The texts students encounter are becoming increasingly complex and multimodal. There remains a need to understand the semiotic resources students draw upon to make meaning with these multimodal texts. This study draws on social semiotics as a frame to explore the ways in which eight first graders with a wide range of literacy proficiency levels…

The purpose of this study was to examine how classroom language contexts characterized by peer language skills and proportions of dual language learners (DLL) influenced English language development for DLL and non-DLL children. Participants were 2,131 children from 135 classrooms across preschool through Grade 3. Children were classified into…

Background: Teaching English as home language (EHL) could be a complicated process in a country like South Africa, where there are eleven official languages operating in a multicultural society. This requires capacitating teachers with appropriate and relevant strategies to strengthen their teaching, especially in the foundation phase. Aim: This…

The past two decades have seen a proliferation of studies investigating, complicating, and reimagining the relationship between second language learning and identity. Yet, with only a handful of exceptions, these studies are limited to adolescent and adult second language learners. In this article, the author proposes that identity research with…

English Language Learners (ELLs) are often deprived of using English for academic purposes in meaningful and authentic contexts when pulled out of the classroom for English Language Development services. To tackle this issue, schools have increasingly integrated ELLs in the mainstream classroom through an inclusive model of co-teaching between one…

In this study, the researchers examined how first-grade students initially positioned as struggling readers took up literacy practices to reposition themselves as capable competent readers and part of a literate community of practice over an academic year. Using positive discourse analysis and case study methodology, the researchers documented and…

This paper focuses on the lack of impact on language education of recent paradigm shifts in the study of language and society such as the recognition of the ideology of language[s] as stable, discrete or bounded entities and the reality of heteroglossic languaging and semiotic practices in everyday life. Using South Africa as a case, the paper…

The use of subtractive bilingual models in Puerto Rico may influence children's construction of social categorizations. There is a gap in the literature related to linguistics, ethnicity, and systems of education and acculturation of a majority group. The purpose of this multiple case study was to examine the influence of the language of…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the communicative strategies used by two effective first grade teachers whose students came from lower SES communities marked by a high incidence of school failure. One school was in Akko, Israel and one was in New Jersey in the US. In both settings, the teachers taught lessons in a language that was…

The purpose of this article is to highlight and discuss the strategies used to diffuse and manage a primary ELT innovation in Greece, strategies that proved essential for developing stakeholders' acceptance and ownership of the innovation, thereby facilitating its further development and sustainability. The PEAP Programme, launched in 2010,…

This study investigated the instructional practices of three teacher leaders employed in a diverse, elementary school in the USA. Through extended observations, it was found that learning centres occupied a central role in the organisation and learning in each of the classrooms. Bernstein's theory of classification and framing was used to analyse…

Drawing on data from observations and interviews, this article presents a case study of one teacher's efforts to overcome low self-efficacy beliefs in teaching English to young learners in a Middle Eastern context. It provides insights into the growth processes involved, highlighting how the teacher drew reflectively upon her experiences to…

Focusing on two bilingual children experiencing learning difficulties, I explore the scientific representations these students generate in an afterschool programme where they have opportunities to exercise agency. In the programme, children use a digital camera to document science in their lives and engage in conversations about the products they…

This article reports findings from a study that investigated the ways in which first-grade dual language teachers drew on various resources to instructionally support academic language development among Spanish-English emergent bilingual students. Classroom observations, semistructured interviews, and document collection were conducted over a…

Academic language, the register necessary to be successful in school, has been widely studied in recent years. Researchers have devoted much energy to defining the construct of academic language and identifying ways that teachers can support students--particularly those learning two languages simultaneously--as they develop it. Several scholars…