This study evaluated preservice teachers' professional-knowledge transformation while they participated in simulated professional-development activities via a Second Life virtual classroom—an Internet-based multiuser virtual environment (MUVE). While a cohort of preservice teachers experienced the MUVE environment, the instrumental exploratory case study highlighted how 2 preservice teachers among the 12 internalized professional knowledge, as well as how that knowledge transferred into active teaching practice. The study was framed around sociocultural theory as it pertains to enabling intramental functioning through co-constructed activities. The preservice teachers' debriefings and reflective statements suggest that they entered the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)—the range of potential an individual has for learning, with that learning being shaped by the social environment—indicating the positive potential of using an MUVE to promote self-regulatory pedagogic behaviors.

This study investigated four elementary-level English language learners’ (ELLs’) use of strategies for reading computer-based texts at home and in school. The ELLs in this study were in the fourth and fifth grades in a public elementary school. We identify the ELLs’ strategies for reading computer-based texts in home and school environments. We present a taxonomy of five reading-strategy categories, which includes 15 total strategies that they pursued at home and in school. We describe the central role of dialogue in helping ELLs learn to read computer-based texts: The learners engaged in real and virtual dialogues with adults, peers, authors, and themselves, in ways that enhanced their development of effective reading strategies. We discuss pedagogical implications of our findings, describing how parents and teachers might work separately and together to facilitate ELLs’ reading in today’s learning contexts that include electronic literacies.

The strength of English learners’ second language reading is closely associated with academic success. Using qualitative research methods and verbal protocols, this study examines four elementary-level English learners’ uses of reading strategies and describes how each English learner employs these strategies while reading both culturally relevant and culturally distant stories. The study describes two types of strategies: higher order thinking strategies and socio-contextual reading strategies. Together, the study draws on intensive ethnographic and verbal protocol research to map out a comprehensive set of 12 reading strategies and describes how English learners employ these strategies in context. This broad view of second language reading incorporates both the cognitive and linguistic skills required for decoding and comprehension, together with consideration of the non-cognitive factors and sociocultural contexts within which reading occurs. The study also shows how learners at different levels process culturally relevant and culturally distant stories differently.

Despite the linguistic diversity in the United States, English-only norms persist in educational settings, placing culturally and linguistically diverse students at a disadvantage. Translanguaging, as a linguistic application of culturally relevant practice, utilizes students’ first and second languages to enhance understanding and communication. Guided by core questions and thorough qualitative analysis, this case study delves into middle school emergent bilingual students’ engagement and experiences with translanguaging in the science classroom within a monolingual school setting. Findings indicate that translanguaging positively impacts students’ comprehension and engagement in science learning, facilitating access to content and strengthening home–school connections. However, students’ attitudes toward translanguaging are influenced by the lack of institutional support and societal language ideologies, leading to mixed opinions about its effectiveness and preferences. The study emphasizes the importance of listening to students’ voices and advocating professional support to establish multilingual educational environments to maximize the advantages of translanguaging practices.