The use of passive voice has long been an area of difficulty for English learners. Celce-Murcia & Larsen-Freeman (2015) noted that it is learning when to use the English passive that presents the greatest long-term challenge to ESL/EFL students (p. 352). Because textbooks are a source of language input for English learners, this study investigated the frequency of passive voice verbs in samples from four academic textbooks in courses commonly taken by freshmen. The study also examined whether there are significant differences between the frequencies by textbook. The data was collected from four General Education Plan (GEP) subject textbooks used in freshman classes at a large metropolitan university in the southeastern United States, namely English composition, history, psychology, and biology. The data was then compiled into a corpus of approximately 20,000 words created specifically for the current study, with 5,000 words randomly and sequentially selected from each of the four textbooks. The study utilized a table created by Folse (2009) to analyze differences between the basic passive voice tenses found in the textbooks. The study examined the be-passives, get-passives, and have-passives and their frequency in different tenses. The findings revealed that passive voice occurred in academic textbooks with an overall frequency of 7.06% (of all conjugated verbs). The results also found significant differences between the academic genres (p lt& 0.05). In this particular corpus, passive voice occurred more in biology than in the other subjects. Therefore, the results of the study indicated a need to explicitly teach the basic be-passive voice to English language learners to all English learners, but teachers also need to be especially aware that certain university subjects (e.g., biology) use more passive voice verb forms than others.

The purpose of this hermeneutic study was to understand, describe and interpret secondary English Language Arts (ELA) teacher candidates'(TC) experiences with writing instruction while attending English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) methods courses. The study included a purposeful convenience sample of 15 (fifteen) secondary ELA teacher candidates' (TC) attending 4 (four) different sections in 2 (two) ESOL methods courses. TCs were invited to participate in inquiry driven activities including written reflections in response to a literacy questionnaire, oral interviews responding to open-ended questions and focus/work groups' discussions, which allowed them to reflect about their past and present literacy and learning experiences and become reflexive about the application of knowledge and practices in their future classrooms. The phenomenological hermeneutic qualitative design granted the researcher insight into participants' literacy and learning experiences as lived in relationship with their contexts, in a specific place and time. Colaizzi's (1978) seven-stages data analysis procedure, enabled the analysis and thorough description of TCs' experiences with writing instruction along their schooling and teacher education career. The following thematic categorization of participants' experiences was outlined: a)- TCs' experiences with instruction received and knowledge developed in teacher education programs, b)- TCs' recognition of good and bad practices in educational settings, including planning accommodations in general education classrooms, c)- TCs' experiences with ELs in authentic settings, d)- TCs' awareness process of ELs in schools, and e)- TCs' experiences with and about writing instruction to teach ELs. Further in depth data analysis guided the researcher into the interpretation of the fundamental structure of the phenomenon of teacher education experiences with writing instruction. TCs' experiences, drawn from different learning settings (including methods and content courses and field practicum), were articulated thanks to their participation in inquiry based learning activities. This breath of experiences specifically informed TCs' writing instruction experiences while attending ESOL methods courses. TCs' reflective and reflexive stances position them at the center of the educational phenomenon, in which TCs develop from facilitators of classroom communication to facilitators of learning processes and intercultural mediators. The phenomenon of TCs' lived experiences with writing instruction while attending ESOL methods courses, and by extension, content area courses and field practicum, needs to be analyzed, described and interpreted in order to develop practices conducive to inform the curricular development of teacher education programs and courses, to better prepare TCs to teach every learner develop knowledge and literacy, paying special attention to ELs'proficiency in English as a second language (ESL).

The focus of this qualitative, descriptive case study was to (a) investigate the knowledge English Language Arts preservice and inservice teachers had about eTextbooks and Open Educational Resources (OERs) and (b) how they planned to use that knowledge to develop their current/future 6-12 grade students' comprehension and content knowledge. Included within the study were specifics regarding how eTextbooks and OERs can be used to support adolescent learners and how online comprehension skills can be developed. Data were analyzed in order to determine themes related to the use and planning for eTextbooks and OERs in the secondary ELA classroom. Data sources for this study included the participant interviews, document analysis, and a focus group interview. Findings revealed that participants (N=6) were both excited and apprehensive about using technology and that although they had some personal experiences with eTextbooks and OERs, they would need more specific support in helping their future or current students to develop online reading comprehension skills. Implications and recommendations are offered for preservice teacher educators, classroom teachers and professional developers, researchers, and publishers.

