While pre-service teachers’ beliefs about different dimensions of English language teaching have been widely researched, little is known about their beliefs related to English for Specific Purposes (ESP). This article reports on three Vietnamese pre-service teachers’ beliefs about ESP teaching, captured over a six-month period. Data from semi-structured interviews, stimulated recall interviews, observations, and reflective journals were collected at two critical points in the teacher education programme: the methodology course and the practicum. The findings add fresh insights into pre-service teachers’ beliefs, particularly how these beliefs may change over time. The three case studies presented in this paper illustrate how participants developed their beliefs. The six belief changes identified are then discussed in terms of levels (from no to significant change) and the underlying motives. Implications are also discussed for teacher educators in designing or improving teacher education programmes and for researchers interested in pre-service teachers’ belief change.

This article provides insights into how participating in an action research study challenged traditional beliefs about teaching practices and led to more active learning strategies being included in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) Science classes at a Vietnamese university. Recent reforms in higher education teaching and learning by the Vietnamese government have placed increased demands on universities to employ more active learning approaches to meet future global needs. In Vietnam, university teaching has generally been based upon traditional lecturing, whereas active learning requires a more student-centred approach whereby students engage cognitively in learning through increased participation and take greater responsibility for inquiring into new knowledge in meaningful and critical ways. Using a participatory action research approach, interviews, observations and planning meetings were undertaken with eight Science lecturers who were currently teaching ESP. The findings revealed how the lecturers underwent positive pedagogical shifts from traditional lecturing to more constructivist approaches to teaching and learning over the time of the study.

Developing effective teaching skills with culturally and linguistically diverse learners remains challenging for regular class teachers, hence specialist English language (EL) teachers are needed in schools. However, little is known about how these specialist teachers perceive their professional status. This paper draws on research that provides insights from ten specialist EL teachers in primary and secondary schools across New Zealand. The study revealed these teachers were well-qualified, experienced and highly committed professionals with a strong sense of altruism and autonomy in meeting individual learner needs—qualities the literature commonly associates with high levels of teacher professionalism. However, the uncertainty of their part-time status and their desire to retain an identity as active teachers could also be seen as an obstacle to building a career trajectory as professional leaders. The paper concludes with discussion on how the professional value of specialist EL teachers in schools might be enhanced in the future.

With a substantial increase in the numbers of English language learners in schools, particularly in countries where English is the primary use first language, it is vital that educators are able to meet the needs of ethnically and linguistically changing and challenging classrooms. However, despite the recognition of the importance of effective leadership for successful teaching and learning, there is a lack of research into leadership of English for speakers of other languages (ESOL). This article reports on a research project investigating leadership practices which support ESOL teaching and learning in two New Zealand schools, where English language learners are a minority in the classroom. A number of successful leadership practices for ESOL emerged, including establishing clear goals, enabling leaders to be role models, providing ESOL professional learning, and empowering teaching and learning for ESOL. A number of challenges to successful leadership were also revealed, such as the marginalisation of ESOL and a business as usual approach, with English language learners expected to fit into existing practices. This article concludes that as numbers of English language learners continue to grow in schools, a strong focus on developing leadership practices and capacity to support ESOL teaching and learning is essential.

Hollie (2011) maintains that pedagogy is the most frequently overlooked facet of culturally responsive teaching. This chapter puts forward a promising pedagogy for working with diverse learners, particularly those from ethnic minorities. It opens by providing a brief background to the New Zealand context in which my research has been conducted, before moving on to identifying key UNESCO principles relating to cultural and linguistic diversity, and examining key tensions and challenges that impact on the development of relevant pedagogies for diversity in different international contexts. Relevant pedagogies identified in the international literature are then summarized. Next, examples from case study data on teachers in New Zealand schools are presented. These data highlight four key aspects of a promising pedagogy: knowing, doing, being, and belonging. Consideration of how these aspects influence the pedagogical objective of becoming suggests that, while generating relevant practices (doing) is more effective in combination with theoretical input (knowing), this is insufficient without concurrently engendering a sense of being with and belonging in diverse communities of learners. The final model for a promising pedagogy is therefore more than just a simple, linear process, but the components doing, knowing, being, and belonging are viewed as part of a dynamic, interactive, and cyclical model.

Current professional development initiatives show a preference for whole school approaches. However, pedagogy related to English language learners (ELLs) is often not widely dispersed in New Zealand primary schools, impacting on teacher efficacy with these learners. This paper discusses findings from a qualitative study which aimed to identify influences shaping the dispersal of ELL-related pedagogy in two schools in contrasting socio-economic areas. Data from semi-structured individual interviews with teachers at different class levels revealed unique patterns for the dispersal of ELL-related pedagogy in each school. Teacher data indicated that these patterns were influenced by the performance of ELLs in national standards testing, as well as the special characteristics of ELLs in each setting and the distinctive nature of each context. The dispersal of ELL pedagogy in each school impacted differentially on opportunities to build a sense of collective teaching efficacy with ELLs in that setting, but also raised questions about whether one size should be expected to fit all.

The United Nations General Assembly has declared 2011-2020 as the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity (Resolution 65/161) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Strategic Plan puts emphasis on capacity-development initiatives, the continued building of public awareness around biodiversity issues and the mainstreaming of biodiversity into the broader landscape of work for sustainable development and human security.

