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This article explores the integration of hip-hop with Islamic themes in the religious education (RE) classroom, with a focus on transcending the constraints of traditional narratives and creating a dynamic and wide-ranging understanding of Islamic traditions of interpretations. Drawing inspiration from Richard Bulliet's book Islam: A View from the Edge and the creative potential of hip-hop, the article argues that educators can open new avenues for teaching and learning about Islamic traditions. By incorporating hip-hop based education (HHBE), educators can engage students through contemporary mediums and provide a relatable and engaging stage for the exploration of Islam. The article also highlights the importance of African American Islam and its intersection with hip-hop in understanding the worldview of many Muslims (and non-Muslims) worldwide. The article suggests strategies such as exploring Islam through hip-hop music videos, examining the legacy of Malcolm X in hip-hop, and considering the local context and languages of students to enrich the exploration of Islam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Iberica is the property of Asociacion Europea de Lenguas para Fines Especificos and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article presents the author's experience of dealing with US English language learners (ELLs) who did not speak Spanish English, and the students' languages were not represented in the classroom or school libraries. It discusses tools that can help teachers and librarians to collect high-quality texts for their libraries for ELLs and serve as a first step toward creating a multilingual environment that honors all students' languages.

There is strong evidence that movement and learning are deeply interlinked supporting effective cognitive functioning and thinking. The link between movement and learning constitutes a new pedagogical paradigm in the contemporary field of language learning and specifically in the area of Embodied Pedagogy and learning. Embodied theories argue that body, next to the mind, is an essential factor in the learning process providing a positive impact on children's academic growth and language development. This pedagogical concept may offer new ways of engaging students in learning by adopting teaching methods based on Embodied Cognition practice. With this in mind, a classroom movement-based learning intervention, called PanBoy, was developed for first and second graders in mainstream elementary schools. A total of 118 elementary students from six authentic classrooms, were involved in a three-month movement-based intervention in a language learning context. Findings based on statistical analysis of psychometric pre–post testing in language, in conjunction with teachers' interviews, revealed significant gains in students' academic achievements and showed improvement on students' emotional engagement in the process. This study discusses the potential of this classroom intervention, based on embodied learning, as a new teaching practice method with low-cost ideas and easy implementation in real-context language environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the language demands of creating texts in the English classroom, which involve transformations in context. In particular, it focuses on the tensions inherent in tasks which require more traditional textual analysis to be presented in ways other than traditional 'essay' format. These tasks are interpreted differently by students and can result in texts which vary in terms of their choice of 'written‐like' or 'spoken‐like' styles. This paper uses data from year nine English students presenting speeches to an imagined jury arguing for Shakespeare's Macbeth's guilt or innocence and explores the implications of shifts along the mode continuum evident in the students' language. It raises the question of the relative importance of transformations of language and context and the extent to which control of mode is valued. Language analysis of student responses focusing on genre, periodicity, use of vocatives and endophoric reference suggests the imagined context required by the task is less important than the literary context in assessing student responses and can act as a distraction. Findings have implications for alignment of teaching and assessment practices in English classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examined the impact of a service learning activity on students' perceptions of language, identity, and community in an advanced Spanish for the Health Professions course. Forty‐five advanced Spanish heritage learners (SHLs) participated in health fairs as assistants to health‐care providers as part of the curriculum requirements. The mixed‐methods analysis of students' reflection essays shows that this experience had the greatest effect on participants' confidence in the use of Spanish as a professional language, on their awareness and understanding of the local Hispanic communities' needs, and on their emerging identity as Hispanic health‐care professionals. The findings also support the value of service learning as a domestic immersion experience, targeting the specific language and professional needs of SHLs. The Challenge: Service learning has emerged as a fundamental pedagogical approach that promotes and integrates heritage learners' translinguistic and transcultural competences in diverse settings. How does service learning impact their connection to Hispanic communities, their identity as bilingual speakers, and their own representation as future health‐care professionals? