Recent scholarship in multiliteracies-oriented pedagogies has advocated for greater attention to fostering 'textual thinking', understood as forms of literacy that consider the complexities of semiotic choices made by authors, and their underlying meanings, rhetorical purposes, and cultural contexts. This kind of engagement with texts calls upon…

There is growing research aimed at understanding the challenges international graduate students (IGSs) face in learning English and applying it to their academic studies in the United States. Most studies, however, focus solely on IGSs and English in the context of U.S. higher education, giving less attention to their experiences prior to entering…

This article explores what the "intercultural turn" might mean in the case of teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL). The discussion is contextualised in what has been termed the "expanding circle" of English and focuses on an English as a foreign language (EFL) class in a Mexican university, a context where…

We report on efforts to design the "Collaborative Workshop Physics" (CWP) instructional strategy to deliver the first interactive engagement (IE) physics course at Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research (KU), United Arab Emirates (UAE). To our knowledge, this work reports the first calculus-based, introductory mechanics…

The theme of this special issue is timely as the world becomes increasingly flat and globally connected (Friedman, 2007). By focusing on an international perspective in problem-based learning (PBL), it puts culture squarely in the center, whether it is a national or disciplinary culture. The articles in this special issue represent Thailand, South…

Effectively teaching mathematics to speakers of other languages requires teachers to recognize, validate, honor, and support the math that these students have already learned before entering a U.S. classroom. To do so, they must become aware of procedures, types of math instruction, and students' current performance levels. They should be…

Investigates the study abroad experience of two students in a summer program in France to see what kind of interactions influenced their learning. Results show that while homestays played a clear role in learning, other factors such as the nature of the pre-departure preparation meetings, absence of an on-site director, and prior cross-cultural…

Two unresolved issues in first language and second language research on the role of background knowledge in comprehension are discussed: (1) the theoretical distinction between "content" and "formal" schemata and their interrelationship in texts and (2) the relationship of effects measured in cross-cultural research to background knowledge that…

Examines the relation between background knowledge and second language (L2) proficiency in L2 reading performance in two groups of university learners of English, one from mainland China and one from Hong Kong. Results show a strong cultural effect on reading comprehension, but not on post-intermediate readers. Findings have implications for…

Examines the role of cultural background knowledge on the reading comprehension of third graders acquiring literacy in Dutch as a first and second language while reading noncontrived texts from the reading curricula. Finds a facilitating effect of cultural familiarity for both reading comprehension and reading efficiency. Notes that this effect…

The study investigated the role of a second language (L2) learner's prior cultural knowledge in target language lexical meaning-making. Comparison focuses on what important similarities in L2 lexical meaning-making of culturally loaded words appear among learners with the same ethnic background, and what important lexical meaning differences exist…