Finding affordable textbooks is a challenge within many educational contexts, including English as a foreign language (EFL) settings and English as a second language (ESL) settings, such as universities and Intensive English Programs (often referred to as IEPs) in the United States. As educators, we know it is a struggle for many of our students…

This article explores relevant conceptual frameworks and design principles for the planning and implementation of a virtual reality (VR) learning environment in English as a foreign language (EFL) contexts. The primary focus is on what knowledge teachers need to acquire when designing and implementing a spherical video-based training world that…

This paper presents one Colombian university English as a foreign language program's in-house teacher development program for curriculum renewal. This program is an innovative attempt to prepare teachers for implementing a new curriculum and, simultaneously, engages them in professional development activities. The program is a response to the lack…

Entrepreneurship is not a new idea but it has never been more important than it is today in this time of financial, societal, educational crisis and massive challenges both at local and global scale. On the one hand, innovation and entrepreneurship are possible potential instruments to provide solutions for both local and the global challenges of…

This paper reports on how an undergraduate global leadership course was designed and implemented at a Japanese mid-sized private university to match the Japanese government's initiative of fostering global individuals through education. By incorporating a flipped learning approach (Bergmann & Sam, 2012) and the content materials from a Massive…

The School of Languages and Applied Linguistics at the Open University (OU) radically re-designed its modern languages curriculum in 2014, launching its first suite of new modules in 2017. The institution as a whole has since also developed a new employability framework. Our paper describes the principles underpinning the design of the new…

The present reflective article aims to describe some challenges that psychology programs in Colombia must face in the future, in order to let their students achieve an international professional profile and to improve their academic quality. First of all, psychology programs need to implement a bilingual curriculum, with many basic and…

Reading is an important skill in learning English. However, reading class is not emphasized in some primary schools in China, and there are various problems with the reading activities, which inadequately just focus on teaching of words, sentences separately from texts. This paper aims to bring out a whole system of principles in designing…

"Diversity, Inclusion and Engagement" presents a clear, socially oriented approach to understanding and developing inclusion in education. It focuses on encouraging preservice teachers to develop strategies to engage students of all backgrounds, needs and abilities in a diverse classroom. It conveys positive dimensions to promoting the…

While the idea of plurilingual competence is widely established theoretically and promoted in European language policies, it is not implemented in educational practice, where separate plurilingualism is still dominant. The idea of languages as autonomous entities is e.g. reflected in the "Common European Framework of Reference for…

This article discusses how the ESL program at an ethnically/linguistically diverse community college (between San Diego and the Mexican border) moved from a general, grammar-based ESL curriculum to a content-based instruction (CBI) curriculum. The move was designed to better prepare 1st- and 2nd-generation immigrant students for freshman…

The following research-to-practice summary addresses the findings from the original intervention study and provides specific guidance for early childhood practitioners. These recommendations respond to a current and growing concern on how to implement developmental, cultural, and linguistically appropriate curricula, namely, recommendations focus…

This article proposes an instructional design model for blended learning writing courses for English language learners (ELLs). It will do so by combining the main points of the cognitive load, activity, sociocultural, and transactional distance theories to present four tenets essential for optimal learning for ELLs: structure, environment,…

The goal of this chapter is to provide a conceptual review of culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) and a synthesis of research that documents its application to immigrant children and English language learners (ELLs). First, the significance and relevance of CRP are framed in the context of today's student population and the growing gaps in academic…

With an increasing emphasis on creativity and innovation in the twenty-first century, teachers need to be creative professionals just as students must learn to be creative. And yet, schools are institutions with many important structures and guidelines that teachers must follow. Effective creative teaching strikes a delicate balance between…