This overview delineates the direction of pedagogical developments since the 25th anniversary issue of "TESOL Quarterly." Three tendencies characterize our professional practice: (a) a continuation along the earlier lines of progression (i.e., in opening up the classroom to learning opportunities, integrating skills, and teaching for specific…

This overview of the current state of English for specific purposes (ESP) begins by surveying ongoing debates on key topics: needs assessment and its goals, specificity in instructional methods, and the role of subject knowledge in instructor expertise. Two strands of current theory and research are next surveyed, namely, genre theory and…

Rapid evolution of communication technologies has changed language pedagogy and language use, enabling new forms of discourse, new forms of authorship, and new ways to create and participate in communities. The first section of this article identifies and discusses four key issues arising from the recent technology-related literature (the status…

Examination boards are often criticized for their failure to provide evidence of comparability across forms, and few such studies are publicly available. This study aims to investigate the extent to which three forms of the General English Proficiency Test Intermediate Speaking Test (GEPTS-I) are parallel in terms of two types of validity…

Despite increasing interest in interlanguage pragmatics research, research on assessment of this crucial area of second language competence still lags behind assessment of other aspects of learners' developing second language (L2) competence. This study describes the development and validation of a 36-item web-based test of ESL pragmalinguistics,…

The Foreign Language Standards of Learning identify essential content, processes, and skills for each level of language learning in Virginia's secondary schools. Included are specific standards for levels I through IV of French, German, Spanish, and Latin, as well as generic standards adaptable for levels I through IV of other modern languages,…

Comprehensive and user-friendly, this ideal graduate text and professional reference provides a developmentally informed framework for assessing 3- to 6-year-olds in accordance with current best practices and IDEA guidelines. The authors are leading clinician-researchers who take the reader step by step through selecting appropriate measures,…

Within an evidentiary framework for operationally defining academic English language proficiency (AELP), linguistic analyses of standards, classroom discourse, and textbooks have led to specifications for assessment of AELP. The test development process described here is novel due to the emphasis on using linguistic profiles to inform the …

This report summarizes a research analysis examining which instructional practices had a positive relationship with the achievement of low-income, English learner students as measured by the English Learner Academic Performance Index (EL-API) and other achievement tests. Based on a research study that surveyed teachers and principals in 237…

The perception of bicultural stress, stress due to discrimination/prejudice, immigration, and acculturation, was investigated in relation to mental well-being in a sample of urban Latino (n = 304), European American (n = 215), and Asian American (n = 131) 8th grade students. Bicultural stress was reported by all ethnic groups and was significantly…

While the use of a search engine to find secondary sources is now a commonplace practice among undergraduate writers, recent studies show that students' online searches often lead to materials that are wholly or partially unsuitable for academic purposes. Accordingly, this project set out to determine whether using a more specialized search…

This paper presents a field study carried out with learners who used a grammar checker in real writing tasks in an advanced course at a Swedish university. The objective of the study was to investigate how students made use of the grammar checker in their writing while learning Swedish as a second language. Sixteen students with different…

This implementation guide is intended to support the Grade 4 to Grade 6 portion of the Japanese Language and Culture Nine-year Program (the program of studies). It was developed primarily for teachers, yet it includes information that may be useful for administrators and other stakeholders in their efforts to plan for and implement the new Chinese…

This implementation guide is intended to support the Grade 4 to Grade 6 portion of the Ukrainian Language Arts Kindergarten to Grade 9 Program of Studies. It was developed primarily for teachers, yet it includes information that may be useful for administrators and other stakeholders in their efforts to plan for and implement the new Ukrainian…

On October 20, 2008, the New Media Consortium announced the release of a white paper produced in conjunction with the Economist Magazine and in collaboration with Apple, Inc. This paper reports the results of a study of nearly 300 CIOs and technology leaders inside and outside of education to gain deeper insight into the wider impact of technology…