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study represents program‐level action research. A U.S. university Spanish language program had a goal for students to reach the ACTFL (2012) Intermediate Mid level after 2 years. An empirical question that resulted after regular end‐of‐year testing was whether the students were doing their best on assessments. To investigate this, 253 end‐of‐second‐year students were divided into two experimental conditions: (a) 95 students received up to 10% of their final grade based on meeting the speaking goal, and (b) 73 students received up to 5% of their grade on the same criterion. Eighty‐five students formed a control group with no grading incentive. All took ACTFL tests in speaking (the Oral Proficiency Interview‐computerized [OPIc]), listening (Listening Proficiency Test), and reading (Reading Proficiency Test). The group whose OPIc score counted for 10% performed significantly higher than other two groups. Females were more positively affected by the incentivization. Programs with language goals should consider incentivized proficiency‐based exit tests to motivate their students (Chalhoub‐Deville, 1997). The Challenge: Routine proficiency testing offers an important way to monitor a program's learning targets and measure students' language development. However, it is not clear how seriously students take end‐of‐course assessments. To what extent does adjusting the incentives influence students' scores? How can students be encouraged to do their best? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European Schools provide a multilingual international education for children of EU employees. However, despite the multilingual context of these schools, little research has been done regarding students' multilingualism. Employing domain theory and a dynamic perspective on multilingualism, this sociolinguistic study investigates language use and language choice of secondary school students attending a European School in Belgium. The study comprises 56 participants and three different sources of data, i.e. questionnaire, self-recordings, and interviews, during a period of 3½ years. Nexus analysis is used as an analytical tool. The results suggest that the situations of language choice which the participants constantly face appear to be influenced by a taken-for-granted, rational multilingual context, manifested in the principles of inclusion and "the least common denominator". These principles imply that students choose language based on a combination of their own, and their interlocutors' preferences. The principles are discussed in the light of the multilingual environment of the European Schools. In addition, the results show a discrepancy between the reported results from the questionnaire and the face-to-face interaction in the self-recordings. The home domain is more multilingual than reported, and interaction with peers more monolingual. These results help to elucidate the heterogeneity of the students' multilingualism, while discussing and problematizing domain theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To date, research into vocabulary learning strategies has mainly made use of questionnaires about studying preferences in general or of interviews following a specific study task, focusing on finding out which strategies were most popular. The present investigation attempts to provide more insight into the effects of the parameters of timing and approach on a specific task in the context of the students’ regular coursework. Students were given six weeks to study an academic vocabulary of 163 headwords/266 items with the aim of being able to use it productively. Fifty-five students were divided into groups with different instructions for timing and overall approach with a view to quantitative analyses. Data for qualitative analysis were gathered through study logs. The study used pre- and post-tests consisting of the translation of passages from academic book reviews into English, targeting 25 of the items. The study confirms the potential for large gains of intentional study going beyond immediate effects of form recognition or form recall. Results showed no statistically significant differences for either timing or overall approach. Qualitative study of the logpages confirms the popularity of list learning and provides further indications as to effective and less effective strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of TESL Canada Journal / Revue TESL du Canada is the property of TESL Canada Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The main purpose of this study was to examine the effect of cooperative language teaching program on students' speaking skills. The participants were all first year law students in two classes at university of Gondar. The two groups were chosen based on the intact class of the researcher and the groups were assigned into experimental and control groups. The total number of students in the two groups was 80. A non-equivalent pre-test, post-test quasi experimental design was employed with 40 experimental and 40 control participants. The experiment was carried out during a period of two months of the academic year 2009 E.C. Accordingly, it was hypothesized students taught through cooperative language teaching instruction would improve their speaking skills better than those taught through conventional language teaching, students taught through cooperative language teaching will improve both their speaking fluency and accuracy better than those taught through the conventional method and students taught through cooperative language instruction will manifest significant difference. To examine these hypotheses pre and post speaking tests and speaking observation instruments were employed. The speaking test covered the dimensions of accuracy and fluency. The validity and reliability of the research instruments were validated. Paired sample t-test and repeated measure of ANOVA were used to analyze the results of the study. Results indicate that the speaking test score in the experimental group improved significantly, and to an extent greater than the control group due to the treatment, and hence, EFL teachers in the university should use cooperative language activities in their language classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to gain insights into students’ language use on social media as part of the specific linguistic activities of second language (L2) learning, including development of sociopragmatic competence. Two Facebook groups were introduced in different English-as-L2 classes