There has been a growing concern about how best to address the needs of dual language learners with language impairments. Most dual language programmes have been evaluated with children with typical language development (TLD) and as a result, very little is known about the effect of these programmes on children with language disabilities. The…

Because the English learners' (ELs) population is growing in the United States, teacher candidates should be provided with experiences that prepare them to effectively teach and empower linguistically/culturally diverse students. Teacher candidates should be provided with opportunities to learn skills that engage ELs in mathematics. In this…

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to explore and identify issues related to training teachers to use a bilingual writing rubric designed to examine the biliterate writing of emerging bilingual students who are participating in a biliteracy model. Findings indicate the need to provide clarifications on the rubric rating criteria and the…

This study explored the application of a holistic bilingual view to assess the writing of emerging bilingual children. The study is part of a 5-year longitudinal research and intervention project that explores the biliteracy development of Spanish-English emerging bilingual students who are receiving instruction in both languages. Participants…

In 2009, the then State Minister for Education in New South Wales, Verity Firth, announced a plan to introduce bilingual education in four primary schools across the state for the National Asian Languages and Studies in School Program (NALSSP) priority languages: Chinese, Indonesian, Japanese and Korean. This paper reports on one aspect of a…

This article examines the culminating activity--"la cosecha" or the harvest--in a yearlong project in which teachers at a bilingual afterschool program and staff from a citywide environmental advocacy group taught students to plant, harvest, and sell produce grown at the school site. The authors show how students are socialized to become…

This study examined the relation between young English language learners' (ELL) native oral language skills and their language input in transitional bilingual education kindergarten classrooms. Spanish-speaking ELLs' ("n" = 101) Spanish expressive language skills were assessed using the memory for sentences and picture vocabulary…

This qualitative case study examines the nature of a dual language preschool teacher's instructional practices and extratextual talk during shared-book reading practices with two different genres of books in Spanish and English. Specifically, I explore the interpersonal, ideational, and textual features of one teacher's talk in English- and…

The present study investigated how nonnative English-speaking teachers (NNESTs) working in K-12 schools in the United States perceive their identities in relation to the school environment and its norms, their coworkers and administrators and the students and their families. Specific attention was given to the teachers' concerns prior to arrival…

The theories of practice of four novice bilingual teachers regarding their language choices during sheltered English instruction are presented. The investigation followed participants through their preservice program in an urban public university and their first year of teaching in bilingual classrooms. Findings from this study illustrate how…

This article draws on the analysis of 26 interviews with newly qualified primary teachers (NQTs) in one multilingual city in England, towards the end of their induction year. Interview analysis focused on three themes: developments in pedagogic practice, collaboration with colleagues, resolutions for change or development. Detailed thematic…

For a sample of low-income, Spanish-speaking Mexican-American families (n = 72), we investigated associations between family involvement in school-based activities and children's literacy in their preferred language (English or Spanish) during early elementary school. We gave special attention to the potential moderating role of teacher fluency in…

The relationship between creativity, play, and language learning has been of increasing interest over the past decade, but the role of humour itself in SLL remains significantly under-explored. The present study examines humorous language play initiated by a bilingual EFL teacher and taken up by his post-beginner students in a Thai university…

As a consequence of changes in federal and state policies in education, educators who believe in the value and importance of bilingualism find themselves in a contested environment where their notions of best practices for emergent bilinguals contradict those espoused in such policies. In this context, acts of advocacy that support bilingual…

This paper explores the construction of identity in an academic learning environment in Central Mexico, and shows how identity may be linked to non-language factors such as emotions or family. These issues are associated with elements of hybrid identity. To analyze this we draw on language choice as a tool used for the construction of identity and…