Peer interaction is an important part of language learning. The results of previous studies showed advantages and disadvantages of peer interaction between native speakers and English learners. Using the educational simulation platform TeachLivE as the interaction platform, this qualitative descriptive case study explored the possibilities of bridging the gap between classroom language practice and real-life second language communication. The study recruited eight participants for a task-based interaction project. Using conversation analysis, the study revealed details in communication between adult English learners and their digital character peers. During the interactions, the participants were actively involved and the most frequent communication patterns were collaborative and cooperative. The analysis of interviews of participants and the interactor explored the factors that influenced the communication patterns between the young adult English learners and their digital peers. The results showed that the communication experience with digital characters was authentic and the virtual platform was critical to build the confidence of English learners' language use. Moreover, the multiple digital characters manipulated by interaction protocols were also helpful to create a scaffolding effect for practicing oral communication for the English learners.

Due to the variety and complexity of verb tenses in English, English as a Second Language (ESL) / English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners often experience difficulty in mastering English verb tense system. This corpus-based study was conducted to ascertain the most frequently used verb tenses by English native speakers (NSs), specifically in their academic writing in a history course. As this study aimed to examine the naturally-occurring language produced by NSs, specifically in their academic writing, an original corpus of 101,713 words was assembled. The corpus consisted of 130 research papers written by 65 students. The corpus was analyzed, targeting certain linguistic items: the twelve verb tenses, modals, perfect modals, and imperatives. These targets were highlighted using a code-coloring method. Then, the items were calculated using Microsoft Excel. Excel calculations revealed the number of occurrences of each of the verb tenses, modals, perfect modals, and imperatives that was utilized in the corpus. The results revealed that the simple past tense was predominant, followed by the simple present tenses. Modals came third, as they occurred more frequently than any of the other verb tenses. The remaining targets had percentages ranging between 1.62% and zero. These findings could contribute in developing the methodology of teaching verb tenses to ESL/EFL learners in a way that reinforces their comprehension of the most important and most common items. In addition, this information is very important for materials designers and curriculum professionals.

Pronunciation teaching has long been overlooked in areas of research, especially those of language teacher cognition (Couper, 2017; Macdonald, 2002). In language teacher education, narrative inquiry provides a basis for expert mediation and growth in perceived areas of challenge (Johnson, 2009; Johnson & Golombek, 2002) through the lens of language teacher cognition (Baker & Murphy, 2011). Through tracking reflections of pre-service teachers who observed a pronunciation course led by an experienced English teacher, this study examines a secondary data set of narrative reflections in correspondence with an observed pronunciation course. The results are organized into themes and subthemes which highlight salient foci of the data. Through language teacher cognition, the findings highlight areas of knowledge and potential growth in pronunciation pedagogy that can be harnessed by language teacher educators for personal and professional development in language teacher education.

This exploratory study investigated the variables that predict academic writing difficulties (AWDs) among first-year doctoral students, international and domestic, at a large, publicly funded research university in Southeastern United States. Data were collected through an online survey. The final sample size contained 111 first - year students, domestic and international from various doctoral programs. The first analysis examined factors predicting first-year doctoral students' self-assessed writing difficulties, using Multiple Linear Regression. Five factors were statistically significant predictors of AWDs: Asian race, Colleges of Business, Engineering, and Science, and the age between fifty-five to sixty-four. The remaining factors associated with age, Race, or College were not statistically significant. The second analysis examined differences between domestic and international students using Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and Multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA). The MANOVA results indicated statistically significant differences in the AWD and GRE writing scores between domestic and international students, but no statistically significant difference was found between the two groups for Motivation. However, when GRE writing scores were used as a covariate, the MANCOVA revealed statistically significant differences for both Motivation and AWD between international and domestic doctoral students. The findings of this study have important pedagogical implications for doctoral students, graduate faculty, curriculum designers, university's administrators, and universities writing support programs.