that were part of an international collaborative project comprising secondary schools in Colombia, Finland, Sweden and Taiwan. The study is theoretically grounded in sociocultural perspectives on learning, and the methods involve logging the students’ linguistic interactions in the social media groups. The analysis of the empirical material explored how the students framed the activities by different types of keying in their choice of linguistic repertoires. The findings show that the social media context offered a casual space for communication in which the students, by attentively attuning to the local coordinated framing, used diverse linguistic repertoires to play with the language. In instances of upkeyed framings, the language play was not only used with pragmatic intentions, but also as a means for various socializing purposes. In conclusion, it is suggested that language play on social media can be seen as a valuable activity in developing sociopragmatic competence to prepare students for L2 use outside of school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the relation between language proficiency level and language learning strategy choice of EFL learners at an Islamic university in Indonesia. Two hundred and eighty four participants classified based on their proficiency levels (high, medium, and low) as determined by their achievement results completed the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) version 7.0 questionnaires. The findings indicated that there was a linear relationship between proficiency level and strategy use; the higher the proficiency level, the higher the number of strategies employed. Furthermore, it was also found that higher proficiency level learners tended to choose meta-cognitive strategies; they usually managed learning by conscientious planning, monitoring, and evaluating their own learning. The findings also demonstrated that low proficiency level learners were inclined to choose affective strategies, meaning that they were concerned with the emotional requirements such as confidence. The findings of this study provide contribution to further development of existing global theories about language learner strategies, and are beneficial for classroom practice in the Indonesian context, especially in raising EFL teachers' awareness about ways in improving student learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on an adoption of storytelling and story acting (STSA) approaches in an education services at second-grade school system. Topics discussed include deployment of Vivian Paley's STSA services in curriculum for promotion of co-authorship conditions; contribution of STSA in curriculum with enhancement of literacy learning condition such as vocabulary; and recommendation for an incorporation of students' language in their stories.

Students in South East Asia often struggle with English /l/ and /r/. This study therefore set out to examine how Taiwanese pupils' perception of these sounds is influenced by cross-language effects. Most Taiwanese students have Mandarin as L1 and Taiwanese as L2 or vice versa, and English as L3. A same-different discrimination experiment was conducted to measure pupils' ability to discriminate between phonetically close English /r/ and /l/ and Mandarin /ʐ/ and /l/. The results show that L1-Mandarin pupils discriminate both the English consonant contrast and the Mandarin consonant contrast better than L1-Taiwanese pupils. Discrimination difficulty may be higher if two members of a contrast are perceived as belonging to a single L1 category. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Finland is a bilingual country with 2 national languages, Finnish and Swedish. The Swedish-speaking school institution aims to protect the minority language by maintaining a monolingual school space. In this article, the construction of linguistic and ethnic difference in educational discourse and practice related to the national languages in Finland is analyzed by using discourse analysis, feminist and post-structural theories. By analyzing ethnographic data and public debate, we argue that discursive and material practices related to spatiality have a significant role in constructing difference and otherness in the Finnish school context. Essentialist categories are produced but also contested from the positions within the cultural spaces at school and in society at large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is concerned with the role of language(s) in education from the viewpoint of secondary school subject teachers in Finland at the time of transition to a new curriculum. The curriculum highlights the role of language throughout education and makes reference to changes in society that foreground multilingualism. Seven mainstream and CLIL content teachers of different subjects were interviewed and employing qualitative content analysis, the data were scrutinised under four language-related themes: multilingualism, multiliteracy, subject-specific language, and the role of language in knowledge construction. The results indicate teachers as reasonably well aware of subject-specific language of their field and of the value of multiliteracy practices. Multilingualism as the diversity of students' languages and its impact on pedagogical practices received less attention. Overall, the teachers' orientation to the language ideological statements in the new curriculum were widely agreed upon even if the ideas still remained somewhat abstract in the transition phase before actual implementation to the praxis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article draws on my concerns about my former inner city students by examining interactions and discussions with inservice literacy educators who shared ideas about disciplinary literacy vo-cabulary instruction. It reviews some of the research on vocabulary instruction, and focuses on ide-as for teaching Tier 2, academic vocabulary, and Tier 3, disciplinary vocabulary. Findings suggest that literacy educators help students to empower themselves when they apply new ways to instruct disciplinary literacy vocabulary