This article explores why students with learning disabilities and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) struggle with the foreign language curriculum and how their difficulties manifest themselves in the classroom setting. Findings of a three-year, federally funded study that sought to combine expertise in the field of learning…

The suggestions described here to adapt instruction for English Language Learners (ELLs) are based on the concept of "sheltered instruction," a model of language-support methods for instruction for ELLs derived primarily through the Sheltered Instruction Observational Protocol (SIOP) developed by Jana Echevarria, Mary Ellen Vogt, and Deborah Short…

Background: While a significant body of research has addressed teachers' evaluations of mainstream English speaking students, there is a dearth of such research focusing on immigrant adolescents. As many immigrant students are in the process of acquiring English language proficiency, evaluating and assigning grades to immigrant youth can pose…

This body of evidence summary reports the results of the evaluation of technical evidence in support of the California English Language Development Test (CELDT), as analyzed against a validated list of technical adequacy criteria. The table presented in this paper outlines the types of validity, reliability, and bias and sensitivity evidence…

By centralizing the issue of test fairness in language proficiency assessments, this study responds to a call by researchers for developing greater social responsibility in the language testing agenda. As inquiries into language attitude and psychology indicate, there is an underlying uncertainty pertaining to the validity of test use and score…

The volume consists of twelve classroom studies concerned with the implementation of learner autonomy in English classes. The individual studies range from primary school level to university level. They include studies on multi-media dictionary work, reading logs, peer correction, communication strategies, vocabulary learning strategies, oral…

The purpose of this study was to examine effective ways to integrate an interactive whiteboard, podcast, and digital storytelling for language proficiency development in English language learners. Researchers integrated these three technologies into a 60-hour intensive summer English program and investigated their impacts on student vocabulary…

This guide is designed as a reference for District and School personnel working with English learners (ELs). The content of the guide represents a compilation of information, examples, and resources. This guide is a living document and subject to frequent updates. It is recommended to review the document online rather than printing a hard copy.

Discusses the revision of the 1986 American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages guidelines for evaluating speaking proficiency. (Author/VWL)

Fewer than 25% of all states across the United States (18 total) currently require oral proficiency exams for initial foreign language teacher licensure. Of those 18 states, 8 require oral proficiency testing for all world languages certification, 5 for non-Roman based language certification only, and 5 for alternative certification only. The…

This study conducted telephone interviews with 26 randomly selected English Language Coordinators from 26 Arizona school districts with enrollment patterns that were representative of the state as whole. Three primary questions were posed to the respondents: (a) How is the 4-hour ELD block being implemented?; (b) What are the benefits of the…

This dissertation investigates the acquisition of oblique relative clauses in L2 Spanish by English and Moroccan Arabic speakers in order to understand the role of previous linguistic knowledge and its interaction with Universal Grammar on the one hand, and the relationship between grammatical knowledge and its use in real-time, on the other hand.…

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) has organized the standards for accomplished teachers of English as a new language into nine standards, which are presented in this report: (1) Standard I: Knowledge of Students; (2) Standard II: Knowledge of Culture and Diversity; (3) Standard III: Home, School, and Community…

This study explores the variations in the academic trajectories of socio-demographic subgroups of English as a second language (ESL) students (N = 7527) in British Columbia, Canada. Results are compared to a native English speaker baseline (N = 37,612). Longitudinal data describing the 1997 Grade 8 cohort (i.e., students age 13, typically in their…