This study explores the use of language learning apps as a didactic tool for vocabulary building in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context. It was developed through a mixed-methods approach, with a concurrent design in order to collect, analyze and validate qualitative and quantitative data. Although there was controversy on the use of technology in the classroom in the rural context where this study was developed, it advocated for practices that could go beyond the classroom boundaries and that were part of students' lives and social realities. The participants were 20 high school students and the intervention was during a six-month period. The data collection instruments included an initial diagnosis and a final development test, eight lessons and eight assessment sessions using language learning apps (Duolingo and Kahoot), eight entries to a research journal and a final survey. In the end, it was possible to provide evidence of the way technology and classroom practices can be allied to effectively foster vocabulary building.

Language learning that is grounded on learners’ sociocultural realities promises to be a meaningful experience they are likely to treasure when it comes to grappling with practical day-to-day matters. This article reports on a research study aimed at fostering socioculturally constructed language learning in a group of pre-service English teachers. This is a qualitative case study, grounded in a social constructivist paradigm, which draws on a pedagogy of multiliteracies through the Knowledge Process and the Concept of Design (Cope & Kalantzis, 2009) to embrace diverse modes of communication and to expand learners’ possibilities of engagement with text and the social and cultural world around them. The findings indicate that while learners are provided with opportunities to explore, reflect and co-construct socioculturally driven knowledge, they are involved in a meaning-making experience that allows them to make sense of the language they are learning.

The challenge and satisfaction of being a teacher is doubled when one has the precious task of being a teacher trainer, as our practices replicate exponentially, touching the lives of people we do not even get to meet. Accordingly, this article presents the analysis of a process that brought tensions to a teacher training program because of the need to comply with the guidelines of the National Ministry of Education while considering pre-service teachers' needs. Thus, a descriptive analysis was done, through a questionnaire, with the objective of portraying pre-service teachers' perceptions about the curriculum that underlies their teaching training program, and characterizing their contributions in the face of a new curriculum design. The gains obtained out of the participants' insights were key in understading their feelings and provided a good source of information for the new curriculum. The results suggest that pre-service teachers' perceptions broaden teacher trainers' horizons and enrich curriculum planning as a step towards meaningful and inclusive learning.

Knowledge and experience, mediated by reflection, are essential components in teacher education and development programs. This paper discusses core elements that have guided ELT education in the last years and analyzes the case of five English language teacher educators who –in the Colombian context—reflect on their own pedagogical practices through narrative. I guide the discussion by four probing questions that generate a reflective overview of English language teachers’ knowledge-base, identity construction, and decision-making when it comes to localizing knowledge. This reflection uncovers teacher educators’ gains and challenges as it becomes input for those others who are at different stages of their teaching career.