Increasingly, children enter the school system with a home language that differs from the language of the majority. Consequently, classrooms have students with diverse language backgrounds and teachers must develop reading comprehension instruction that meets the needs of all their students. To successfully plan instruction, it is critical for…

Despite vociferous calls for judicious use of learners' mother tongue over the past few decades, deciding on the right amount has still remained a challenge for many teachers. This article reports on the results of a survey drawing upon the views of 110 Iranian EFL teachers about eight perceived functions of L1 (Persian) in young English learners'…

The study examines performance on an evaluation instrument for classroom use for the purpose of improving instruction that focuses on awareness of language in reading and writing. Findings are reported on the piloting of the first in a series of literacy assessments with students from a rural elementary school in Ecuador. All students who…

In the United States, 9.4% of public school students speak a language other than English; of those children, 77% speak Spanish (National Center for Education Statistics, 2017). While there is widespread concern for these children to learn English, maintaining the home language and encouraging bilingualism are given little regard (Ovando, 2003).…

The aim of this study was to review the Chinese translation errors in 31 English/Chinese bilingual children's picture books. While bilingual children's books make definite contributions to language acquisition, few studies have examined the quality of these books, and even fewer have specifically focused on English/Chinese bilingual books.…

This action research examines how Generation 1.5 preservice teachers develop as writers during writing intensive courses. Generation 1.5 reflects immigrants who have life experiences inclusive of two or more countries including diverse cultures and languages (Roberge, 2009). Understanding the factors impacting how Generation 1.5 students use…

The purpose of this study was to assess students' attitudes toward several aspects of biliteracy within the context of a dual immersion program. Attitudes toward perceived competencies in reading in two languages, along with the social and personal values of literacy in each language (English and Spanish), and the personal and social value of…

Examined the effect of teaching direct learning strategies and their subcategories on the vocabulary retention of English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) learners. Participants of the study were 60 female EFL learners, aged 15-17. (Author/VWL)

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…