This paper discusses the role of foreign languages, especially English, in Cypriot society. The discussion touches on a broad range of topics including the history of Cyprus, the current situation of the language and attitudes towards English. All are examined in the context of modern Cypriot culture. In the second part of this work, attitudes,…

This report is a synthesis of research, challenges, and best practices in the education of secondary English Learners (ELs). It incorporates a summary of three days of presentations and discussions by key national experts in the spring of 2005, observations and findings from our own research, and key issues from the research literature. The report…

This study explores whether there are differences in the choice of language learning strategy and in the frequency of its use in the concurrent acquisition of two foreign languages, one being learned in a tutored and the other in a non-tutored manner. Specifically, it investigates the tutored learning of English in a formal setting and the…

With the continuous support of grants from the Department of Education, the Modern Language Association (MLA) has since 1958 gathered and analyzed information on enrollments in languages other than English as reported to them by United States institutions of higher education. This latest and twenty-first survey examines trends in enrollments for…

Two-year-old bilingual children can show sensitivity to the language choice of their interlocutor, but do not necessarily achieve perfect separation by discourse context, e.g. speaking only French with a French interlocutor; dominance in one language is often cited as a reason for this. In this study we asked whether older bilingual preschoolers…

Early and intermediate second language (L2) learners often encounter difficulties when engaging in introductory social conversations, typically having had little opportunity to practise such interactions. This article describes a project to design and prototype a computer dialogue system, Let's Chat, which would allow learners to rehearse social…

Founded in 1920, the Hadley School for the Blind is known worldwide for its tuition-free distance-education courses for people who are visually impaired. Hadley's main school in the United States serves more than 9,000 students, and the overseas school in the People's Republic of China provides vital educational services to more than 1,000 Chinese…

In this essay, the authors argue that linking second language learners with communities that need their language skills can result in an empowering experience for students and for the communities with which they work. They describe a college-level service-learning project that was designed to help IMPACT Chicago, a women's self-defense…

For second-language learners, "academic" language and "social" language are inextricably interwoven. Using examples from several primary classrooms, the author critiques current conceptualizations of second-language learning that distinguish between basic interpersonal communication skills and cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP). She…

In this article, the authors discuss how Bennington College Early Childhood Center (ECC) developed a dual language program. In a dual language program, children are immersed in two languages throughout the day. Each classroom has two teachers, one speaking English, the other the second language exclusively. Children learn the second language in…

This study took a pragmatic approach to examining the effects of task difficulty on L2 oral output. Twenty native English speakers and 59 Japanese students of English at two different proficiency levels produced speech acts of requests and refusals in a role play task. The task had two situation types based on three social variables:…

This paper examines a specific group of English users in Germany: students studying English at the Freie Universitat Berlin. The first section outlines the various domains in which these students encounter English in their daily lives, both within and outside university, as they make and maintain intercultural connections. This analysis suggests…

This article traces the evolution of critical pedagogy and its central tenets, and how these have moved through language teaching into the realm of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and are manifest in current debates in the field. Tracing these debates opens the discussion to the applicability of critical pedagogy to EAP and consideration of…

This study analyzes the use of role-play as an elicitation device for the evaluation of a nonnative speaker's oral language. In this analysis of role-play as a methodology to generate data for assessment purposes, the study examines the role that interlocutors play in two types of interactions. It raises questions about the validity and…

In this article the author introduces the roles he created for two phases of a simulation on language planning in Malaysia. The first phase is a radio call-in show. This is followed by a debate before a panel of arbiters concerning a recent dispute related to English language teaching in Malaysian schools. The final phase involves debriefing (for…