One of the most complex student populations are those whose first language is not English. As such, multilingual learners (MLLs) are often disproportionately referred to special education. Educators cultivating equitable practices for MLLs is imperative, given many educators do not have adequate training or knowledge. Drawing on social learning…

Reflection is a significant skill in action research, but many practitioners still display unsatisfactory reflective thinking levels, especially among teachers. Pre-service teachers, in particular, have voiced issues concerning their reflections in action research. Although reflections are personal and have infinite forms, research has…

There have been multiple calls to support more systematic approaches to addressing the needs of multilingual students in social studies. In this action research study, the authors point to the Maryland Humanities Inquiry Kits, which provide an example of how to leverage digital history resources in the multilingual classroom for a culturally and…

This paper documents a year in the life of an ESOL adult literacy teacher. It is a work of narrative inquiry, an examination of reflective teaching in action. As such, it includes commentary on the cycle of observation, reflection, research, and action. In particular, this narrative examines the relationship between literacy practice and…

Reading engagement is like a puzzle consisting of many pieces to emplace for successful engagement to occur. The author, a French Immersion teacher/researcher, found that many of her grade one reluctant readers--those students who could read but chose not to--approached reading with some pieces of the puzzle. They had strategies and knowledge but…

Adopting an "exploratory action research" design and drawing primarily on a reflective journal and interviews, this study recounts the process of supporting first-year Applied Languages students (learning French, German and Spanish) as they started to engage in language research. Certain challenges they faced in engaging with the…

This article reports on the design and implementation of an alternative form of writing assessment in a UK English for Academic Purposes (EAP) pre-sessional course. The assessment, termed processfolio, was a response to research inquiry into how writing assessment in a local context negated student agency and inculcated disempowering models of…

In this paper I report the action research I carried out on improving the teaching and learning of academic writing at a university. The action research sprang out of my experiences of learning and teaching academic writing. It sought locality and originality in what students read and write during academic writing courses. The macro and micro…

This book explores the wide range of contexts in which research into creating connections in learning and teaching may take place. Creating connections can encompass making links, crossing divides, forming relationships, building frameworks, and generating new knowledge. The cognitive, cultural, social, emotional and/or physical aspects of…

No one graduating from school can any longer have the illusion to have completed her or his learning career, nor to live in a monocultural society. Quite on the contrary, learning will be the major business of the professional future of anyone who now leaves school. Moreover, the multicultural nature of current societies constitutes an additional…

Over the last 30 years, inquiry-based teaching has become a highly valued component of professional development and practitioner research in Australia and New Zealand. This volume of the Language Teacher Research Series focuses on teaching and learning experiences in those two countries, which encompass a large geographical area with diverse…