Literature on the development of literacy skills for students with a moderate to severe intellectual disability is growing; however, little is known about effective literacy practices for Hispanic English language learners with a moderate intellectual disability. Additionally, little research has been conducted on how to utilize a student's…

This study investigated the use of discourse markers (DMs) by college learners of English in China. It compared the use of DMs for four discourse functions by students at different proficiency levels. An audio-video instrument called Video Oral Communication Instrument was conducted to elicit ratable speech samples. Fraser's (1999) taxonomy was…

Previous international work has shown that clustering pupils with similar characteristics in particular schools yields no clear academic benefit, and can be disadvantageous both socially and personally. Understanding how and why this clustering happens, and how it may be reduced, is therefore important for policy. Yet previous work has tended to…

This study aims to investigate whether English for Specific Purposes (ESP) reading relates to English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' identity and how they relate to each other if there is a link between the two. Via purposeful sampling, an experienced Taiwanese ESP reader in her 40s was recruited and received three life-story interviews.…

Introduction. Individuals need communicative competence for personal fulfillment and development, active citizenship, social inclusion and employment. Materials and Methods. The meaning of the key concepts of "communicative competence" and "opportunities" is studied within the search for conditions to develop. Conclusion. The theoretical findings…

Students' native language is a valuable resource in the English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom. Use of native languages may increase a student's sense of efficacy for learning English by: (a) facilitating vocabulary acquisition, (b) aiding learners in comprehension, (c) encouraging self-regulation, (d) making routines and explanations clear…

The present preliminary study empirically investigated Spanish heritage language (HL) speakers in Spanish for native speakers (SNS) college courses. It focused on their attitudes and motivation to improve their HL and on their varying linguistic competences in that language. A well-established second language acquisition (SLA) motivational model…

Using a critical perspective as its framework, this article reports on a case study that explored language practices and perceptions of six South African teachers who participated in a professional development workshop entitled "Language Across the Curriculum." The study reveals the conflicting attitudes of the teachers toward the role…

The Kimberley Language Resource Centre (KLRC) earned its status over three decades as the representative body for Kimberley languages. In 2004, the organisation started to respond to grassroots concerns about the lack of language speakers in the younger generations. Aboriginal people are also connecting loss of languages to loss of bio-cultural…

This paper reports on a study of peer interaction in ten foreign language (FL) classes, six secondary and four primary, over a period of four months. The focus of this paper is the nature of peer interaction, including the purposes of second language use, and language choice. The data, comprising observation, audio and video recordings of five…

Working in Latin America for several decades to address the educational needs of poor and indigenous groups, the GTZ (Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit) has helped to develop the knowledge base of intercultural bilingual education. The goal of this article is to analyze Germany's impact from the mid-1970s to the present as the GTZ has…

In this article, we report on the results of a project devoted to improving literacy in South Africa's rural schools; specifically we report the results of an intervention study that centered on improving mother-tongue literacy instruction offered to learners in Grades 1 and 2 in South African schools. Our findings demonstrate that there are…

Vietnamese, like other immigrant languages, experiences decline in various forms from the time that its speakers first arrive in the US, a process that gathers pace in the second generation, and often leads to a near-complete loss of the language in the third generation. The article deals with the ways in which Vietnamese-Americans have attempted…

From a conversation analytic perspective, this dissertation investigates how talk-in-turns in conversation are constructed and organized in a way that minimizes gaps and overlaps between speakers. Based on an informed assumption that turns are built out of turn units that allow the projection of their possible end points, I first characterize…

This study seeks to uncover the characteristics of foreign language instructors' discourse styles implemented in the classroom when teaching students the target language. Foreign language classrooms are unique to academia because the teachers of the language, depending on whether they are native or non-native speakers of the target language,…