There is mounting evidence that phonological memory (PM), a sub-component of working memory, is closely related to various aspects of second language (L2) learning in a variety of populations, suggesting that PM may be an essential cognitive mechanism underlying successful L2 acquisition. This article provides a brief critical review of the role…

Participatory design (PD), or the collaboration between software engineers and end users throughout the design process, may help improve CALL design practices. In this case study, four ESL learners, a software designer, and a language teacher created and evaluated a series of paper prototypes concerning help options in computer-based second…

Children of foreign origin are increasingly failing in mathematics in Swedish compulsory schools. This article analyses the didactics at a school proven very successful in teaching mathematics to all children including the 70% of children of foreign origin. The situation at the studied school is compared to research of the Swedish school system…

The purpose of the conference presentation upon which this paper is inspired was to present an innovative approach to motivate students to write in a second language during a first-year Spanish class. Usually, students comply with writing exercises that convey basic thoughts, due to constrained vocabulary and limited knowledge of grammatical…

This paper examines the difficulty in reading French experienced by English students at Advanced Subsidiary Level (AS), taken at age 17, and the need for vocabulary learning to assist comprehension. Research has shown that intermediate learners need knowledge of some 5000 word families, and that specifications for the General Certificate of…

After a teaching experience with the children of Ecuador with so little support, the author has come to greatly appreciate what is available for teachers in the states. Sometimes the best encouragement for a new teacher of FLES is a success story straight from the classroom. In this article, the author shares a few of the tools she has picked up…

This study investigated the effects of captioning during video-based listening activities. Second- and fourth-year learners of Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, and Russian watched three short videos with and without captioning in randomized order. Spanish learners had two additional groups: one watched the videos twice with no captioning, and another…

This study explored the benefits and drawbacks of synchronous voice-based computer-mediated communication (CMC) in a blended course of English for specific purposes. Quantitative and qualitative data from two groups following the same syllabus, except for the oral component, were compared. Oral tasks were carried out face-to-face with same L1…

Adolescent English-language learners (ELLs) encounter increasingly difficult academic language as they progress through school. This article describes the design of an after-school intervention, Language Workshop, created to help middle school ELLs build their knowledge of academic vocabulary words. Evidence-based principles of vocabulary…

This paper is a systematic review of research investigating help options in the different language skills in computer-assisted language learning (CALL). In this review, emerging themes along with is-sues affecting help option research are identified and discussed. We argue that help options in CALL are application resources that do not only seem…

The purpose of this study was to examine effective ways to integrate an interactive whiteboard, podcast, and digital storytelling for language proficiency development in English language learners. Researchers integrated these three technologies into a 60-hour intensive summer English program and investigated their impacts on student vocabulary…

A number of experimental studies have demonstrated the incidental acquisition of a foreign language by children and adolescents when watching foreign language television. While such experiments can only establish short-term effects, this article investigates the extent to which children's foreign language skills benefit from their long-term…

The daily challenge of providing comprehensible instruction to English language learners (ELLs) can be daunting. This article discusses how teachers of ELL students may address this challenge and enrich the social studies curriculum for all. The authors begin with an account of a classroom activity that illustrates what can be done by a classroom…

This observational study examines the effectiveness of graphic organizers two elementary teachers in California, United States use to teach the content and the academic language of science. The study was done during the 2006-2007 school year. The data was collected through field-notes and the audio recording of instructional activities, and they…

The author relates how his school has a very active English Language Learner (ELL) program. ELL students typically have varying levels of social and academic language, but almost always have some English proficiency. Recently, his school established a Newcomer Program that drastically changed the school system. They acquired students lacking any…