The principal objective of this study was to investigate the long-term (35-36 years) effects of a K-3 bilingual-multicultural programme by studying the former Mexican-American participants and controls as adults in their 30s and 40s. The controls were enrolled in an English immersion programme and were matched to the experimental programme…

Building on Sheen's (2007) study of the effects of written corrective feedback (CF) on the acquisition of English articles, this article investigated whether direct focused CF, direct unfocused CF and writing practice alone produced differential effects on the accurate use of grammatical forms by adult ESL learners. Using six intact adult ESL…

This paper explores the impact of a specially designed programme of communicative strategies on English second language (ESL) development in a scaffolded case study that set out to promote teacher-guided, constructive learner talk in the outcomes-based education arts and culture classroom. The programme was implemented in a multilingual secondary…

The focus of this paper is on the effects of the use of the home language (i.e. isiZulu) on teachers' and learners' understanding and use of core concepts in mathematics and science at the senior phase, in contexts where the language of instruction is English. It reports on a national, collaborative, multilingual research project which attempts to…

This monograph examines the language planning situation in Sri Lanka with particular emphasis on the planning of Sinhala as an official language of the country. It explores the historical, social, ideological and political processes, changes in language policy decisions, as well as the complexities of the language policy and planning situation in…

English education has entered a new era. Bonk (2008) boldly proclaims that "the World is Open" for learning. It is somewhat obvious that opportunities for learning have expanded with the emergence of Web 2.0 technologies. Now we can interact, participate, and collaborate on the Web in "a planetary community" attached to a…

The U.S. Census Bureau reported that 44.3 million people living in the United States in 2006 were of Hispanic descent. This population is far from homogeneous and includes seven major subgroups based on their origin, each with its own characteristics, which are briefly discussed. Of the 5.1 million children identified as English language learners,…

This study examined the effectiveness of an intentional versus an implicit approach to English oral language development in young children. A vocabulary intervention in science was developed using previous research on effective vocabulary and science instruction. Participants were 39 English-learning, bilingual, and monolingual English-speaking…

This article describes techniques that can be used to enhance mathematics instruction for English language learners. Using the strategies suggested in this article, such as scaffolding instruction and accommodating their linguistic needs, mathematics teachers can help ELLs both succeed and increase their mathematics achievement. (Contains 3…

Tapping into technology for foreign language learning is important, given that such learning is seen as vital to the nation's economic and cultural well-being. The development of technology has dovetailed nicely with a new paradigm of foreign language education, says Marty Abbott, director of education for the American Council on the Teaching of…

This mixed-methodological study examined changes in perceptions of teachers (n = 70) engaged in a two-year professional development program designed to meet the unique needs of English Language Learners (ELL), and changes in ELL students' (n = 235) math and reading achievement scores. The study was conducted in two urban middle schools in Kansas…

We describe a computer assisted language learning (CALL) system that uses human-machine dialogue as its medium of interaction. The system was developed to help students learn the basics of the Maori language and was designed to accompany the introductory course in Maori running at the University of Otago. The student engages in a task-based…

Although most universities in the Muslim world publicly recognize and support the teaching of Western literature, the exploration of some Western literary themes (for example, self-determination, sexual liberation, and gender equality) is viewed negatively by authority figures as well as by some professors and students. To reconcile this concern…

This response to Azar (this volume) intends to discuss from an academic's perspective the main points raised in her paper (i.e., grammar-based instruction and its relation to focus on form and error correction) and, to encourage a more concept-based approach to grammar instruction (CBT). A CBT approach to language development argues that the…

The term "pragmatics" is commonly used in two quite different senses. In linguistic discourse, "pragmatics" refers to the strategies (exploitation of shared knowledge, assumptions about communicative intent, etc.), by which language users relate the dictionary/grammar meaning of utterances to their communicative value in…