The Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK) offers 199 courses with online features to enhance the distance learning environment. The university has arranged these courses to provide students with greater flexibility in interacting with tutors, classmates, and the content itself. Integral to learner flexibility online is access, valuing computers and…

A number of theories of second language L2 acquisition acknowledge a role for explicit L2 knowledge. However, the testing of these theories remains problematic because of the lack of a widely accepted means for measuring L2 explicit knowledge. This article seeks to address this lacuna by examining L2 explicit knowledge from two perspectives.…

In this article, the authors evaluate a Swedish pilot scheme that targeted immigrants with weak Swedish-language skills registered as unemployed at public employment offices. By sandwiching work-oriented language teaching and practical workplace training, the project aimed at enhancing the employability of project participants but also at alerting…

Extensive reading has for many years been seen as an important and motivating means of improving general language proficiency in a second language. This article argues that while extensive reading per se is an important medium for long-term second language acquisition, extensive reading schemes may not be the most effective means of promoting…

In five experiments highly-proficient bilinguals were asked to name two sets of pictures in their L2: a) pictures whose names in the L2 and their corresponding L1 translations have the same grammatical gender value, and b) pictures whose names in the L2 and their corresponding L1 translations have different gender values. In Experiments 1, 2, and…

Proficiency in English is a prerequisite for students to bag a place in the on/off campus interviews. Irrespective of the profession, vocation and background the students have to hone their LSRW skills in English. Selection procedures like group discussion and video conferencing are hurdles to students who lack language proficiency in English. All…

This study was conducted to understand student identities of five Japanese children (the second through sixth grade) and the processes of identity negotiation within their sojourning experiences between Japan and the United States. An increasing number of Japanese elementary students internationally sojourn in today's globalized societies, and…

This paper uses ethnographic data from research in three middle schools in Queens, New York and analyzes school choice publications created and distributed by the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) to answer questions about how the district and school-level communication strategies and materials facilitate and/or complicate Latin…

Health-care access for immigrants in the United States is often problematic because of language barriers, lack of health insurance, or differing expectations based on divergent medical systems in the U.S. and the immigrants' home countries. Such difficulties are exacerbated when a linguistic-minority population lives in a rural community that has…

Latino youth appear to be at higher risk for depression relative to youth from other ethnic groups. This study assessed the relationship between nativity and several forms of internalizing distress among Mexican American middle school students as well as sociocultural factors that may help explain this relationship. Immigrant Mexican American…

The 23rd EUROCALL conference was held in Cyprus from the 24th to the 27th of August 2016. The theme of the conference this year was "CALL Communities and Culture." It offered a unique opportunity to hear from real-world CALL practitioners on how they practice CALL in their communities, and how the CALL culture has developed in local and…

An exploratory study conducted at George Brown College in Toronto, Canada between 2007 and 2009 investigated language learning with mobile devices as an approach to augmenting ESP learning by taking learning outside the classroom into the real-world context. In common with findings at other community colleges, this study identified inadequate…

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB, 2002) has had a great impact on states' policies in assessing English language learner (ELL) students. The legislation requires states to develop or adopt sound assessments in order to validly measure the ELL students' English language proficiency, as well as content knowledge and skills. While states…

Language ideologies shape educational practices in ways that can either limit or expand students' engagement with academic content. This article examines science lessons with third and fourth grade English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) students, focusing on (a) regular lessons, in which the monolingual teacher speaks English while a…

This study examined the effects of training on peer assessment and comments provided regarding oral presentations in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) classrooms. In Study 1, both the treatment and control groups received instruction on skill aspects, but only the treatment group was given an additional 40-minute training on how to rate…