Many of the foreign language teachers and professors I have encountered throughout my EFL teaching career say that speaking is the most difficult skill to teach in a foreign language class. Classes usually focus on teaching points (e.g. grammar or listening related lessons) that can satisfy larger classroom situations. Speaking requires adequate…

The TOEFL iBT test was introduced in 2005 to better reflect the language demands of real-life academic tasks than did previous versions of the test. The task-based design of the test was intended to support the interpretation of its scores as a trustworthy measure of international students' ability to use English in an academic environment. Until…

Post-communicative methodologies nowadays provide instructors with multiple curricular models to reimagine their syllabi, design creative assignments, and prepare their lessons. Yet, challenging topics are still often avoided, fearing students' limited language proficiency. Conversely, compelling content--carefully presented and pedagogically…

There are close to 200,000 students in Houston Independent School District (ISD), and many of them are recent immigrants who have been in the United States for three years or less. In recent years, the number of immigrant students in the district has increased dramatically, with over 11,000 enrolled in each of the past eight years. In fact, nearly…

The authors recommend ways to engage learners in interactions in the classroom to promote second language development and boost learners' self-confidence in using English in real-life situations.

ORS 327.016 directs the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) to prepare an annual report on English learner program funding and student outcomes. The report's intention is to describe the population of English Learners in Oregon and provide a summary of district and state progress towards meeting their needs and objectives in English language…

Evaluating the credibility of online information, a key component of digital literacy, is challenging for secondary students because they often rely on superficial strategies that do little to help them differentiate between information and disinformation. For example, our research has shown that students are prone to believe sites that appear…

With biliteracy as the goal, dual-language immersion programs offer the potential to increase literacy skills across multiple learner demographic characteristics.

Integrating art (paintings, sculptures, photography, and other types of images) into second language (L2) instruction, can have a positive effect on language acquisition and developing intercultural understanding. As the instructor provides visual scaffolding, learners at all proficiency levels have the opportunity to engage more deeply with L2…

With the worldwide use of English as a second language (ESL) and globalization, teachers are expected to understand, acknowledge and interact with culturally and linguistically diverse students and integrate their linguistic and multicultural backgrounds in classroom settings. Teachers need to be multicultural to be able to successfully impact…

In this paper we propose that posthuman and decolonizing perspectives on difference might provide a foundation for English as an additional language (EAL) teacher education programs. We briefly examine current outcomes of schooling for EAL students and current teacher education in Canada, showing the necessity and urgency of developing practices…

This article addresses the inclusion of English learners with disabilities, including those with significant cognitive disabilities, in state and district assessments. The authors provide background information on who these students are and the relationship between academic English language development, content learning, and assessment. The…

Literacy in a first language or in additional languages involves a set of complex cognitive, social, and linguistic skills that develop over time. However, pedagogical materials for low-proficiency English as an additional language (EAL) learners tend to target low-level literacy skills only, such as responding to fact-based questions. Materials…

Due to a range of different affordances, mobile technologies can be used pedagogically for language teaching and learning. However, the connection of technology to education needs to be grounded in theoretical frameworks and methodological principles. Task-based language teaching (TBLT), as an optimal approach to language teaching and learning,…

Multimodal approaches to second-language learning can boost language proficiency (Ajayi, 2009) by providing foreign-language learners with greater exposure to the target language's culture, enabling multiple-literacy competencies in the target language, and appealing to students' learning preferences. This article aims to present a…