Spatial relations in American Sign Language (ASL) are often signed from the perspective of the signer and so involve a shift in perspective and mental rotation. This study examined developing knowledge of language used to refer to the spatial relations "front," "behind," "left," "right," "towards," "away," "above," and "below" by children learning…

After many efforts to lift the achievement of its high numbers of culturally and linguistically diverse students, a district in Massachusetts realized that the missing link was parent involvement. In this article, the author describes a program the district created to improve relationships between teachers and families and the enormous difference…

The population of the United States continues to become increasingly diverse, both culturally and linguistically. The increased diversity creates a challenge for middle school teachers as they are required not only to teach their content areas, but also to assist students learning English, including literacy skills. The majority of teachers at all…

This article reports the results of an experiment investigating the role of comic strips on ESL learners' reading comprehension. The students' proficiency levels were estimated, and students were organized into a low intermediate-level proficiency group (low-level students) and a high intermediate-level proficiency group (high-level students).…

In this study we identify some of the phonetic parameters that correlate with nonnative speakers' (NNSs) perceptual judgments of accent in English and investigate NNS listener perceptions of English from a World Englishes point of view. Our main experiment involved 3,200 assessments of the perceived degree of accent in English of two speaker…

This article traces the major trends in TESOL methods in the past 15 years. It focuses on the TESOL profession's evolving perspectives on language teaching methods in terms of three perceptible shifts: (a) from communicative language teaching to task-based language teaching, (b) from method-based pedagogy to postmethod pedagogy, and (c) from…

Although the overall mission of second language (L2) teacher education has remained relatively constant, that is, to prepare L2 teachers to do the work of this profession, the field's understanding of that work--of who teaches English, who learns English and why, of the sociopolitical and socioeconomic contexts in which English is taught, and of…

There is an increasing amount of research and discussion about the characteristics and learning needs of "Generation 1.5." These learners share characteristics of both first- and second-generation immigrants; they have grown up and been educated in the United States, but live in homes where English is not the primary language. They often…

Using multiliteracies and sociocultural perspectives on language and literacy learning, this article describes three Japanese as a foreign language (JFL) students' literacy development through involvement with Japanese popular culture. As part of a larger qualitative ethnographic study, the author interviewed JFL learners who have a particular…

The past three decades have seen a growing body of research into language learner metacognitive knowledge, strategy use, and the relationship between them. However, the correlation between knowledge about strategies and strategy use in ESL listening and speaking has not been explored. This study investigates 278 Singaporean students' knowledge and…

This article examines findings from a national survey of a sample of special educators who serve students with moderate to severe disabilities who are English language learners (ELLs). The survey requested information related to respondent assessment and instructional practices, second language resource availability, satisfaction, and language…

Connections between high school and college-level German programs can be strengthened through a combination of curricular articulation and strategic outreach initiatives. This essay reviews approaches to articulation, examines promising outreach models, and offers guidelines for developing program-specific plans. An analysis of German program…

This study provides background information about English Language Learners (ELLs) and gives an overview of issues related to academic literacy. The article then considers how the institutional structures of the community college (e.g., testing, staffing, and the departmental location of English and writing courses) affect ELLs. This article argues…

The present study investigated the effects of reducing the number of options per item on psychometric characteristics of a Japanese EFL university entrance examination. A four-option multiple-choice reading test used for entrance screening at a university in Japan was later converted to a three-option version by eliminating the least frequently…

This article presents a selective review of the work carried out recently in second language acquisition (SLA) research which makes use of oral learner corpora and computer technologies. In the first part, the reasons why the field of SLA needs corpora for addressing current theoretical issues are briefly reviewed. In the second part, recent…