This paper describes the integration of cooperative learning (CL) activities into a graduate teacher education course, Collaborative Teaching in English as a Second Language (ESL). Because teachers and researchers have both identified discipline status and relationship issues as challenges to collaboration, this course focused on relational…

In the anchoring deficit hypothesis of dyslexia ("Trends Cogn. Sci.", 2007; 11: 458-465), it is proposed that perceptual problems arise from the lack of forming a perceptual anchor for repeatedly presented stimuli. A study designed to explicitly test the specificity of the anchoring deficit for dyslexia is presented. Four groups, representing all…

Early efforts to apply knowledge of dialect differences to reading stressed the importance of the distinction between differences in pronunciation and mistakes in reading. This study develops a method of estimating the probability that a given oral reading that deviates from the text is a true reading error by observing the semantic impact of the…

While literature-based instruction has been highly praised for its pedagogical benefits, it confronts entrenched learning hindrances, both linguistic and cultural in EFL settings. Whether the literature instruction in practice is motivating or demotivating is an issue worthy of concern. In response to the issue, this paper examines a literature…

Under headings such as finances, child care, cultural challenges, location, racism, teachers, and accents, 30 immigrant women speaking either Mandarin, Cantonese, Punjabi, or Urdu told their stories of arriving in Canada without English, and the obstacles they faced in trying to acquire English. While differing in their goals for learning English,…

This study adopted a mixed-methods cross-sectional approach to identify similarities and differences in the English as a second language (ESL) essay holistic scores and evaluation criteria of raters with different levels of experience. Each of 31 experienced and 29 novice raters rated a sample of ESL essays holistically and analytically and…

Traditionally, practitioners interested in language test reform have focused on the qualities within an examination which result in either positive or negative impacts on participants, institutions, and society. Recent views suggest a multifaceted interaction among factors affecting language test reform. We introduce a model for test reform that…

Across the United States, mainstream and English as a second language (ESL) teachers have been sharing their expertise using coteaching and collaboration strategies gleaned from their counterparts in special education inclusion classrooms. These teacher leaders are working together to enhance instruction for their English language learner (ELL)…

After years of studying academic English, many students are ready to move beyond language designed for the classroom, or what Yoshida (2001) calls "fishbowl" English, to the language of the "open sea." As students develop beyond the beginner level, they are ready to read and discuss appropriate authentic texts. Even students who are unsure of…

This qualitative study examines the influence of teacher conceptualisations of communicative language teaching on their actual classroom practice and student cognitive and affective change. The qualitative paradigm underpinned this research at the levels of ontology (multiple teacher realities), epistemology (interaction with, rather than…

Among the transitions during a pupil's school career, the transfer from primary to secondary school arguably has the most impact. Far from being linear, this transition is a kind of "pupil pilgrim's progress"; a journey with orientations, stops and reorientations, checking and refining skills that the pupils bring with them from primary…

Grouping words into meaningful chunks is a fundamental process for fluent reading. The present study is an attempt to understand the relationship between chunking and second language (L2) reading fluency. The effects of text segmentation on comprehension, rate, and regression in L2 reading were investigated using a self-paced reading task in a…

Although effective writing skills are vital to the success of university-level students, second language (L2) writers face unique challenges in developing these skills. This is particularly relevant to their ability to produce writing that is linguistically accurate. While many writing teachers feel a great commitment to these students, much of…

This article reports on the evaluation of the use of Smart Boards in learning and teaching second-language writing skills. Results showed that the use of Smart Boards in learning and teaching improved students' second-language skills.

Two experiments examined the hypothesis that L1 phonological awareness plays a role in children's ability to extract morphological patterns of English as L2 from the auditory input. In Experiment 1, 84 Chinese-speaking third graders were tested on whether they extracted the alternation pattern between the base and the derived form (e.g.,…