Background: Research shows that people benefit from having an internally defined belief system and identity to guide their decision-making rather than depending exclusively on external authorities to make choices. Less is known about what types of developmental experiences facilitate progression toward self-authorship, which is a way of being…

Ideologies regarding what is "good" teaching undergird common teaching practices and pedagogical decisions, which may support and/or run counter to the broader policy environment in which they occur (Gibson, 1998). Drawing from a six-month ethnography of 10th-grade newcomer students from Mexico and their teachers in a Central Texas…

This study examines the attitudes of German-speaking pupils towards Sorbian-language education and the problems these pupils indicate as an obstacle to becoming bilingual through educational settings. Based on the research carried out in the Upper Sorbian Grammar School in Bautzen/Budyšin (Germany) combining a statistical survey, in-depth…

The 2019 Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (CSCTFL), held in conjunction with the Ohio Foreign Language Association (OFLA), was held at the Hilton Downtown Columbus from March 14-16, 2019. In accordance with the goals set forth by the founders of CSCTFL, the 2019 conference endeavored "to support language teachers…

In 2006, Arizona ELL Task Force implemented Structured English Immersion (SEI) within its public schools to educate emergent bilingual (EB) students. Although prior research has demonstrated limitations of SEI, we investigate whether institutionalization has improved its implementation and outcomes using coordinators' and teachers' responses from…

This research study examines the assumptions of creating bilingual scenarios to promote English language learning for 384 students of ninth, tenth and eleventh grade of a public school in Monteria Colombia. An action research methodology was carried out in this study. The findings of this research suggested that the creation of bilingual scenarios…

Background: Photovoice is one method that enables an educator to view an experience from a student's perspective. This study examined how teachers might use photovoice during an informal learning experience to understand the students' experiences and experiential gain. Design and methods: Participants in this study consisted of six students, three…

This study investigates the use of writing portfolios in improving the accuracy of French immersion students' written French. It emerged from regularly observed notable and repeated errors in many of the author's students' writing (entitled fossilized errors due their resistance to correction). This study reaffirms that students of French…

This article serves as the introduction to this special issue of "Language Teaching Research" on content-based language teaching (CBLT). The article first provides an illustrative overview of the myriad contexts in which CBLT has been implemented and then homes in on the five studies comprising the special issue, each conducted in a…

Six years ago Project Starship MIR, the Russian language "shuttle," launched at Turnagain Elementary, one of the Anchorage School District's 65 elementary schools. The MIR "peace" mission originated with encouragement from the local business community to prepare students for Alaska's future economic, social and political ties…

This report presents information on the Connecting Worlds/Mundos Unidos Project and provides a general comparison overview of accomplishments during its five years of operation. The Connecting Worlds/Mundos Unidos Project has been operating in the El Paso Independent School District (EPISD) for eleven years, but in the present format as a Jacob K.…

The role of explicit and implicit acquisition of grammatical rules in second language learning was examined by assessing high school students performance after several years of study on the correct use of the Spanish verbs "ser" and "estar". These two verbs are essentially equivalent in use to the English verb "to be," but there is a complex set…

This practitioner issue brief outlines successful strategies and recommendations for state-level policymakers, administrators, schools, and districts that are based on a 5-year evaluation study on the learning environment for ELLs in the state of California. This brief offers four critical building blocks that should be in place to effectively…