The purpose of this study is to examine English new-language teachers' perceptions of online asynchronous and online synchronous professional development and teacher efficacy. English new-language students score significantly lower than others on standardized tests. This study analyzes online professional development for English new-language…

In March of 2020 at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, New York schools abruptly shifted classes from face-to-face teaching to the virtual learning environment, presenting challenges for English as a second language instruction where methods include rapport-building to encourage risk-taking. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to…

Informed by sociocultural theories, collaborative writing (CW), a writing activity that involved two or more writers who share and exchange knowledge and negotiate decision-making to complete a single written text (Storch, 2002, 2013), has been found to benefit the second language (L2) students' language learning by a substantial body of empirical…

Foreign language courses that are delivered at a distance using synchronous video tend to be more instructor centered than learner centered. Based on literature indicating that foreign language learning occurs when learners are actively engaged, an instructor delivered an online college Spanish course with synchronous video sessions and flipped…

The outbreak of COVID-19 forced the world population to find new ways to improve their productivity. It also significantly changed the course of education and instruction entirely. Like many students worldwide, adult English as a Second Language (ESL) students have been dramatically impacted by the sudden switch to online courses due to the…

This dissertation reports on the evaluation of a computer-mediated collaborative animation description task, where synchronous corrective feedback (SCF) serves as the primary source for grammar learning. The evaluation was conducted in an English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) writing program at a large research university in the United States. Using…

This mixed methods classroom research examined if accountability groups in the lower proficiency levels of a university intensive English program would improve students' language acquisition. Students were assigned partners for the study period with whom they completed assignments inside and outside of class, as well as set goals for use of…

Despite the growing interest in examining the link between peer-peer collaborative dialogue and second language (L2) development in recent years (Swain, Brooks, & Tocalli-Beller, 2002), much of the empirical work in this regard focused on face-to-face communication, leaving the operationalization of collaborative dialogue in text-based…

Language and culture teaching has always been a complex and challenging task. For many educators, their teaching experiences are rooted in their earlier preparation, their classroom situations and their curriculum. In this study, indigenous educators recount their lived experiences with teaching their language and culture at a distance. These…

The evidence is overwhelming; affective factors, in particular anxiety, do affect students who are learning a second or foreign language. Foreign language anxiety can affect students' achievement and desire to continue their studies. Instructors want their students to succeed and want them to continue. Therefore, finding ways to reduce this…

The present study explored how negotiation of meaning occurred in task-based synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) environment among college English learners. Based on the theoretical framework of the interaction hypothesis and negotiation of meaning, four research questions arose: (1) how negotiation of meaning occur in non-native…

Research has shown that simply linking learners from different countries using technology does not automatically bring about learning benefits; instead it frequently ends in tensions that, if not addressed, could potentially hinder learning. Using the lens of Vygotsky-inspired sociocultural theory, activity theory, and Engestrom's activity systems…