The purpose of this quantitative case study was to examine the position of an instructional literacy coach as perceived by high school administrators, teachers, and coaches in one Florida school district and to determine if any perceptual variance existed among those groups. A problem existed with understanding how the instructional literacy coach position manifested in different school contexts and how that manifestation impacted workplace dynamics. Given the dynamic nature of instructional coaching, this study further explored the level of congruence or incongruence between key faculty groups in order to better understand perceptions of coaching as a professional learning tool. The population of interest consisted of faculty members (N = 108) from eight public high schools. Data from the researcher-developed survey titled Perceptions of Instructional Literacy Coaches Instrument (PILCI©) were collected and analyzed. An evaluation of the data found statistically significant differences among faculty groups with respect to high school instructional coach perceptions. Overall, a moderate level of perceptual congruence existed between faculty groups (teacher-coach and coach-administrator) who were co-located in the school district hierarchy, while the differences that existed for teachers-administrators could not be explained by their position. Secondary faculty members will be informed through these findings about the perceived expectation of the instructional coach position within a school district that has a partnership with the University of Florida Lastinger Institute, and how that may impact workplace dynamics. The results also sought to improve organizational school leadership behavior, and to understand school-faculty relationships as it related to perceived successful professional learning outcomes.

Reading is a challenging task for English as a Second Language (ESL) students (Pang, 2008; Nassaji, 2011). Instructors and researchers have explored various ways to promote ESL students' reading development. Since research on story-based pedagogy has shown benefits in the area of language development, stories can be used to promote ESL reading development. Furthermore, research on Digital Booktalk shows that when students engaged in after-reading video production activities they found a new purpose in reading (Gunter & Kenny, 2012). Additionally, digital storytelling (DST) research has revealed that DST can foster learner motivation and autonomy (Hafner & Miller, 2011; Kim, 2014). In this study, ESL instructors engaged adult ESL students in a video book trailer (VBT) production project. ESL students learned story structural elements, drafted story summaries, and used Web 2.0 tools to produce a VBT to retell the stories they read. This phenomenological study investigated ESL students' experiences in the VBT project. Data was gathered from questionnaires, interviews, classroom observations, and student assignments. Student interviews, classroom observations, and open-ended questions in questionnaires were coded. There were two cycles of coding where codes and pattern codes were developed. Data from questionnaires, classroom observation recordings and student assignments triangulated findings from interviews. This study revealed participants' learning benefits, challenges, and their comparisons with their earlier educational experiences. First and foremost, it is suggested that a VBT project could provide integrated and implicit English learning opportunities for reading, vocabulary, writing, pronunciation and speaking. The primary obstacles reported by participants were insufficient time and energy as well as demanding linguistic expectations. When comparing this project with their earlier learning experiences, participants identified that digital production tasks were somewhat familiar. While learning to produce their own VBTs, They developed their digital skills for English learning purposes and mastered video editing skills. Project completers reported that they were excited that they were reading for a brand-new goal and increased their self-efficacy in using English and working on academic projects. Pedagogical implications were provided for future implementation in second language classrooms.

This qualitative study investigated the lived experiences of administrators, teachers, and parents from an elementary school that was in its first year of dual language transition. The majority of past studies conducted on dual language education focused on students' linguistic and academic outcomes (Lindholm-Leary, 2012). Studies investigating dual language schools' planning, policies, and classroom implementation are significantly less, and those that have, were at schools that were already functioning as dual language with the intent to examine what made the school successful (Alanis & Rodriguez, 2008; Freeman, 1996; Hunt, 2011). Through a phenomenological and case study approach, the current study examined the overall effect that transitioning from a monolingual to a dual language school had on the school culture with foci placed on the curricular and policy planning at the macro-level and its implementation at the micro-level. The study collected data from a variety of sources, including classroom observations, documents, photographs, and interviews with the school's principal, dual language teachers, and parents of the dual language program. Qualitative coding cycles concluded the following four themes, listed alphabetically: (a) classroom language use and second language differentiation, (b) dual language support, (c) language policy and curriculum development, and (d) teachers' dispositions on dual language teaching. This study highlighted the importance of inclusive leadership when planning a new dual language program. Additionally, the study shed light on the implementation process of the planned dual language program in which teachers need flexibility to adjust the language and curricular policies that were established at the macro-level.