and collaborate with our colleagues who teach in subject areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peer review is applied as a powerful tool to enhance student collaboration online writing. The purpose of this paper is to analyse learners' mechanisms of peer reviewing in the nature of student interventions and interactions in written online peer reviewing and how categorization of student comments can be used as a means for analysing student peer reviewing. The study is an in-depth investigation of computer science students participating in a technical writing course, using Google Drive as their joint work space. While writing their group text, the students were participating in peer reviewing work. Results show combining analysis models provide a better understanding of the implication of commenting in both scrutinizing the progressive scale of assistance, as well as area, nature, and type of commenting, together with what themes evolve. Further, taking turns providing feedback is an enriching activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present article I will try to demonstrate how translation can be integrated into a foreign language course as the fifth language skill, which can contribute both to the development of the students' foreign language, with focus on students studying technical English, and to the elimination of their discomfiture when studying and making use independently of the foreign language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the impact of subtractive schooling, including language use in education, on the identity of a group of ethnic minority students in Central Highlands of Vietnam. Drawing on semistructured interview data, a deeper look is taken into the ways in which these students identify themselves with their languages, cultures, and social relations. Findings reveal that the subtractive power of the school language and the institutional milieu profoundly influenced their identity construction by creating the conditions for (a) the devaluation of their language and cultural identity as a consequence of the invasion of their sociocultural territory by the dominant language and culture and (b) the segregation and disunity that affected their identity construction through social relations. Although subtractive schooling apparently facilitated students’ integration into the mainstream, its invisible power forced them not only to integrate but also to bear the full burden of constructing new identities to adjust to the school environment and the mainstream society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

THE FOCUS PLACED ON READING SKILLS IN SCHOOL IS NO ACCIDENT. IN SCHOOL, STUDENTS ARE TRAINED TO FACE LIFE, AND IN LIFE, THEY NEED TO HANDLE COMMUNICATION WELL IN THE FIRST PLACE. THIS THESIS STUDIES THE DEVELOPMENT OF READING SKILLS THROUGH VOCABULARY EXERCISES. IT IS MEANT TO HELP STUDENTS WHO HAVE OFTEN FACED DIFFICULTIES IN UNDERSTANDING A TEXT DUE TO THEIR POOR MASTERING OF THE ROMANIAN LANGUAGE, BUT ALSO TO THE IMPROPER APPROACH OF THE TEXT MEANING. THE AIM IS TO ENHANCE, WITH TIME, SOME SKILLS OF GENERAL COMMUNICATION IN DAY TO DAY SITUATIONS. IT IS CRUCIAL TO HELP THE STUDENT RELEASE HIS OR HER POTENTIAL, TO FOCUS ON THE MASTERY OF WORDS, IN ORDER TO FIND SOLUTIONS TO HIS OR HER PROBLEMS. THE RESEARCH PART AIMS AT ESTABLISHING A SET OF INTERACTIVE LEARNING EXERCISES FOR A UNIQUE STUDY GROUP, IN VIEW OF DEVELOPING READING SKILLS, THE ABILITY TO READ AND UNDERSTAND INFORMATION, RAISING THE SCHOOL RESULTS LEVEL, AND FOSTERING POSITIVE INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SPEAKING ENGLISH BECOMES REALLY IMPORTANT IN VIETNAM ESPECIALLY FOR THE TIME OF INTERNATIONAL AND GLOBAL INTEGRATION. THE DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES (FFD) AT VAN LANG UNIVERSITY DESIRES TO TRAIN STUDENTS TO SPEAK ENGLISH WELL TO WORK IN THE COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT; HOWEVER, MOST OF THE STUDENTS ARE NOT SPEAKING FLUENTLY. THIS STUDY IS DONE WITH THE QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH METHOD USING SPSS SOFTWARE THROUGH LIKERT SCALE TO FIND THE POOR FACTORS IN THEIR ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS. THAT RESULT LEADS TO RECOMMENDATIONS TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF SPEAKING AND TEACHING ENGLISH IN THE FACULTY IN PARTICULAR AND IN THE UNIVERSITY IN GENERAL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As linguistic diversity is increasing in schools worldwide, research is needed to examine how to modify teaching and learning contexts in response to emerging multilingual students’ different needs. Grounded in sociocultural theory, this study examined how teachers used discourse differently to respond to diverse students’ needs as they participated in a language programme that brought together multicompetent language users, Spanish-expert students learning English, and English-expert students learning Spanish in secondary school. Analysing transcripts of student and teacher interactions, we identified discursive patterns that teachers used to mediate multilingual language-learning opportunities, to raise language awareness, and to cultivate a collective zone of proximal development in a linguistically diverse context. Findings shed light on the ways that teachers use languaging and translanguaging as mediational tools to gauge and respond to students’ needs, while drawing upon students’ funds of knowledge to deepen multilingual and multidirectional language-learning opportunities. Our findings have implications for how educators can differentiate their discourse/instruction to support students’ multilingualism and ultimately increase language-learning opportunities among linguistically diverse students. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the characteristics of the term English for specific purpose (ESP). It states that it is defined to meet the needs of learners and use the underlying methodology and activities of the discipline it serves. It mentions that the ESP student is well disposed to focus on meaning in subject-matter field.

