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Using the systematic search and coding procedures of a meta-synthesis, this paper reviews the extant literature on English language learners (ELLs) in the social studies classroom. The 15 studies making up the corpus adhere to both topical and methodological criteria. The Language-Content-Task (LCT) Framework informed the coding and analysis of the results. Discussion of the findings provides three primary implications: (1) the need for linguistically and culturally responsive instruction for ELLs in social studies classes, (2) the need for increased training for inservice and preservice social studies teachers in preparation for teaching ELLs, and (3) the need for future research among ELLs in the social studies context.

In this chapter we discuss the essential components of special education for ELLs with learning disabilities. We focus on the importance of culturally responsive teachers implementing culturally and linguistically relevant instruction in all settings. Within this framework we emphasize the need for ELLs with LD to have a supportive classroom environment and essential English language instruction. The general education classroom can be a supportive environment for ELLs with LD by utilizing sheltered instruction techniques, specific accommodations and modifications, and reading comprehension instruction. We also consider how to support ELLs within the framework for common core curriculum standards, and finally we highlight some intensive interventions for ELLs with LD.

When bilingual teachers are first hired, many say they are pressured to teach material only in English (Menken, 2008). Removing instruction in a child’s native language is not likely to improve scores on English standardized tests (Rolstad, Mahoney, & Glass, 2005), and long term, English-Only instruction reduces academic success and reduces graduation rates (Iddings, Combs, & Moll, 2012). This chapter looks at bilingual classrooms in a Texas school district, through classroom observations, interviews, and a large-scale survey seeking to answer the question, what do officially bilingual classrooms look like when they operate monolingually? Results showed that administrators exerted pressure, and teachers used methods they expected not to work. Some bilingual classrooms had teachers who either could not speak Spanish, or chose not to. Because classrooms operated without the legally required amount of first-language instruction, the district’s “bilingual” programs undermined accountability data while harming emergent bilinguals. Teacher educators have not prepared bilingual teachers for the reality of anti-bilingual schools. New teachers need to know how to not only implement research-based instruction but also defend their instructional choices. Wherever lawmakers, agencies, and administrators have allowed transitional bilingual programs to become de facto monolingual, there may be a role for colleges of education to play, monitoring, assisting, and, if necessary, publicizing lack of compliance. Study findings are limited to one specific district; even in districts with similar phenomena, the manner in which a bilingual program ceases to be bilingual will vary substantially.

The purpose of this study is to contribute to the ongoing debate about the instructional languages in Moroccan education through exploring graduate students’ attitudes towards the potential use of English-medium instruction (EMI) in Moroccan science universities.

In this study, 17 master and doctoral students have been interviewed to explore attitudes towards EMI implementation in Moroccan higher education. The data were collected and analysed based on constant comparative method, which belongs to the grounded theory methodology. The method is based on organizing the raw data into categories according to shared attributes while constantly comparing the parts of the data as they occur. The objective is to formulate new hypotheses and theories about the phenomenon of interest.

The findings of this study reveal that although graduate students hold positive attitudes towards the future implementation of EMI in higher education, they think students are not prepared for such a switch in the language of instruction given that they have been taught through either Arabic or French in lower levels. Hence, they suggest gradual implementation of EMI in lower levels and introduction of English as a foreign language instead of French at primary level.

Most of the previous studies on bilingual education and EMI have investigated non-Anglo-Saxon contexts, where English is the major foreign or second language. The researchers could not have located any study which investigates the possibility to implement EMI in post-colonial contexts, where other foreign languages, bearing colonial conations, are more dominant than English. This study presents the case of Morocco, where French, rather than English, is the dominant foreign language not only in education but also in different other domains of life.

Web-based language learning (WBLL) materials have long been favored by English language instructors because they are plentiful, easily accessible, user-friendly and, most importantly, free. This research looks into the effects of learning the simple perfect tense translation in three different English translation classes that used three different teaching methods: traditional face-to-face, integrative and web-based learning. It also aims to investigate the impact of gender on every mode of instruction and to identify the most effective method for learning translation.

