these students to succeed in school, they must learn to read, write, understand, and speak English, develop academic literacy in English to make…