We are pleased to bring you Volume 37, Issue 1 of MinneTESOL Journal, an excellent collection of pieces focusing on a variety of aspects and contexts of English language teaching and learning. In “Making Language Visible in Content Area Classrooms Using the WIDA ELD Standards,” Ruslana Westerlund and Sharon Besser share the latest update in the WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework. Also from WIDA, Cynthia Lundgren and Lynn Shafer Willner explore how WIDA’s approach to discourse adds more tools to our students’ language development toolboxes in “Putting Discourse First.”
Following his experience with the JET program in Japan, Kyle Undem examines the concept of imagined communities to better understand L2 identities in his article, “Imagined Communities: The Significance of Imagination and Language Learning.” Also related to learner identity, Michael Burri’s “School and Cultural Adjustment Overseas” considers factors that contribute to international students’ school and cultural adjustment through his 12-year-old son’s experience in Japanese schools. Also attending to the topic of student identity, Ann Mabbott, Amna Kiran, and Magdy Rabeaa share a review of Michael Abraham’s book Engaging Muslim Students in Public Schools: What Educators Need to Understand.
This issue has a wealth of information about serving ELs at the college level. In her article, “Helping Second Language Students Succeed with Academic Sources: Advice for Faculty across the Disciplines,” Heather Camp presents strategies for faculty to strengthen university-wide academic source use instruction for L2 students. Also at the university level, Samantha Brown addresses pronunciation instruction in “Teaching Suprasegmentals within a Task-Based Framework to Improve Speaking Skills.” In another practice-oriented piece, Saurabh Anand offers an approach for those working with college-level multilingual writers in “L2 Writing Material: How to Cultivate Compare and Contrast Genre Skills Using a Narrative Essay.” Also focusing on writing instruction, Nasiba Norova addresses the knowledge and skills that writing instructors and writing center tutors need to know to accommodate foreign-born resident students in her article, “Support of Resident L2 Students’ Writing: Opinion.” Finally, in her article, “Teacher-led, Spaced Retrieval for Mastery of Content Vocabulary,” Diane M. Jacobson describes her research study focused on how to support ELs with memorization and comprehension of content-specific vocabulary.
Please read, enjoy, and share the research and practice ideas in this issue of MinneTESOL Journal! Stay connected to our MinneTESOL Journal community by following the journal on Facebook and on Twitter (@MnTESOLjournal).
