3.3.1 Distinctive learner groups

The diversity of learner groups in terms of socio-economic status and cultural origins is often discussed in Israeli studies. As mentioned earlier, for large groups of learners English is a third or fourth language. For instance, about 4,000 people of the Circassian community living in two villages in Northern Israel, Kfar Kama, and Rehaneya, are multilingual and deploy Circassian, Arabic, Hebrew, Russian, and English in their daily life. There are other languages familiar to Circassian citizens of Israel, such as Turkish, emerging from the historical past and crystallised in books and documents cherished and preserved in homes and libraries. Besides different language background, socio-economic conditions also affect English studies. Like in many other countries, in most peripheral settlements in Israel, both in the Jewish and Arab sectors, the socio-economic level of families is lower than in cities. These families have more children, schools are poorer equipped and lack highly qualified teachers, which is reflected in low academic achievements during the school years and low motivation to learn English (Ayalon, Blass, Feniger, & Shavit, Reference Ayalon, Blass, Feniger and Shavit2019). For many students, both veteran Israelis and immigrants, English proves to be among the hardest subjects during their life-long education since the current requirements are much higher than two or three decades ago.

Ultra-orthodox Jews are another group that is disadvantaged in terms of language education. This is an encapsulated community in which many young people lack conventional formal education including science, mathematics, technology, and English – the subjects that are not required in the private schools functioning in this sector.Footnote ⁶ In fact, in 2013, only 2% of ultra-orthodox boys earned matriculation certificates (in contrast with 17% of ultra-orthodox girls (Genut & Ben-David Kolikant, Reference Genut and Ben-David Kolikant2017). There are more ultra-orthodox women learning English than men, because women are expected to acquire a well-paid profession and become breadwinners in their families. Men sometimes decide to join the workforce and obtain secular education, including English studies, much later than their peers in other population sectors. Programs aimed at the promotion and integration of Arabs, Druze, Circassions, and ultra-orthodox Jews are on the agenda of CHE (https://che.org.il/en/). Yet there are no specific directives regarding the linguistic needs of pupils with diverse language backgrounds (Russak, Reference Russak2019).

Since Israel is an immigrant-receiving country, a large group of learners are immigrant schoolchildren, students in the tertiary education system, and adults who need oral and written English skills in order to find white-collar jobs. In fact, immigrants seeking employment in the high-tech industry or academia require high-level proficiency in English more than in Hebrew. As mentioned earlier, since 1989, immigrants from the FSU have been the biggest group of new Israelis. Those who received their education still in Soviet times were poorly prepared to use English in their professional life. Those who studied in post-Soviet times in big cities had much better access to language education; many had an opportunity to travel and study abroad, enrolling in various international programs.

3.3.2 Multilingual language learners

The study by Bensoussan (Reference Bensoussan2014) reported perceptions of language acquisition, use of language, and attitudes towards the multilingual learning and multicultural social environments by university students. The convenience sample of 42 students of diverse origins consisted of Jews, Arabs, and Druze. Besides Hebrew, Arabic, and Russian their language repertoires included French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. All the participants also used English at least occasionally. The group of Arabic-speaking students participating in this study was also culturally diverse as they belonged to Bedouin, Christian, Druze, and Muslim communities.

Data collected with the help of a 10-item questionnaire, personal narratives and students’ comments made during the class discussion elucidated the many facets of their coping with multilingualism. It allowed the researcher to conclude that both the students who had already experienced a multilingual learning environment and those who were experiencing it for the first time at the university accepted the difficulties of studying in such an environment. They reported viewing multilingualism and multiliteracy as default situations, while thinking of monolingualism as abnormal, restricted to the elderly and new immigrants.

