Effective communication is a fundamental aspect of human relationships and a key interpersonal skill to be considered and developed at an EFL Teacher Education Program. Yet, a variety of challenges are posed for those in the process of becoming (proficient) users of English in an environment where Spanish is the main means of communication. Our…

Self-efficacy is one's belief in one's capacity to organize and execute a course of action and serves as a motivating factor, since people tend to seek opportunities in areas where they feel efficacious and avoid areas where they believe they might fail (Bandura, 1997). Furthermore, as language learners' feelings of efficacy increase, so does the…

With the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping the globe and the transition of education to fully online teaching in Iran, high school English teachers who were accustomed to teaching offline had to face a lot of challenges during this shift. In this paper, we describe the major challenges or dilemmas the first author had to surmount during his online…

Research has identified the essential proficiencies students should possess to be successful, but they are often not incorporated in the ESOL classroom. As a result, many teachers lack access to adequate instructional strategies to guide ELs to academic success. We argue in this article that, to provide a strong foundation and a bright future for…

This paper discusses recent trends in language pedagogy that emphasize movement from a psycholinguistic to a more sociocultural view of language teaching and learning. Nourished primarily by sociocultural theory and Hinton's (2002, 2003) efforts to promote the stabilization of indigenous languages, the author presents Narrative Language…

This article discusses the issues of teaching ESP to Ukrainian tertiary students majoring in psychology. The suggested approach is based on teaching English through the content matter of special subjects included in the program of training practical psychologists. The example of an ESP textbook for psychologists is used for demonstrating the…

The restricted time allocated to courses and the immediate need to read literature in English necessitates the teaching of selective reading in many English as a foreign language contexts. This paper reports on one element of an expeditious (quick, effective, efficient and selective) reading course for learners in an English for Academic Purposes…

Vocabulary knowledge has long been considered critical to children's successful reading comprehension. When children increase their reserves of word meaning, they also broaden their thinking and become aware of new semantic and conceptual relationships. Their broadened awareness, in turn, increases reading comprehension and writing abilities. Many…

Describes a study in which an English-as-a-Second-Language reading instructor worked with a group of intermediate students that focused on schema theory-based pre-reading activities. Highlights the students' impressions on the strategies covered during the term. (Author/VWL)

Research and theory on second language reading has reached heightened dimensions in recent years. It is through reading that learners access much information concerning the target language and culture, and consequently reading is an important part of almost all language programs across stages of acquisition. The purpose of this article is to offer…

As EFL programs become more prevalent throughout the world, the cultural implications of English teaching are more often debated. These cultural considerations are extremely relevant in Islamic cultures, where English education can be viewed as contributing to the influence of Western Christian or secular pedagogy. This potential clash of…

The following article discusses cognitive and metacognitive reading strategies and the use of them particularly among bilingual students. It distinguishes between the two types of strategies. Strategy use among monolingual and bilingual students are described and compared. The article focuses on the need for strategy instruction, particularly…

Describes a case study that used retrospective miscue analysis as a research tool to assist one preservice teacher as she reconstructed her perception of the reading process. Over the course of the study, the preservice teacher examined her assumptions about reading, became acutely aware of and revalued her reading strategies, and came o the…

Describes the results of a questionnaire that reveals Japanese students' attitudes towards reading in English versus reading in Japanese. Points out how students may have distorted views about English and English texts, because of their limited exposure to literary texts. (Author/VWL)