This exploratory study examines the efficacy of Focus on Form (i.e., brief instruction on linguistic forms while learners engage in meaning) at the pragmatic level. Specifically, comparing Focus on FormS (interactions followed by explicit debriefing on pragmatic forms) and Focus on Form (interactions followed by debriefing on meaning), the…

This brief paper discusses the following: video as the core of 2 courses for Hausa; techniques employing new and old technologies for making these videos tools for total cultural immersion; and problems encountered and not always solved satisfactorily. The videotapes were recorded in Nigeria and cover a wide variety of speech styles and aspects of…

The Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT) is a professional organization dedicated to the improvement of language learning and teaching in Japan, and this monthly magazine, containing articles and announcements, is a vehicle for promoting the exchange of new ideas and techniques in the field of language teaching. In addition to articles…

This volume highlights the language and learning needs of pupils with English as an additional language in the United Kingdom. It includes chapters by British teachers and researchers working in this field. The book addresses a number of issues of interest to practitioners, scholars, teacher educators, and policy makers. Each chapter is prefaced…

For English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students learning academic content is complex. The purpose of this study is to explore and gain an understanding of ESL students' participation and learning in grade 11 biology classes in a secondary school in Vancouver, British Columbia. The paper reports on one aspect of the study--the mediational role of…

Historically, in the educational field, numerous efforts have been made to facilitate the complex process of second language (L2) reading comprehension. While computers are increasingly being used for instruction for L2 reading, there is not yet a solid understanding of how this technology can be effectively used in the area of L2 reading…

This CD-ROM is part of an interactive and dynamic multimedia package of information and games for learning K'iche' and Ixil. This CD-ROM includes six books in electronic format with interactive exercises that support improved bilingual and intercultural education and teacher training, specifically in the languages of K'iche' and Ixil. Books…

This guide provides teachers and administrators with advice on implementing Alberta Learning's five-level English-as-a-Second- Language (ESL) Senior High School Program of Studies in their classrooms and schools. It draws from the collective expertise of senior high school ESL specialists and classroom teachers and from classroom-based research in…

This annotated bibliography provides a list of books appropriate for preschoolers that help teachers develop class routines and expectations. Two topics have emerged from this review: classroom and school activities and first school experiences, including feelings. This has helped provide a way to organize books and will hopefully help teachers…

This paper introduces a research-based model of sheltered instruction that promotes teaching practices that make teachers more effective in promoting the learning of limited-English-proficient (LEP) students. The model is instantiated in an observation instrument, the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP). The SIOP may be used as part…

The report, entirely in French, describes Alberta's curriculum for ninth-year French immersion, as revised in 1998. An introductory section offers background information on the curriculum revision, links between the core curriculum and French immersion, underlying principles of second language instruction, the revised curriculum's objectives and…

This paper discusses how most students are not yet competent critical readers of academic or electronic texts. This is especially true of English as a Second Language (ESL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) university students. After describing the extent of the lack of critical reading skills, an extensive literature review on the subject…

This paper describes the use of commercial application and programming software to provide language students with self-access materials used in their own time. In all cases, it assumes such students will be unsupervised. The idea is that in place of buying expensive and restricted commercially produced authoring packages, a teacher with limited…

This document is a narrative of one experienced English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teacher's struggle to improve the English language learning skills of her beginning level students. She found this difficult to do in a situation where the learners spent only 4 hours a week in class, and only 2 of those in her class. Rather than focus on how to do…

This article paints an optimistic picture of the role we second language teachers can play not only in improving our students' language proficiency but also in infusing global education into our classes as we join with our students to address global concerns, such as peace, prosperity, environmental protection, and human rights. The article is…