The study is quantitative, with a pretest/posttest quasi-experimental research design. A total of 93 third-year undergraduate students (51 female and 42 male students) participated in the pretest/posttest design. Each group was exposed to one mode of instruction for nine weeks. All groups sat for a pretest in the first week of the treatment. After the treatment, the participants were provided with a posttest, and the data obtained were analyzed using the SPSS computer software program.

The findings revealed a significant difference in both tests for all modes used. All three groups improved in their gain score, but the highest gain among these groups was the integrative method, followed by web-based learning. The result of the independent sample t-tests and ANOVA exhibited that there was no significant difference in the level of students between the two groups, both were sig. two-tailed (p = 0.342). Furthermore, it was discovered that gender did not affect students' performance in the posttest (Z = −1.564, p > 0.05) when each mode of instruction was applied. Finally, the integrative method was observed to be the most effective.

The findings can inspire translation course designers to plan necessary policies or syllabi regarding English translation courses and may serve as a platform for improving the curriculum for training and motivating the next generation of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners.

The findings of this study could be used to improve English instruction in countries where English is a second or foreign language. The actual gap in knowledge is that no other studies have compared all three groups in the past few years.

The teaching of reading in English is fraught with challenges that influence teachers' practices in Papua New Guinea (PNG). There are a plethora of linguistic issues regarding teaching in both the vernacular languages and English. Postcolonial education in PNG has continued to promote English as the medium of instruction while also promoting the use of vernacular and mother tongue. The outcomes-based education reform in the Language and Literacy Policy (1993–2014) supported the use of vernacular languages in the elementary years with the gradual bridging to English in Grade 3. In 2015, the Language and Literacy policy changed to standards-based education. One major shift was from the use of vernacular languages to English as a medium of instruction at all levels of formal education.

In this chapter, we use Tierney's concept of decolonizing spaces to investigate teachers' perspectives on implementing the English standards-based curriculum and the role the vernacular, mother tongue, and translanguaging plays in the classroom as Year 4 teachers grapple with the teaching of reading. It will problematize the colonization of English, the place of translanguaging, and the benefits and challenges for teachers when the classroom teacher most likely is not a native speaker of the children's dialect or English.

There is a notable dearth of interventions that have been specifically designed for Asian English Language Learner (ELL) students, and the existing research on ELL students often lacks population validity and sample diversity. In response to this need, this paper aims to review current research on literacy interventions for East/Southeast Asian ELLs and provide practical recommendations for educators teaching literacy skills to this population.

To identify studies for inclusion in this review, a systematic literature search was conducted of peer-reviewed studies and dissertations were published between 2001 and 2016. Articles were included in the authors’ review, if those described a literacy intervention where the sample was entirely East and/or Southeast Asian ELLs, or, if the sample included other groups, the study provided an analysis of the intervention’s effectiveness specifically for the East or Southeast Asian ELLs in the study. Both quantitative and qualitative studies were included.

The authors’ search yielded seven studies. The authors found three main contributors to effective literacy instruction for this population: culturally relevant instruction, family involvement and encouraging first language (L1) development to facilitate language and literacy in English. Results indicated that interventions that consider a student’s cultural style (i.e. preference toward a teacher-centered classroom) or included cultural familiar themes/texts were found to be more effective. In addition, strategies that encouraged the development of L1, such as the use of dual-language books, explicitly teaching contrastive analysis and providing the same book to be read at home and a school were all correlated with greater literacy gains. Finally, facilitating home-school communication seemed to contribute to the efficacy of several of the interventions.

This paper reveals the need to expand the current knowledge base on effective literacy instruction and intervention for East/Southeast Asian ELL students, especially research on population validity, given the specific needs of this growing population. This review is limited by the small number of relevant studies and the fact that not all East/Southeast Asian languages or ethnic groups were represented. There is still a great need for future research to determine what methods or combination of factors are effective with East/Southeast Asian ELLs of various ages and needs.

