Oral proficiency ratings, based on the ACTFL Guidelines and derived from live or simulated oral proficiency interviews (SOPIs), enjoy widespread use in the United States. In particular, college foreign language departments have increasingly adopted oral proficiency ratings as a way of establishing standards for language or graduation requirements.…

The study sought to establish the attitudes of Kenyan speakers (n = 210) towards three varieties of English: (1) ethnically marked Kenyan English, (2) standard Kenyan English and (3) native speaker English (British, American, Australian, etc). Of the three varieties, the most preferred by both rural and urban respondents for use in the media and…

For higher education, two recent changes in world language practices are crucial: the emergence of English as the default language of international communication, and the technology of the Internet. The first appears to have contributed to problems of motivation for English-speaking learners of foreign languages. Information is provided about…

The issue of properly identifying and assessing the instructional needs of new- or second-language learners of English suspected of having a learning disability continues to plague educational practitioners. This article discusses the merging of curriculum-based measurement and dynamic assessment as a process to support appropriate prereferral…

Appropriate assessment of English language learners with academic struggles remains problematic (Alvarez, 1991). The purpose of this study was to examine the diagnostic practices of a large culturally diverse district in the Southwest. The researchers collected information from the school records of 146 English language learner (ELL) students who…

The present study sets out to examine motivation to learn English by Chinese research students in an informal setting. Data were collected, using semi-structured interviews, from four research students at two points in time during their first year in the UK. The main findings are: they believed that learning English was important; their main goal…

This paper presents findings from a study of teaching and learning strategies co-constructed by peers in a Spanish/English dual language first grade classroom. Grounded in sociocultural theory and developed using ethnographic approaches to data collection and analysis, the study analyses the children's mediation of their own and each other's…

This article presents a survey of Greek EFL teachers' (N = 421) attitudes regarding their pronunciation beliefs and practices. It touches on two sets of questions. First, it refers to teachers' viewpoints regarding pronunciation-specific issues and the possible links between pronunciation teaching, English as an international language (EIL), and…

The purpose of this article is to explore recent research into World Englishes (henceforth WEs) and English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), focusing on its implications for TESOL, and the extent to which it is being taken into account by English language teachers, linguists, and second language acquisition researchers. After a brief introduction…

The field of teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) brings people from various racialized backgrounds together in teaching, learning, and research. The idea of race, racialization, and racism are inescapable topics that arise in the contact zones created by teaching English worldwide and thus are valid topics to explore in the…

This paper investigates how parents explain, frame and defend their particular family language policies. We focus here on 24 families who are attempting to achieve additive Spanish-English bilingualism for their children, an aim which in many cases requires parents to use and to teach a language that is not their first language, nor the primary…

This paper argues that the manner in which culture is taught to English learners needs to be rethought in light of the globalisation of the English language. It is maintained that change is needed in at least three areas. First, English teaching professionals should discard the notion that the US and Great Britain represent the sole "target…

The world is moving toward a uniform material culture, dominated by mostly material American influences: technological innovations, fashion, Hollywood and the celebrity culture it promotes, hip-hop, and rock and roll. But the pervasiveness of the trappings of American culture obscures the central cultural paradox that lies within the…

Based on practical experience in a new online beginning German course sequence, the author of this essay argues that contemporary cultural developments associated with the emergence of new technologies, particularly computer-assisted language learning, provide new opportunities to theorize German Studies curricula from the beginning level onward.…

This evaluation investigated the effects of the "Language for Writing" program. Ten classrooms were involved including 201 students at the beginning of the project. Posttest scores were obtained for 126 students. This evaluation was conducted over 2 years. Evaluation I was conducted over a 5-month period from January 2003 to May 2003. Evaluation…