The findings of this study contribute to our knowledge about how the multilingual students in Israel see multilingualism. According to Bensoussan, the students perceived languages as conferring knowledge and power on their speakers. Students have positive attitudes towards acquiring additional languages. Multilingual students in a multicultural learning environment appreciated their achievements in the use of language and success in functioning at the multilingual university. Students reported varied and integrated use of language in social interactions and conveyed the feeling that they function at a high level both in spoken and written language. They code-switched/code-mixed languages and dialects and expected the same from their interlocuters. The findings of this study also demonstrated the tools that students developed to deal with multiple languages in their academic, social and work lives. They reported mastering the art of changing languages depending on the private or public environment, and speaking, reading, and writing in different languages depending on the context. On the whole, multilingual university students ‘tended to view exposure and use of language as more important than age at which a language is learned’ and reported having considerable sociolinguistic competence (Bensoussan, Reference Bensoussan2014, p. 167).

As pointed out previously, Arabic-speaking groups of English learners are often trilingual and are frequent participants in research on language teaching. Their learning challenges in the EFL classroom are studied from a variety of perspectives ranging from the educational system that might hinder their success in learning English through applied linguistic queries, such as the most frequent errors in academic writing (Chaleila & Garra-Alloush, Reference Chaleila and Garra-Alloush2019), to the content of English textbooks and their suitability for the Arabic-speaking population (Amara, Reference Amara2017).

Belonging to different religious confessions is one more meaningful characteristics of English learners in Israel. Hayik (Reference Hayik2015) of the Sakhnin Academic College for Teacher Education argues that issues of religious diversity in an EFL classroom can be addressed by children's literature. The author attempts to deal with the reality of conflicts that she occasionally sees arising between different religious groups in her Christian and Muslim Israeli-Arab EFL class. Adopting a practitioner's perspective, Hayik conducted research in her religiously diverse Middle-Eastern classroom in a small village in the Galilee area of Israel inhabited by Christian and Muslim Arabs. The study was grounded in critical literacy and describes how a teacher-researcher approached this social issue in her EFL classroom through a pedagogical use of religion-based literature.

Haim (Reference Haim2015, Reference Haim2016, Reference Haim2018) conducted a series of investigations of the same population of trilingual students with Hebrew, English, and Russian (in theoretical terms, with the same DLC: Hebrew/English/Russian). Her research demonstrates how the global tendencies of multilingualism transpire in the local specifics and needs. The main value of research of multilingual learners of English by Haim is that understanding that all languages are interconnected underlies the methodology and shapes her research questions. Examining the interaction of Hebrew, English, and Russian, which in fact, form the DLC of this category of multilingual students, Haim manages to pose a range of questions illuminating various aspects of teaching/learning English. In her 2015 article, Haim investigated a transfer of academic proficiency among 274 Russian-speaking immigrants studying in the 11^th grade and learning Hebrew (L2) and English (L3). Juxtaposing the parallel learning processes of Hebrew and English by trilingual students, the researcher emphasised the multilingual reality. In particular, Haim addressed the degree of transfer of the two English literacy dimensions of academic proficiency: reading comprehension and writing, across the participants’ three languages. The methods used for this study included an L1 writing task, a questionnaire, and academic proficiency tests in L2 and L3. Haim's findings corroborated the holistic views on multilingualism and pointed to the interdependence of academic proficiency across the three languages.

The details of the interdependence of skills in three languages are of use in education and language teaching, especially in teaching English. Haim reports that academic proficiency in the first language can predict the proficiency in the second and third language independent of the age of arrival, gender, or socio-economic status of the family. Thus, high proficiency in Russian promises high proficiency in English, which is L3 for this category of learners. We can also expect the reading comprehension and writing performance of these students in English to be on a par with the corresponding measurements in Hebrew, their L2. As far as the proficiency of this cohort of students in writing is concerned, results indicate that L3 writing might predict not only L2 writing but also L2 reading.

