This document is an extension of "Resource Needs for California's English Learners" and is the result of deliberations from several informal meetings and two formal meetings of major stakeholders in the area of English Learner (EL) education. Its intent is to suggest a series of policy options, based on data examined in the initial…

Responding to readers' stories, questions, and requests for extended examples, this book was developed as a complementary volume to "Bringing Words to Life." The authors present additional tools, tips, and explanations of such questions as which words to teach, when and how to teach them, and how to adapt instruction for English language learners.…

The term serious game is often used to refer to "games used for training, advertising, simulation, or education." In this article, the authors use the term computer game in its broadest sense, believing it to encompass the broad spectrum of what is usually referred to now as all digital gaming (video games, console games, online games, etc.). They…

In this article, I review the options that teachers and students have to obtain German TV in the U.S.: through satellite and cable networks and by streaming, downloading, or recording TV programs through the internet. I also address how one can access TV programs over the air in the German-speaking countries by using a notebook PC and TV card.

Schools in the United States are faced with an increasingly diverse student population and a dramatic increase in the number of English language learners (ELLs) in all grades. As such diverse populations grow in this era of high-stakes testing and accountability, there is increased pressure to make science accessible to all. To help promote…

Self-access centers are a popular type of language support offered by an increasing number of schools and universities around the world. Assessment of the learning that takes place in such centers is seen as both crucial and problematic. Many barriers to successful assessment appear to exist, but these have not been comprehensively documented,…

This paper investigates the linguistic worth of current "chatbot" programs--software programs which attempt to hold a conversation, or interact, in English--as a precursor to their potential as an ESL (English as a second language) learning resource. After some initial background to the development of chatbots, and a discussion of the Loebner…

English language teaching tends to deal with the pleasanter side of second-language interaction such as making friends, relating experiences, and expressing likes/dislikes while ignoring such everyday communicative realities as rudeness, disrespect, and impoliteness. While neglected in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom,…

Cobb (2007) argues that free reading cannot provide L2 readers with sufficient opportunities for acquiring vocabulary in order to reach an adequate level of reading comprehension of English texts. In this paper, the authors argue that (1) Cobb severely underestimates the amount of reading even a very modest reading habit would afford L2 readers,…

The acquisition of Japanese conditionals is regarded as one of the most complicated items for foreign learners of Japanese to acquire. However, when it comes to account for this fact, there is no ready answer. By focusing on the acquisition of conditionals by Norwegian learners of Japanese, this study discusses whether modal constraints on the use…

Podcasts provide a straightforward opportunity to stay connected with language, culture, and recent events of German-speaking countries. Podcasts offer clearly articulated, authentic material that can be automatically and regularly delivered to your computer and classrooms; continuously exposing students and teachers to German. This article…

This paper explores the social and cultural dimensions of individual multilingualism by focusing on a semi-autobiographical essay written in 1917 by an author who is usually read as a monolingual German writer but who was, in fact, multilingual and multicultural: Franz Kafka. The story is about an ape who, in order to survive his capture by the…

The testing and examination history in China can be traced back to the imperial period nearly two thousand years ago. The existence of English language testing (tests), on the other hand, has a much shorter history. These English tests, developed and administered over the past 20 years, however, are taken by billions of learners of the English…

This article presents the results from a cross-sectional study that tests predictions of processability theory (PT) regarding the acquisition of German word order. Spontaneous production data were elicited from 21 tutored second language learners of German who are native speakers of English. Each learner engaged in a 45-min informal conversation…

A review of the relevant literature concerning second language dictionary use while reading suggests that selective dictionary use may lead to improved comprehension and efficient vocabulary development. This study aims to examine the dictionary use of Japanese university students to determine just how selective they are when reading nonfiction…