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This article explores the links between English as a second language (ESL) instruction and literacy instruction through an examination of viewpoints from eight teachers in two Canadian provinces. Four of these teachers worked in government--funded adult ESL and literacy education programs for a large urban school district in the province of Ontario, and the other four teachers worked in similar programs in the province of British Columbia.

This study examines the practicality and relevance of positive peace (Galtung, 1964) in English as a foreign language (EFL) teacher training. It focuses on a collaborative three-month study abroad program, funded by the Chinese Scholarship Council, for EFL teachers from rural communities in western China to participate in an intensive professional development program hosted at a large Canadian university. Beginning with the premise that the teaching and learning of Global English is not apolitical, and that the power imbalance between Center based institutions and remote Periphery communities should not be ignored, we consider how the concept, and practice, of positive peace can counter English linguistic and cultural hegemony. In Summer 2016, thirty-five teachers from western China attended the program; thirteen agreed to participate in interviews and focus groups for research purposes. Thematic analysis was used to first code the data for prominent themes with subsequent rounds of interpretive coding to uncover the presence of latent concepts expressed through counter-discourse, such as peace. Through this analytical approach, the data revealed that the visiting teachers (1) disagreed with host instructors on the utility of specific pedagogic approaches; (2) prioritized their own local curriculum; and (3) hoped to teach their hosts about China, as well as learn about EFL pedagogy and Canadian culture. By reading the data through the framework of positive peace, the counter-discourse between visiting teachers and host instructors/researcher can be viewed as sites of peace-building where expertise can be contested, professional identities reasserted, and once silenced voices heard.

How do ESL teacher-candidates grapple with beliefs about language during their professional training? In this article, we present the findings of a qualitative research study conducted in a large eastern Canadian university Bachelor of Education program. As Johnson (2010) has recently noted, despite extensive research and theoretical work that stresses the importance of functional conceptualizations of language based on social practice, much ESL teacher training still revolves around the skills needed to transmit antiquated notions centered on descriptions of phonology, morphology, syntax, and grammar. This study identifies five key factors that influenced how the teacher candidates in this study thought of language: prior beliefs, interaction with peers, the course textbook, lectures, and the teaching practicum. We found that our participants demonstrated willingness to consider language as social practice and argue that this tendency can be strengthened in particular through the integration of teacher-training course content as it pertains to functional conceptions of language with the practicum experience.

In this article, I report a qualitative study that sheds light on how adult learners of English as a Second Language (ESL) are constructing new national identities in the context of the challenges associated with immigration. In particular, I trace how the common threads among their conceptions of citizenship compare with those embedded within official, national assessment, and curriculum documents. Using a broad questionnaire and a focused set of semi-structured interviews at a large ESL site in British Columbia, my research reveals the gaps between the experiences of these immigrants and how these documents construct and position idealized and racialized conceptions of second language learners. (Contains 1 footnote.)

This article makes novel use of the Deleuzo-Guattarian concepts of becoming and agencement to frame qualitative research on how youth from second language immigrant families conceptualize citizenship. Even though our work here is primarily conceptual, we refer to aspects of a previously published study to concretely illustrate these concepts for the reader. The study in question found that the participants exhibited a mixture of conceptualizations of citizenship, some of which aligned with dominant trends in citizenship education. Other conceptualizations presented dimensions of citizenship that were unexpected and intensive. In our discussion, we use two Deleuzo-Guattarian concepts to deepen our understanding of the complex relationships between competing discourses on citizenship in the context of second language education. We argue, in short, that becoming and agencement help "disturb" the once axiomatic linkage between citizenship education and the nation-state and challenge clichéd notions of "global citizenship."

Like others in the teaching profession, second language education (SLE) teachers have been subjected in recent years to a process of work intensification and accountability. This process makes use of externally developed sets of behavioral objectives, assessment instruments, commercially produced classroom materials, and externally controlled technologies. Taken together, these have resulted in a marked reduction in the freedom of dedicated SLE teachers to be inventive, flexible, adaptable, and responsive to students' needs. In short, teachers are losing professional autonomy. In this article, we argue that an experiential learning approach can help counter this trend. We describe and compare three theoretical frameworks and models in this orientation that have been developed specifically for SLE and draw out practical implications for classroom task design. We contend that experiential learning is more than a classroom management technique and argue the importance of linking learner autonomy and teacher professionalism through this approach.

Discusses issues related to teaching newcomers to Canada, such as learner identity, multiculturalism, changing visions of Canadian culture, changing expectations of English-as-a-Second-Language teachers. Highlights four studies on the topic. (Author/VWL)

Serotonin produced by neuroendocrine tumors is believed to be a principal cause of the diarrhea in carcinoid syndrome. We assessed the safety and efficacy of telotristat etiprate, an oral serotonin synthesis inhibitor, in patients with diarrhea associated with carcinoid syndrome. In this prospective, randomized study, patients with evidence of carcinoid tumor and ≥4 bowel movements (BMs)/day despite stable-dose octreotide LAR depot therapy were enrolled in sequential, escalating, cohorts of four patients per cohort. In each cohort, one patient was randomly assigned to placebo and three patients to telotristat etiprate, at 150, 250, 350, or 500 mg three times a day (tid). In a subsequent cohort, one patient was assigned to placebo and six patients to telotristat etiprate 500 mg tid. Patients were assessed for safety, BM frequency (daily diary), 24 h urinary 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (u5-HIAA), and adequate relief of carcinoid gastrointestinal symptoms (using a weekly questionnaire). Twenty-three patients were treated: 18 received telotristat etiprate and five received placebo. Adverse events were generally mild. Among evaluable telotristat etiprate-treated patients, 5/18 (28%) experienced a ≥30% reduction in BM frequency for ≥2 weeks, 9/16 (56%) experienced biochemical response (≥50% reduction or normalization in 24-h u5-HIAA) at week 2 or 4, and 10/18 (56%) reported adequate relief during at least 1 of the first 4 weeks of treatment. Similar activity was not observed in placebo-treated patients. Telotristat etiprate was well tolerated. Our observations suggest that telotristat etiprate has activity in controlling diarrhea associated with carcinoid syndrome. Further studies confirming these findings are warranted.

A study examined views of five adult English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instructors of immigrants to Canada concerning their autonomy over curricular decisions, including classroom activities, curriculum guidelines, linguistic elements, teaching materials, needs assessment, assessment of learner proficiency, professional development, staff relations, and settlement theme content. Results strengthen the case for developing program supports for instructor autonomy. (Author/MSE)

This article explores the links between citizenship and race in second-language education through an examination of the ways in which citizenship is linked to English language proficiency within a key Canadian federal adult English as a Second Language assessment document, the "Canadian Language Benchmarks" ("CLB"). It uses data and updates the analysis from a previously treated study that compared the way in which citizenship was conceptualised within that document with a sampling of adult second-language learners in a federally funded ESL programme. The participants in the study from which these data are drawn described becoming Canadians predominantly in terms of human rights, multicultural policy, and the obligations of being citizens. The "CLB," however, rarely referred to citizenship in these terms. Instead, it described being Canadian in terms of normative standards, including various forms of social behaviour, which implied the existence of a dominant and singular culture to which second-language learners had to conform. This article argues that these normative standards have the effect of racialising second-language learners in this context.

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