The multifaceted ways in which English Language Learners (ELLs) engage in "acts of identity" (Le Page & Tabouret-Keller, 1985) through their language use have created new challenges for ESL pedagogy. Heterogeneous identities have called into question the native speaker construct and the assumed links between ethnicity and language expertise.…

Jamaica is a Creole-speaking environment, where children enter school with a range of varieties, some of which are closely related to English. The expectation is that they will learn English in school. The appropriate language teaching approach, it is argued, is not English as a mother tongue, English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign…

The relationship between second language learning and meaningful interactions is now well recognised in second language acquisition research. While English is a widely taught foreign language around the world, much of the interaction research comes from core-English countries, which are also the major producers of English language teaching (ELT)…

The focus of this paper is on the complex interaction between ideologies of language, gender and identity during the Americanisation era (1900-1924) in the USA. I will argue that the Americanisation movement had a "hidden curriculum" which singled out immigrant women--and in particular mothers--for specific kinds of English instruction.…

This paper addresses the case for collaboration between English and modern languages teachers and researchers in teaching and learning languages. The British context is set out against a background of government initiatives to raise secondary pupils' literacy skills. Salient trends in the teaching approach of English (L1) and modern language (ML)…

This qualitative study investigated older Russian immigrants' reasons for studying English, their learning strategies, and barriers to their progress. Ten men and women in their 60s and 70s were interviewed. Data were analyzed using the constant comparative method. Findings indicated that the participants' motivation for learning English was to…

The World Wide Web has frequently been incorporated into second/foreign language (L2 hereafter) course instruction during the past decade. However, many teaching methods essentially employed it as a reactive mode of L2 instruction. Many other methods have been designed to facilitate constructive L2 production. They are, however, limited in their…

This article describes a learning context in which the first grade classroom teacher creates a learning community where she uses different teaching strategies to encourage children's second language use and learning. The first graders share, discuss, and learn both the second language (German) and content.

This article asks two basic questions about educational policy and practice for English-language-learner (ELL) students: First, antibilingual education initiatives imply a subtractive view of teaching and learning; what are parents' views and/or beliefs regarding these policies? Second, how do these views and/or beliefs align with research and…

The basic tenet of constructivism is that learners construct their knowledge on their own by associating new with prior information. The significance of the learner's interaction with his/her social and physical environment is here of great importance; the learner is at the center of the learning process while the tutor is seen as a facilitator, a…

This study in the field of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) was conducted in a Spanish as a foreign language classroom. The study investigates dyadic face-to-face collaborative dialogue at the computer from a sociocultural perspective. Protocols for analysis were obtained by the transcription of audio recordings of twelve dyads/triads completing…

The issue of multi-level classrooms and of the increasingly differentiated nature of students' learning experiences continues to be a major challenge for language teachers. It's safe to say that wherever two or more language teachers are gathered together, the "problem" of multi-level classrooms will figure somewhere in the conversation.…

This paper provides an introduction to teacher language awareness (TLA) and a personal reconceptualisation of the relationship between TLA and other dimensions of teacher knowledge, revisiting issues discussed in Andrews (2001). In the first part of the paper, knowledge of subject matter is identified as the core of TLA. Given the increased…

The discussion on the role of corrective feedback is part of a larger discussion on the role of "focusing on form" in foreign language teaching ("Focus on form in classroom second language acquisition," Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1998). Studies conducted in communicative and content-based foreign language teaching…

This paper explores the policy turn of the "learning society", and how the academic world is responding to new social and political demands. It highlights some of the criticisms levelled at the learning society, as well as the voices of support. The paper also showcases the European Language Portfolio and the Transferable Skills project…