In her 2016 study, using the same sample, Haim investigated the role of the Age of Arrival (AoA) in immigrant students’ academic proficiency performance in first, second, and third languages. She divided the trilingual students into three groups according to their AoA: 0–6, 7–9, and 10–12 years. Specifically, the study examined which reading and writing subcomponents distinguish younger from older arriving immigrants. Haim found that the group of young arrivals differed in their academic proficiency (AP) from the middle and older arriving groups in several reading and writing AP subcomponents. On the other hand, the older arriving group was significantly better on the L1 writing task. Haim's (Reference Haim2018) paper complements the picture created by her earlier studies (Reference Haim2015, Reference Haim2016) by looking into the role of the school context in explaining AP performance in L2 (Hebrew) and L3 (English). Here the methods of research included interviews with the school principals and multivariate analysis of covariance, controlling for socioeconomic status, AoA and gender. The learning environment and context were found to be a source of variation in L2 and L3 performance.

The studies above examined a group of learners of English that share the DLC, Russian/Hebrew/English, although the author did not use this term. By treating English and other languages as an inherent part of students’ linguistic performance, Haim put herself into an advantageous research position to investigate the various facets of language acquisition. She considered variables of different skills of various proficiencies in the same three languages and showed how each one influenced the others. Thus, considering multilingualism, actively, i.e., de facto employing a multilingual paradigm, researchers investigate the concomitant development, use, and interaction of languages other than English, which yields theoretical results that have important pedagogical implications.

Some recent Israeli studies investigate early learners of English. They show that parents’ opinions and expectations play a role in the way young children are introduced to English studies. An uncommon focus of interest was selected by Stavans and Kupersmitt (Reference Stavans and Kupersmitt2016), who investigated the linguistic expression of motion events in the narratives of two simultaneous trilingual children aged 7 and 9, speakers of Hebrew, English, and Spanish. The authors’ findings and conclusions, though exploratory and descriptive, suggest that ‘trilingual children are not at a disadvantage in their dominant language as compared to monolinguals in the same language’ (p. 300). The results contribute to the methodology of language teaching to young learners whose DLC includes Spanish.

3.3.3 English studies for students with special needs

According to the Israeli Association for Children and Adults with Learning Disabilities, approximately 10% of Israelis are learning disabled (https://eng.nitzan-israel.org.il/home/nitzan-services/nitzan-services.aspx, retrieved 20 September 2020). Israel legislated the Special Education Law (SEL) in 1988. Before it was passed, special education procedures had been based on informal and personal negotiations between the educational system, the child's family, and the Ministry of Education and Culture. One of the goals of the law was to reduce the segregation of Special Educational Needs (SEN) pupils and include them in regular educational settings, providing them with additional support services that would facilitate their further integration into society and help them find employment. Since English is a mandatory school subject included in matriculation exams and PET, SEN students need to study it. Research from different countries shows that SEN learners having specific difficulties in their native language experience similar, and often more severe difficulties with the acquisition of additional languages, literacy skills in particular (Russak, Reference Russak2016, p. 2). Clearly, in order to help these students diagnostics and special programs catering to their individual problems had to be developed. Moreover, special training and retraining courses were needed to help teachers give adequate help to SEN students. This recommendation is very important, yet not easy to implement in a multilingual country. How precise is the diagnostics if it is not conducted in the child's mother tongue? Yet even today, learning disability tests for Arabic, Russian, Amharic, and French speakers are not yet equally developed. The situation is even worse when a learning-disabled (LD) person is an international student with yet another native language and no – or only poor – command of Hebrew.