Reasoning words are linguistic features associated with classroom exploratory talk as students talk-to-learn, explore ideas, and probe each other's thinking. This study extends established research on use of reasoning words to a fourth- to fifth-grade literature-based English language learning context. We examined frequency and patterning of teacher and student use of reasoning words within and across two lessons purposefully selected to elucidate use of reasoning words during a close reading of a text as students grapple to make meaning and extended intertextual talk about a text that is easily accessible. Analyses and exemplifications illuminate how usage of each reasoning word functioned to introduce/link to reasoning or to prompt for reasoning. Teacher used reasoning words to mostly prompt for reasoning and student used them to introduce/link to reasoning. We found consistent use of reasoning words by teacher and students across three categories: language of possibility, reasoning links, and pressing for reasoning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors investigate factors affecting Saudi students' educational experiences in Australian universities and their adjustment issues. The data comes from the survey of 100 Saudi international students in Sydney and subsequent interviews. The analysis revealed that language proficiency is the main barrier to Saudi students' academic and social adjustment, with some academic factors such as classroom activities and assessment methods, and social factors such as homesickness and loneliness also affecting their study. The analysis has also identified Saudi students' coping strategies such as improvement of language competence, time management and mixing with others. It then discusses differences in perceived level of difficulty with respect to gender, age, educational level and length of residence, as well as some implications of the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The campus climate for international graduate students (IGSs) has been gaining attention in recent years as the number of IGSs in the United States continues to rise. IGSs bring diversity to the campus community and enrich the academic community, but also come to the table with distinct needs, concerns, and experiences. The current study is primarily concerned with how early social and academic experiences affect English learning and academic success. Social networks outside of the student's cultural background may be difficult to develop, and, therefore, it is not uncommon to see students gravitate towards others who share their cultural and language background. In order to obtain perspective on what early social and linguistic experiences are for newly matriculated IGSs, I conducted interviews with first-year IGSs, asking them about their language use in academic and social settings. Results from the interviews suggest that while English-oriented networks may provide more opportunities to speak in English, co-national networks are easier to join and provide much needed social and academic support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Íkala: Revista de Lenguaje y Cultura is the property of Universidad de Antioquia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study reports on Mexican-origin university students' perceptions of their K-12 literacy experiences and preparation for college-level reading. Participants were first-generation college students from Spanish-dominant homes enrolled in a reading-intensive course at a four-year Hispanic-serving institution. The study was conducted as part of an initiative to assist predominantly low-income, Latino/Hispanic students enrolled in entry-level reading-intensive courses, with the goal of improving postsecondary persistence. Data consisted of individual interviews and participants' language and literacy autobiographies and were analyzed from an ecology-of-literacy perspective. Findings included contrasts between home and school literacy forms and practices, differences between high school and college as learning environments, linguistic discrimination experienced at school, and negative ideologies associated with Spanish as a barrier to the development of strong literacy skills in English. Suggestions are offered for improving academic literacy instruction for Mexican-origin youths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sketch Engine is a leading corpus query and corpus management tool that has been used for many large dictionary projects. The paper summarizes its features supporting bilingual lexicography and the creation of bilingual learner's dictionaries. Some of these features have been added recently; some of them have been part of the software for a rather long time, but they have been recently improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study probed the effectiveness for L2 writing of Longman Słownik Współczesny (Fisiak et al. 2004), a bilingual dictionary for Polish learners of English designed primarily with production tasks in mind (Adamska-Sałaciak 2005). Three groups of Polish secondary school students in their final year were asked to write an argumentative essay: one group with the help of a paper copy of Longman Słownik Współczesny, one with a PC version of the dictionary, and one control group without access to a dictionary. The essays were marked using the standard rubric for Polish secondary school final examinations, with separate marks for content, structure, language, and accuracy. Results indicate that those students writing with the help of the dictionary (whether print or PC-based) performed significantly better than the controls without access to dictionaries, with overall scores gaining by about one third. The areas that benefitted most from dictionaries were vocabulary use and general accuracy. The results demonstrate that the dictionary is an effective writing aid for Polish learners of English. