Increased access to post-secondary education is necessary to advance the global knowledge society. Recognition of the benefits of higher education for individuals and their communities and nations has resulted in a large demand for higher education which institutions are finding difficult to fulfill due to adherence to traditional practices,…

Considering the contradictory research on explicit teaching of suprasegmentals, the present study aims to investigate the effects of explicit instruction of L2 English learners' perception of prosodically ambiguous intonation patterns, as well as the possible effects of reported musical familiarity on intonation acquisition. A control group and a…

The number of English language learners has grown in the Northeast & Islands Region over the past decade. While the total student population shrank 3.5 percent between 2001/02 and 2009/10, the population of English language learner students grew 7.6 percent and now constitutes 6.1 percent of students in the region, up from 5.5 percent in…

This paper reports on a focused investigation into the immediate effects of oral narrative task repetition by two adult EFL learners of intermediate and high proficiency. Two participants performed a narrative speaking task after watching a cartoon video clip and repeated their performance three times, followed by a retrospective report in an…

This study builds on previous work exploring reading and listening lexical thresholds (Nation, 2006; Laufer & Ravenhorst-Kalovski, 2010; Schmitt, Jiang, & Grabe, 2011) in order to investigate productive vocabulary targets that mark successful entry-level undergraduate writing. Papers that passed the Effective Writing Test (EWT) were chosen…

This paper presents results from a project investigating over ninety learners of Arabic who studied abroad in the Arab world within the last few years. It explores their linguistic and cultural experiences during their time abroad. One of the most important issues in this paper is that of the development of intercultural competence on study abroad…

Although a variety of research has investigated the use and benefits of home language in school settings, research on using translation to support school learning is scarce. With the goal of designing a differentiated and culturally relevant strategy that supports the reading of bilingual students, we worked with seventh-grade students in pull-out…

The present study analyses bilingual conversations taking place in binational families living in the UK. The focus is on two Polish/English stepfamilies, where the Polish mothers' concern with preserving and developing their children's linguistic and cultural identity collides with the English partner's limited knowledge of Polish. While the paper…

As various means of computer mediated communication (CMC) have been incorporated within language classrooms over the past two decades, it has become important to critically understand whether, to which extent, and under what contextual factors, a particular type of CMC is more effective than other modes of communication. This study examined the…

This article advocates the use of the target language at all times in the classroom at all levels of language instruction. While addressed specifically to middle school and high school teachers, the article suggests an approach to language instruction that can be implemented for students of all ages. After recounting how the author's experience…

This qualitative case study explored four English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) learners' critical literacy practices by analyzing their reflective essays on a gender-related article and their perceptions of critical literacy. Four participants with varying English proficiency were purposefully selected from a critical literacy-oriented reading…

Having acquired some degree of oral proficiency but low (or non-existent) literacy, the learning of Chinese heritage learners' (CHLs) learning needs are different from those of Chinese foreign language learners (CFLs), who have learned Chinese only in the classroom setting. Although researchers have advocated for a separate curriculum for…

Recent literature has suggested that the relationship between globalisation and the English language implicates employability in the job market. Although the effects are uneven in different occupational groups and in different countries, such relationship is growing in significance to policy makers. This paper has explored the hitherto unstudied…

English language learners (ELLs) at a south Florida elementary school have consistently struggled with the mathematics segment of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. Examining the relationship between ELLs' mathematics scores and English proficiency might provide local educators with ideas for reversing a downward trend in ELLs' mathematics…

The Houston Independent School District (HISD) currently offers five bilingual programs and two English as a Second Language (ESL) programs for English language learners (ELLs). These programs are intended to facilitate ELL students' integration into the regular school curriculum and to ensure access to equal educational opportunities. This…