Another group that requires special attention is students who are deaf or hard of hearing (DDF). For those whose L1 is Israeli sign language (ISL), a natural language with its own lexical, semantic, and syntactic system, Hebrew is L2 and English is L3. Moreover, perceiving the language visually and producing it both visually and manually, the communication of the deaf is multimodal (Rosenstein, Reference Rosenstein2015). This makes it necessary to rely both on L1 and L2 to facilitate acquisition of English. No such recommendations are given for teaching LD pupils in a recent document prepared as guidelines for the implementation of the new curriculum (Netzer Turgiman, Reference Netzer Turgiman2018). A pilot one-on-one course conducted at Tel Aviv University by a teacher familiar with this population in her prior work, and most importantly, able to communicate in ISL, suggests that it is beneficial for the students to learn to lip read but also to receive explanations in the ISL (Silbenberg, Reference Silbenberg2016). The mistakes that DDF students make are identical to those made by hearing Hebrew-speaking students, so the learning materials to cope with Hebrew interferences for this group to a large extent can overlap with those used by hearing students. Yet experts regard it as important for DDF students to focus on written forms of the language as the more stable and accessible source of learning (Rosenstein, Reference Rosenstein2015; Silbenberg, Reference Silbenberg2016). This has major implications for the studies of the deaf after the reforms in the English programs are implemented. While the use of ISL will remain essential for their success, they will also have to invest more efforts in learning to lip read – the ability that is not well developed in many DDF students even in their L1, Hebrew or Arabic. Importantly, DDF students are ‘digital natives’ like their hearing peers, so they can benefit from the expanding repertoire of online learning materials, including videos. In fact, watching a video several times with and without subtitles may be a useful method for learning to lip read. Today, many YouTube videos are supplied with subtitles that are automatically generated. Since speech-recognition programs are not yet perfect, there are frequent mistakes in the transcripts. On the one hand, this makes their use for teaching problematic, unless corrected by the teacher in advance; on the other hand, they can form the basis for mistake-analysis tutorials that can be done individually or collaboratively and would increase the students’ language awareness.

3.3.4 ‘Native speakers’ – dovrei anglit

A distinct group of English learners are the so-called ‘native speakers’– dovrei anglit (Hebrew). A decade ago, the state-of-the-art review on teaching English in Israel (Aronin & Spolsky, Reference Aronin and Spolsky2010, p. 315) identified teaching English to learners described as native speakers of English as an issue yet to be researched. The authors of the review pointed out that referring to English as a Native Language in countries with immigrants, such as Israel, has its nuances. Immigrants from English-speaking countries and their children living in Israel, where Hebrew but not English is an official language, differ from the native speakers living in the English-speaking countries in their exposure to the target language and culture. The constant use of the dominant Hebrew alongside English as well as cultural and geographical distance from the English native-speaking communities exerts its toll on the vocabulary and general proficiency of the students. The domains and aims of learning and using English in Israel are unavoidably different from those the learners would have had if they lived in the environment in which English is a dominant and official language. For this reason, it becomes clear that the content and the methods of teaching English to this category of learners should differ from those for the native speakers of English in, say, the UK, North America, Australia, or New Zealand.

In recent years, more attention has been paid to the development of English skills in the dovrei anglit. The category of native speakers has appeared on the website of the Ministry of Education along with the document defining who should be regarded as a native speaker (Ministry of Education, 2018a). According to this definition, a native speaker is ‘a mother-tongue (first language) speaker of English (first generation Aliyah –[immigration] from English-speaking countries) or someone possessing near-native proficiency as a result of either growing up in a bilingual home environment or having studied abroad for at least two consecutive years in a school where English was the language of instruction’. We see it as a positive development that the English Inspectorate has come up with this working definition to single out ‘native speakers’ as a distinctive category of learners.

Admitting the reality in which heterogeneity of students’ skill levels is a rule rather than an exception, Levi and her colleagues see the distinguishing features of the native speaker class. This requires utilisation of teaching modes, methods, and materials based on the teaching of English as L1 as opposed to the EFL approach in the regular English classroom. All class interaction, oral and written – teacher–student and student–student – is supposed to be only in English. The document contains instructions on organisational issues regarding the number of hours assigned to teaching English to native speakers: ‘Optimally, the native speaker class completely replaces the regular English class’ and in a very probable case of administrative and budget constraints, ‘[t]he native speaker class either gets one less class hour per week than the regular class, or some sort of combination is reached whereby native speaker students have some of their hours separately and some in the regular class’ (Ministry of Education, 2018a).