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese, Japanese and Arabic bilingual dictionaries suffer from shortcomings rarely seen in works of other major languages. These include archaic headwords and senses, inappropriate examples, an overly prescriptive approach, learner-unfriendly sense ordering, and the omission of important multiword expressions, among others. This paper describes how three bilingual learners' dictionaries address these problems, focusing on compilation and design innovations that increase learner usability, and compares them with other dictionaries that do not meet these goals adequately. Specific issues to be addressed include sense ordering, the logical interrelatedness of senses, the semantic transparency and morphological productivity of Chinese characters, lexical categories, headword selection criteria, and the treatment of multiword expressions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines students' attitudes and preferences to the four primary textbook types currently on the market. These types include hardback, paperback, loose leaf, and E-textbook. Two hundred twenty-three students currently taking Principles of Marketing from a large public university in the southeastern United States completed the survey. Results found that students still prefer paperback textbooks, even when this textbook is at a higher price than other alternatives. When students were asked their opinions on the various textbook options, it was clear that price, ease of use, health concerns, and ownership desires were the primary reasons why they liked and/or disliked the various textbook options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) is used broadly and inclusively to describe communities with diverse language, ethnic background, nationality, dress, traditions, food, societal structures, art and religion characteristics. Domestic CALD people are either refugees or voluntary migrants and have obtained permanent residency or citizenship. This paper identifies the key issues, challenges and needs of first year domestic CALD students from refugee backgrounds at a multi-campus regional university in Queensland, Australia. The term refugee background is used in the paper as the students are no longer refugees having successfully transitioned from refugee status to being permanent residents. Qualitative data was collected through oneon- one semi-structured interviews and focus groups with domestic CALD students from refugee backgrounds, and from key informants including teaching, administrative, and senior management staff members. Other than language and differences in education styles, this cohort of students faced other challenges, particularly in a regional setting, including socio-cultural issues, technology issues, family and health challenges and limited staff awareness of refugee needs. The findings provide insights into how Australian regional university policy makers could develop effective strategies, practices, procedures and policies to support CALD students from refugee backgrounds and to improve their retention and progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal for Language Teaching / Ijenali Yekufundzisa Lulwimi / Tydskrif vir Taalonderrig is the property of South African Association for Language Teaching and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article examines instructional strategies that middle school educators can use in inclusive settings in order to support the unique needs of culturally and linguistically diverse exceptional (CLDE) students. These nine strategies are appropriate for both typical and atypical learners in a whole group setting, but they are particularly useful for helping adolescent students meet the challenges associated with diversity and disability in an environment that is generally geared toward their White, typically developing peers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of curriculum-based measurement (CBM) for screening is well established, but there has been less research regarding the technical adequacy of written expression CBM (WE-CBM) for screening and the utility of this type of measure when used with students with diverse language backgrounds. The purpose of this study was to examine the validity and diagnostic accuracy of various WE-CBM indicators for 139 4th-grade students from diverse language backgrounds (89 native English-speaking students, 19 English language learners, and 31 Monitored students). We examined the validity of WE-CBM with the statewide writing achievement test and studied the diagnostic accuracy of WE-CBM for determining students at risk using receiver-operating characteristic curves. Results suggest that WE-CBM varies in validity and diagnostic accuracy across students and depending on the WE-CBM scoring indicator used. Additional research on the use of WE-CBM, particularly with diverse groups of students, is greatly needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compared the characteristics of students who excel (those in the top quarter of their class) and students who merely survive (bottom quarter of class) when attending a course either in-class or online. Student characteristics such as personal attributes (learning styles and gender), individual competence (grade point average), and major (nonquantitative or quantitative) may influence performance differently in each setting. This study shows that low-performing students, who typically need the most guidance in an online course, do in fact have traits that differ from those of low-performing students in-class. Accordingly, it is imperative that instructors develop proper materials and evaluation procedures aimed at helping low-achieving students succeed. However, because online education lacks face-to-face interaction, faculty may not realize that these differences exist. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this article, the author discusses the need for rhetorical refinement in translingualist project. Topics discussed include documenting students efforts as one of the strongest moves that translingualists can make, focus of translingualist on performance as it can destabilize responses tied to fixed categories and can potentially undermine harmful standards, tendency of the issues of students' language rights and institutional standards to flatten language differences about translingualism.

