Contemporary approaches to professional development (PD) involve investigating ways of bottom-up, self-directed practices while addressing various needs of teachers. Yet, utilized as a tool in such practices, classroom observation (CO) is not considered to promote teacher professional learning since it is generally regarded as part of the…

The emergence of Web 2.0 has created diverse opportunities for continuing professional development in the area of language teaching. This article begins by presenting how the pedagogical model implemented in an online postgraduate programme integrates the Personal Learning Environment and Personal Learning Network (PLE and PLN) concept and…

Purpose: This study investigated the impact of a Critical Friends Group (CFG), an inquiry-based professional development model, on Turkish EFL teachers. It was acknowledged that short-term workshops did not provide opportunities for teachers to make connections between the theory presented and the implications that it had for classroom teaching.…

With digital literacies becoming an essential competency for teachers across the world, recent educational policies in India emphasize teachers' ability to use digital technologies for pedagogic purposes and the use of digital technologies by teachers as one of the evaluation criteria for ranking institutions. In the absence of any properly…

Communication centers often focus on supporting students' communicative competencies in public speaking but some centers have expanded this focus to include support for English language learners (ELLs). Armed with research on the value of conversation in language acquisition, the University Speaking Center has incorporated peer consulting of ELLs,…

This case study investigates educational entrepreneurship in an intensive English as a foreign language (EFL) program at a major Thai university. Using a qualitative case study approach, the study draws on data collected in interviews, a focus group, and curriculum documents to investigate educational entrepreneurship in this context. The major…

By teaching English, teachers are preparing students for encounters with people from different cultures. To do so effectively from the beginning of their careers, novice teachers need preparation to teach about culture in addition to teaching language. Teacher educators could more effectively support novice teachers' ability to teach about culture…

The growing importance of global English has led to the rise of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) teaching, particularly in higher education. Despite the concurrently increasing demand for ESP teachers, pre-service teacher education programmes have largely neglected this important area. This study has been initiated to address the professional…

Since 2000, I have been coordinating a web based virtual exchange project, Project Ibunka. Ibunka means different cultures in Japanese. It aims to provide opportunities of authentic interaction among EFL/ESL learners all over the world. The project has been giving English language learners from various countries opportunities to use English for…

Concurrent enrollment access is expanding across the country, policies and practices are evolving, and data-driven studies examining every measurable element are being undertaken, yet the role of the relationships among concurrent enrollment partners and participants is too often just mentioned in passing. This case study of a concurrent…

This study explores a language learner's screen while interacting from a desktop videoconferencing device as part of an intercultural telecollaboration exchange that connected teacher-trainees and French learners. Communicative tasks involving opinion exchanges require from language learners simultaneous speaking and listening comprehension…

Museum educators and instructors of English as a Second Language (ESOL) at a community college in New York reflect on their experiences facilitating a program designed to enrich the language, cultural, and visual literacy skills of adult immigrant students. The CALTA21 program brought together three stakeholders, immigrant ESOL students, language…

This article shows the potential of the Council of Europe's Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters and Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters through Visual Media to develop quality education in the (foreign) language classroom in Higher Education. Whereas the literature focuses on their contributions to fostering intercultural awareness and…

Indigenous languages of Mexico have largely been excluded from formal education spaces. This ethnographic action research study highlights a context where "Diidxazá"/ Isthmus Zapotec, an Indigenous language of Oaxaca, has recently begun to be taught in higher education. We examine the ways that administrators, the teacher, and students…

This study aims to promote English pre-service teachers' speaking ability by integrating task-based learning (TBL) and the CEFR (Council of Europe, 2001) in designing an innovative program (the CEFR-TBL). This presentation discusses the results of an investigation of the preservice teachers' speaking ability using peer-interview technique. Also,…