The findings from this paper have generated practical recommendations for educators teaching literacy skills to East/Southeast Asian ELL students, such as: tailor literacy instruction to be culturally relevant, design interventions around student’s preferred learning style, encourage parent/family involvement, provide bilingual instruction and bilingual reading materials and provide parents with books and information about the literacy curriculum.

This paper also reveals the need to expand the current knowledge base on effective literacy instruction and intervention for East/Southeast Asian ELL students, especially research on population validity, given the specific needs of this growing population.

Based on an extensive literature search, this is the first paper to review and summarize the research on literacy interventions for East/Southeast Asian ELLs over the past 15 years. This paper provides valuable recommendations to educators and calls for more research on English literacy acquisition specific to this population.

Purpose – To provide educators with an overview of issues and strategies important for preparing preservice teachers to plan instruction, engage students, and assess learning in culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms.

Design/methodology/approach – The chapter reviews sociocultural, sociolinguistic, and cognitive literature that informs differentiated instruction for linguistic diversity. It then offers a case study example of a preservice student teaching seminar where this knowledge was put into practice.

Findings – Content provides detailed information about the design of a preservice seminar that included the role of a nationally piloted performance assessment. It demonstrates how preparing the assessment portfolio provided a vehicle for a structured and useful focus on diversity within the seminar.

Research limitations/implications – The chapter highlights literature that is specifically useful for preservice teachers and their instructors who are seeking to address the specific needs of English Language Learners and the culturally diverse population of students found in U.S. classrooms. This is important to those who seek to expand this attention to diversity within general teacher education practices.

Practical implications – This chapter serves as a resource for all clinical instructors, providing ideas for incorporation into their clinics and classrooms.

Originality/value of paper – Culturally responsive teaching and a specific focus on teaching English Language Arts for linguistically diverse students are infused in clinical teacher education practices rather than as “add-on” practices.

To explore the potential of conversations with an authentic audience through blogging for enriching in young writers the understanding of the communicative function of writing, specifically language and vocabulary use.

We situate our work in the language acquisition model of language learning, in which learners develop linguistic competence in the process of speaking and using language (Krashen, 1988; Tomasello, 2005). We also believe that language learning benefits from formal instruction (Krashen, 1988). As such, in our work, we likened engaging in blogging to learning a language (here, more broadly conceived as learning to write) through both natural communication (acquisition) and prescription (instruction), and we looked at these forms of learning in our study.

We were interested in the communicative function of language learning (Halliday, 1973; 1975; Penrod, 2005) among young blog writers, because we see language learning as socially constructed through interaction with other speakers of a language (Tomasello, 2005; Vygotsky, 1978).

The readers and commenters in this study supported young writers in their language study by modeling good writing and effective language use in their communication with these writers. Young writers also benefited from direct instruction through interactions with adults beyond classroom teachers, in our case some of the readers and commenters.

Blogging can extend conversations to audiences far beyond the classroom and make writing a more authentic endeavor for young writers. Teachers should take advantage of such a powerful tool in their writing classrooms to support their students’ language study and vocabulary development.

This chapter highlights the social and cultural gaps evidenced when students from a foreign country receive education in a Puerto Rican university. It explores the influence and the implications of the Spanish vernacular being used as a language of instruction. The chapter starts with a historical background on English language instruction for Puerto Ricans throughout the last century. This topic is discussed in order to shed light on the consequences of such a polemic subject and to evaluate the implications and the influence it has had in the way Puerto Ricans communicate. The Puerto Rican Spanish vernacular is inherent in the language of instruction used throughout grade school and in Higher Education. As part of the investigation of the effects of the language of instruction, three students were interviewed to form part of this discourse. The motivations they had to study on the island were explored, as well as experiences that highlighted the language and cultural barriers that may or may not have been present in while studying in a Puerto Rican university. Their feelings toward their general experiences with their peers and professors were also explored.