As ESP trainers, we are increasingly aware that our learners have a specific purpose in learning English. Consequently, our aim is to develop a syllabus based on their particular needs and professional requirements. Our course objectives should thus focus on developing skills, cultural awareness and communicative effectiveness. Therefore, language accuracy is no longer a priority particularly if we take into account time restrictions (short number of hours) as well as other limitations (great number of students, various levels of English, etc.) and challenges (knowledge of the field, jargon) that the Business trainer has to deal with on a regular basis. It has long been argued that learning the vocabulary related to a particular job is fundamental to ESP lessons. However, as Adrian Tenant (2015) rightfully notes, standard vocabulary knowledge may actually prove useless when students are faced with real life situations. He stresses on the fact that students must be taught how to learn, develop and use their knowledge on the long term. The aim of this paper is to identify and describe some key skills that business English students need to acquire in order to set the basis of their further development. The main topics which may be included in the Business English syllabus will be discussed and relevant examples will be provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students often struggle throughout the reading process and are not aware of how they are reading. While reading instruction dialogue has been around for many years, it has mostly focused on traditional face-to-face methods of modeling and feedback. Technology can play a role in reading instruction by offering teachers and students the option of using video to help motivate students to read, to showcase student readings, as well as to show students what they are doing as they read. This study will present and review strategies using readingcasts, dramatic read-alongs, digital booktalks, recorded video of students reading for feedback, and video feedforwarding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This examination of the literature on foreign, or second, language learning by native English-speaking students with disabilities addresses the benefits of language learning, the practices and policies of language exemption, the perceptions of students and educators regarding those practices, and available resources for supporting students with special needs. It aims to question the policy of granting foreign language exemptions while additionally providing insights for educators into the development of inclusive foreign language learning environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graduate-level ESL students in Education are future multicultural educators and promising role models for our diverse K-12 students. However, many of these students struggle with academic English and, in particular, writing. Yet little research or program development addresses the specific writing-support needs of this group. This article shares curriculum development for an Academic Writing Seminar serving linguistically diverse graduate students in Education. It reports on a study of the student backgrounds, writing experiences, writing selfefficacy, and instructional feedback preferences. Most participants had low writing self-efficacy and an eagerness to receive detailed feedback on grammar and mechanics in their writing. Problems in their writing were similar to common issues in college writing, but the participants expressed a distinct willingness to share their work for peer editing and conferences. Further research is needed on ways to mobilize such strengths and provide targeted writing support for ESL graduate students in Education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on stylised language use have tended to focus on the creative exploitation of linguistic heteroglossia among urban multi-ethnic youth. This article argues that there are good reasons for exploring how such practices can also be initiated by norm-enforcing white adults such as teachers. I report on linguistic ethnographic fieldwork in one mixed-ethnicity class at a Brussels Dutch-medium school and describe how one teacher often produced the creative, stylised language use one usually associates with younger speakers. The analysis emphasizes that while teacher stylisations provided alleviation from the friction between linguistic expectations and the reality of the classroom floor, they were also functional in maintaining the school linguistic policy inasmuch as they typified nonstylised, nonaccented, and standard language use as normal and expected. These findings suggest that stylisations can be closely tuned to linguistic normativity and reproductive of wider patterns of sociolinguistic stratification. (Stylisations, urban heteroglossia, crossing, classroom interaction, Brussels, Dutch, enregisterment)* [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents the author's views on a study how negative life events have impact on middle level, high school, and college students. It mentions various factors that make people vulnerable including nature of changes with adolescence, biological changes occurs in the brain and sophisticated adult life experiences.