The response to intervention (RTI) of English language learners identified as at risk for reading difficulties in the fall of first grade was examined at the end of first grade and at the end of second grade. Students at risk for reading problems were randomly assigned to intervention or control groups. Intervention students received supplemental…

This paper describes a framework for researching the Cognition Hypothesis which claims that pedagogic tasks be sequenced for learners on the basis of increases in their cognitive complexity. It distinguishes dimensions of complexity which increase the conceptual and linguistic demands tasks make on communication, so creating the conditions for L2…

Three experiments examine the acquisition of word-initial consonant clusters by adult second language learners. Native speakers of Spanish acquiring English participated in a metalinguistic judgment task, a perception task, and a production task. The judgment task indicates that beginning, intermediate and advanced second language learners have an…

This study explores the meanings that learners of English as a foreign language give to teachers' gestures. It is a qualitative, descriptive study of the perceived functions that gestures perform in the EFL classroom, viewed mainly from the language learners' perspective. The data for the study was collected through interviews with twenty-two…

This paper explores issues of teaching and learning Chinese as a heritage language in a Chinese heritage language school, the Zhonguo Saturday School, in Montreal, Quebec. With a student population of more than 1000, this school is the largest of the eight Chinese Heritage Language schools in Montreal. Students participating in this study were…

This study explored inter- and intraindividual immigrant group differences in children's English verbal ability over ages 6-16 in 4 racial/ethnic groups--White Americans, Black Americans, Mexican Americans, and Puerto Ricans (N=2,136). Although all children's mean verbal scores increased with age, immigrant children (except for Black Americans)…

Until recently, little attention has been paid to the language and academic needs of English as a second language (ESL) students in the social studies classroom. In the most recent review and one of the few written on social studies texts and instruction, Short (1998) found that ESL students do not receive the language and academic support they…

With the publication of the ACTFL/NCATE Program Standards for the Preparation of Foreign Language Teachers in the fall of 2002, teacher preparation programs need to rethink the process of gathering materials that best represent the abilities of the teacher candidates they are training. This article discusses how one foreign language program has…

The purpose of this study is twofold: first, to estimate the contribution of discipline-related knowledge and English-language proficiency to reading comprehension in English for academic purposes (EAP) and, second, to specify the levels at which the compensatory effect between the two variables takes place for successful EAP reading. The…

Students learning English as a new language are the fastest-growing group in U.S. schools today. These students speak many languages, their reading levels cover a wide range, and they experience great cognitive demands as they learn both language and content in order to participate fully in class. Literature can play a critical role in immersing…

This article presents the results of a meta-analysis of 30 hemodynamic experiments comparing first language (L1) and second language (L2) processing in a range of tasks. The results suggest that reliably stronger activation during L2 processing is found (a) only for task-specific subgroups of L2 speakers and (b) within some, but not all regions…

This paper is based on a research project that explored a UK Government initiative to improve the quality of teaching adults, numeracy, literacy and English as a second other language. The findings will be of interest to teacher educators generally and also to those involved in teaching adults, language, literacy and numeracy. The paper reports on…

This paper analyses the contribution of student agency and teacher contingency in the construction of classroom discourse in adult English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) classes for refugees and asylum seekers, for whom the identity of student itself can constitute a stable point in a highly unstable and potentially threatening lifeworld.…

This article reports on the Slovene share in the European project called Janua Linguarum--The Gateway to Languages. It highlights its forerunners and its outcomes, and gives an illustrative example of how primary school students encounter and explore various languages by using a relatively novel, plurilingual approach. All the materials produced…

Learner-centred approaches to language teaching, especially those that seek to develop learner autonomy, require the learner to take decisions concerning the goals, content and methods of learning; they also assign a central role to self-assessment. Although the logic of learner-centredness demands that learner self-assessment should somehow be…