Fandom practices are often considered meaningless and unnecessary. However, the use of social media carries the potential for positive as well as negative impact on the users. Using the framework of Community of Practice, the latest theory addressing community formation and interaction, as its theoretical framework, the study explores the…

The reawakening of the Indigenous Gamilaraay language in northern inland New South Wales, Australia involves righting two centuries of prohibition and mistreatment after invasion by English-speaking settlers. Gamilaraay is no longer used as an everyday language in the community, although it has strong emblematic value for the Gamilaraay community.…

In this article, Marie Snider, a returning English Language Fellow in Burma who works on the Lower Mekong Initiative's Professional Communication Skills for Leaders project, describes the activities of Nyein Ei San, an English teacher in Upper Burma. Ms. San has been active in the English language teaching (ELT) community in Burma for the past…

After completing a law degree at the University of Birmingham when I was 20 and not really knowing what I wanted to do, except that it was not law, I became an English as a foreign language (EFL) teacher accidentally through signing up as a volunteer with the British United Nations Association (BUNA), roughly equivalent to the US Peace Corps.…

The need to work in partnership with communities in a meaningful and impactful way has become a core part of university planning in many countries around the world. In the Global South, the potential for the Eurocentric knowledges and power structures to dominate such partnerships is pervasive. This article reports on findings of a participatory…

Preparing students as 21st century learners is a key reform in education. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills developed a framework that identifies outcomes needed for successful implementation of rigorous standards. The Dual Language (DL) program was identified as a structure for reform with systems and practices which can be used to prepare…

While first language social networks offer immigrants practical and emotional support in the early period of their settlement in a new country, the development of social networks through English is crucial at this time not only for the acquisition of the linguistic and social capital vital to their long-term advancement, but also for the…

The Coalition for Equal Access to Education (CEAE) is a Calgary-based nonprofit organization committed to working with community, education, and government stakeholders to promote access to quality, equitable education and services for K-12 English-as-a-second-language (ESL) learners. CEAE is active in developing innovative projects, research…

Purpose: Although knowledge transfer is generally conceived as a two-way process in which knowledge is transferred to and from the knowledge source, research has tended to focus on the first part of the process and neglect the second part. This study aims to examine the feedback loop and how knowledge is transferred from the knowledge receiver to…

English language learners (ELLs), their teachers, and the schools and programs where they are enrolled face a triple challenge: (1) students must be taught and learn English at a level of proficiency high enough to allow them access to academic content; (2) students must be taught and learn academic content at a level comparable to that of English…

This report was created in conjunction with the Association of Canadian Community College's (ACCC) review of the federal government's support for post-secondary institutions and their efforts in promoting bilingualism in Canada. Canada's colleges were created or expanded through a partnership of the federal and provincial governments in the 1960s.…

This article offers an original review of research and reports about young Indigenous children's language development needs and approaches to meeting them. The review addresses not only children's acquisition of an Indigenous language but also their acquisition of other languages (e.g., English and French), because their progress in one linguistic…

THE AUTHOR DISCUSSES THE EFFECT THAT DIFFERING CULTURES AND BEHAVIOR PATTERNS WITHIN A COMMUNITY HAVE ON COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT. HE STATES THAT COMMUNITY LEADERS MUST UNDERSTAND THESE CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN ORDER TO ELICIT PARTICIPATION AND COOPERATION FROM BOTH INDIAN AND NONINDIAN RESIDENTS. THE AUTHOR ILLUSTRATES THE POINTS HE MAKES BY ACTUAL…

Describes a five year research project, undertaken by the U.S. Army at Guadalupe, Arizona, which used operant conditioning procedures in community development activities. The project sought "to determine environmental variables affecting individual and group behavior and, once these variables were identified, "to evolve a behavioral repertoire in…

The adult basic education program of the University of Natal (South Africa), in conjunction with a rural development agency, is intended to train literacy teachers and develop English-as-a-Second-Language teaching materials. One implication was that what may have worked at the village level needs reconceptualization for large-scale adaptation. (SK)