Many children learning English as an additional language (EAL) possess lower levels of English vocabulary knowledge relative to their non-EAL English-speaking peers. Longitudinal work suggests that this group discrepancy does not decrease markedly over time as a result of regular classroom teaching. Twelve EAL learners with English vocabulary…

This article reports on an experimental study that set out to investigate and compare the effectiveness of a direct and an indirect approach to data-driven learning (DDL) in facilitating Chinese learners' mastery of a challenging type of lexico-grammatical resource (i.e. hedges) in an undergraduate English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) writing…

This paper reports on an intervention in a London school with boys with special educational needs and a lack of motivation to write descriptively. They displayed inconsistency in their written outcomes and a repetitive, limited range of vocabulary. While these issues were intertwined, the strategies described in this paper sought firstly to tackle…

Sixty-eight undergraduate translation students received direct instruction in the features of news headlines and news stories. A week later, they took a test that required them to identify the syntactic and lexical features of a sample of news headlines and news stories, supply deleted word, and substitute punctuation marks, infinitives, and block…

Inquiry-based lessons have been demonstrated to improve children's scientific thinking (i.e. reasoning abilities and domain-specific knowledge). Although empirical evidence shows that inquiry-based learning requires instruction, research comes from two approaches that have not been bridged yet: direct instruction of scientific reasoning and…

This action research project sought to investigate the role of explicit citation vocabulary instruction in the learning of citation style guidelines for an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) writing course at an English-medium university in Northern Thailand. The participants consisted of 120 undergraduate students enrolled in the EAP writing…

Achieving communicative competency in English classes has been a key goal in contexts where English is taught as a foreign language (EFL). During this process, however, integrating the difficulty and complexity of real life tasks into classroom teaching has often been disregarded. Lack of opportunities for authentic language use often results in…

The Word and World Reading programme aimed to improve the reading comprehension and wider literacy skills of children aged 7-9 from low income families. The programme focused on improving the vocabulary and background knowledge (sometimes labelled "core knowledge") of pupils, through the use of specially designed "knowledge…

This article describes a department-coordinated Facebook group for psychology students and graduates. An evaluation of the postings in the past year by the group, with 900 members, showed that the group averaged 2.5 postings per day. The most common types of postings involved (1) information about recent research findings, (2) information about…

This study will examine strategies that ESL teachers and content teachers can use to help middle school ESL students acquire science vocabulary and meta-cognitive strategies for writing skills in non-fiction text forms. Two appendixes are included. (Contains 3 figures and 2 footnotes.)

Low literacy is a challenge facing Indigenous communities across North America and is an identified barrier to school success. Early literacy intervention is an important target to reduce the discrepancies in literacy outcomes. The Moe the Mouse® Speech and Language Development Program (Gardner & Chesterman, 2006) is a cultural curriculum…