This article focuses on the use of the repertory grid technique as a research instrument for conducting and analyzing interviews in the field of teaching English as a foreign language. As a demonstration of the explanatory usefulness of this methodological framework, a pilot study was carried out to elicit second language teachers' tacit beliefs…

The paper examines the connection between discursive and non-discursive features and the construction of writer identity. In particular, the paper compares and contrasts the writer identity development of two groups of undergraduate students of applied linguistics in the Mexican context, one made up of locally educated ones and the other composed…

This chapter explores how systemic functional linguistics (SFL) can contribute to secondary teachers' effectiveness for teaching disciplinary literacies to refugee youth in the United States. The chapter describes the Milltown Multimodal/Multiliteracies (MMM) Collaborative, an SFL-based professional development partnership between a large public…

Social class has been underresearched in the field of applied linguistics. The central goal of this forum was to stimulate more conversation about social class as it impacts language learning and teaching. In this article, I comment on 3 salient themes that have emerged in the 5 articles: (1) agency and structure in language learning and teaching,…

The central theme of this book is the ambiguities and tensions teachers face as they attempt to position themselves in ways that legitimize them as language teachers, and as English speakers. Focusing on three EFL teachers and their schools in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, it documents how ordinary practices of language educators are…

This critical ethnographic case study draws on Indigenous and minority students' process of learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Mexico. The study specifically focuses on students who enrolled in a program called "A Wager with the Future." The aim of the study is to identify and understand contributing factors in these…

Using situated learning (Lave & Wenger, 1991) and communities of practice (Wenger, 1998) as our theoretical framework, we focused on two female graduate students in applied linguistics as each attempted to negotiate memberships in multiple communities during an international exchange program. Eleven students at six universities took part in an…

This is a compilation of reports on international literacy research. The report includes 3 separate reports on Argentina, Mexico, and France. In the first report, Melina Porto reports on a new implementation of a teacher-education program currently underway in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, under the leadership of teacher-researcher…

A discussion of language policy formation and planning in Mexico focuses on its multilingual/multicultural character and covers the following: turn from national integration to ethnic revival; indigenous successes following the Declaration of Patzcuaro; some problems and solutions regarding the current bilingual/bicultural education policy.…

Papers for the fourth Foundation for Endangered Languages (FEL) Conference include the following: "Endangered languages and Literacy" (Nicholas Ostler, Blair Rudes); "Keynote Address: On Native Language Literacy: a Personal Perspective" (Ofelia Zepeda); "A Community's Solution to Some Literacy Problems: The Mayangna of…

This study analyzes the use and distribution patterns of the Discourse Marker (DM) "You Know" in interviews with members of a Hispanic folklore dance troupe. The study attempts to demonstrate how the use of this DM expresses identity among Hispanic females and if its use is affected by the ethnic labels each speaker uses. By assessing…

This paper describes and examines an experimental and innovative program at the Center for the Teaching of Foreign Languages at the National Autonomous University of Mexico to provide teacher education courses by means of distance learning. This program was undertaken in response to a scarcity of qualified language teachers. It is aimed at…

Papers from the symposium on applied linguistics include: "Roles in the Foreign Language Classroom" (Robert J. DiPietro); "The Importance of Native Language in Light of Second-Language Studies" (Alexander Z. Guiora); "A Model of L2 Text Reconstruction: The Recall of Literary Text by Learners of German" (Elizabeth B.…