'After the chance discovery of a coelacanth in 1938, trawled off the mouth of the Chalumna River near East London, the coelacanth quickly became the continuing obsessive focus of journalists, crypto-biologists, scientists, eccentric explorers, aquaria and divers.'

This paper positions local literacy issues against a backdrop of increasing global ethnolinguistic diversity. National language choices are generally influenced by wider debates on the politics of location, so decisions about language(s) associated with teaching literacy in schools tend to occur at the intersection of national and international interests. The tensions that exist at this intersection may underlie the fact that, while schools in New Zealand have been keen to embrace the multimodal literacy opportunities offered by new technologies and greater global connectivity, increased ethnolinguistic diversity has been slower to impact on literacy pedagogy. As a result, New Zealand's educational policies have tended to reinforce literacy practices that are largely English dominant, and New Zealand teachers are often found to be negotiating literacy-related pedagogy within intercultural classrooms by trial and error. This paper provides insights into this situation and presents three literacy scenarios involving young English language learners to illuminate some of the critical literacy challenges that face New Zealand education. Ultimately, it is argued that more emphasis on transliteracy experiences will be required to meet the educational aim of greater participation in future global contexts.

Seldom seen, the rare, elongated oarfish, measuring between 3-8 m from nose to tail, is a likely source of myths about sea serpents. Recently, a 4 m long specimen was found washed up at Bokkomsbaai in the Western Cape by a commercial fisherman, Keith Boas. This ribbon-shaped, brilliant silver fish which has irregular blackish streaks and spots on its body and crimson dorsal and pelvic fins, is seldom seen far from the deep sea and is believed to be the longest bony fish in the ocean.

Background/Context Previous research shows that class teachers often have little training to teach students with English as an additional language (EAL), so they may operate on a trial-and-error basis, become frustrated easily, feel negative, and have little confidence in their ability to be successful with EAL students. In addition, mainstream teachers may be reluctant to prioritize relevant professional development if there are just a few EAL students in the class. Teacher educators may therefore struggle to help these teachers, particularly because the existing literature seldom provides any guidance on how to adapt effective EAL pedagogic frameworks for use in a busy mainstream class setting. Purpose This inquiry sheds light on the realities for teachers who have small numbers of EAL students in their mainstream classes, and the factors that influence their practice decisions with regard to these students. Setting The investigation was undertaken in four primary schools in the central North Island of New Zealand, a region that characteristically has just small numbers of EAL students. Each of these schools became the setting for the study for one term over the course of a four-term school year. Participants In each school, 1 teacher in a Year 1-2 class and 1 in a Year 5-6 class took part. The 8 class teachers had a range of general and EAL teaching experience. Research Design A qualitative approach, which used in-class observations interspersed with a series of in-depth reflective discussions with each class teacher, allowed for the evolution of in-depth insights over time. Findings/Results It was found that some teachers generated strategies for EAL students within the context of regular class instruction, whereas others worked with individual EAL students within the class. However, most teachers reported they experienced stress when trying to balance the individual needs of EAL students with those of the rest of the class. Ultimately, it emerged that the teachers’ efforts to develop useful working theories and practices with EAL students were influenced by the dynamic interaction of factors within and across three contextual layers: the personal-professional, the immediate classroom interaction, and the wider educational context. Conclusions/Recommendations In conclusion, it is argued that simply providing teachers with professional input on existing EAL pedagogy addresses just one part of the problem. If teacher educators intend to significantly influence teachers’ practice decisions with EAL students, it may be important to take a broader sociocultural approach that considers the interaction of factors within and across the three contextual layers of teachers’ professional lives.

A teacher’s identity is thought to evolve in a continuous, situated fashion, amidst dynamic interaction between cognitive, affective, social, cultural and political factors. However, the literature provides little insight into the impact on the ongoing identity construction of class teachers when they encounter a few students with English as an additional language (EAL) in their mainstream classes. This paper reports on a year‐long study involving eight class teachers in four different New Zealand primary schools. Data from in‐class observations, interspersed by a series of individual reflective discussions, revealed how the presence of EAL students in the mainstream setting created tensions, the resolution of which shaped class teachers’ professional identities. Tensions surfaced in data on class teachers’ self‐efficacy perceptions, selection of teaching roles, relations with support teachers and professional development priorities. These findings thus provide fresh insights into how new situations may impact on class teachers’ self‐identities. In particular, this investigation suggests the need for schools, teacher educators and policy makers to assist teachers in challenging, and indeed moving outside of the socially prescribed borders that have traditionally defined their professional identities within the school, in order to build shared practices and more collaborative ways of solving problems.

This paper takes a sociocultural approach to exploring the factors that enhance young children's bilingual development. The language excerpts presented were gathered as part of a three-year Early Childhood Centre of Innovation project funded by the New Zealand government. Data gathered in this project challenge Krashen's (1981) position that young children will generally acquire another language through subconscious osmosis, rather than through the conscious effort of learning. Evidence is put forward that illustrates how young children's bilingual development is in fact mediated by their teachers and peers, as well as the cultural tools provided in the environment and the nature of the language input itself. Young children are also revealed as active language learners who interact collaboratively with others and with their environment. Thus, the value of early childhood teachers in taking a more proactive role to support the process of young children's bilingual development is affirmed.