To follow up on this positive development, we would suggest initiating serious research on the content and methods of teaching of the students defined as ‘native speakers’. The course materials for dovrei anglit have to be considered seriously, bearing in mind that these students are a unique asset to the country. In order not to lose but increase the human potential, it probably makes sense to reconsider the pedagogical approach and aim to prepare such students for situations in which they can capitalise on their English skills in diverse ways. For example, a brief glance at the job ads targeting native English speakers suggests that they are primarily needed in two fields: high-tech and management. As Carmel and Badash (Reference Carmel and Badash2018, p. 142) aptly put it, ‘the availability of tempting job opportunities for English teaching graduates outside the education system, such as teaching in the private sector or working in high-tech companies’ can be an incentive for young dovrei anglit to develop and make the most of their L1 proficiency.

Clearly, it would be sensible if the vocabulary, texts, and styles characteristic of high-tech and managerial discourses were reflected in the curriculum and reading materials for the dovrei anglit. The research on teaching English to ‘native speakers’ in Israel can also draw on studies carried out abroad, in which the authors emphasise the aim of teaching more grammar to native speakers because they tend to use it instinctively, without thinking about the rules as non-native speakers would do. Thus, the current proposed division of skills suggested by the ministry during class time as ‘reading skills 33% (including SSR – silent sustained reading and intensive reading skills), writing skills 33% (including writing workshops) and language skills 33% (including grammar, vocabulary, spelling and other activities)’ might be re-considered. Another suggestion is for researchers to investigate the social and psychological motives that underlie reading choices specific to the language constellation of English-speaking Israelis: which topics are important for reading in English and which in Hebrew? Which internet and media sources are normally selected by native English speakers in various situations – for learning, quick search for information, and for the latest news? Why would they read the same things in English that they could easily read in Hebrew being at least bilingual? Some of these issues are discussed in more detail in the next section dedicated to the methods of teaching English.

3.4.1 HE institutions

In the HE Institutions – Israeli universities and colleges – teaching of English is labeled as teaching of English for Academic purposes (EAP). Traditionally, the students have been taught reading comprehension skills exclusively. As far as we know, the only exception was the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, which always taught grammar and had multiple vocabulary-developing exercises in its in-house course books. Courses of academic writing were offered to graduate and doctoral students by Tel Aviv and Haifa universities, and the Technion-IIT. However, today, it is clear that contemporary students, including those in BA programs, need a more comprehensive set of skills both for internalised education and globalised job markets. (Spector-Cohen et al., Reference Spector-Cohen, Amdur, Barth, Sitman, Weinberg, Reinders, Coombe, Littlejohn and Tafazoli2019). The newly required skills include oral and written presentations in English, writing abstracts and posters, and passive and active communication skills in formal and informal contexts.

To meet these needs, the CEFR-Aligned Framework for English in Higher Education in Israel was established. Being part of the ECOSTAR initiative, the framework aimed ‘to meet contemporary challenges and re-conceptualise the field of EAP in line with internationally accepted standards, while focusing on the specific needs of Israeli students’ (ECOSTAR, 2017, p. 3). With these innovations in mind, a group of researchers from universities and colleges (Spector-Cohen et al., Reference Spector-Cohen, Amdur, Barth, Sitman, Weinberg, Reinders, Coombe, Littlejohn and Tafazoli2019) discussed linguistic, academic, and political considerations with the view on the EAP curriculum reform. The secondary school system is also moving to measure English language proficiency according to the proficiency levels described in the CEFR-Aligned Framework for English in Higher Education in Israel (Ministry of Education, 2019).

3.4.2 Methods of teaching various language skills

Ur's works are always sought after and valued by teachers as they provide consistent help to English instructors in the country. In one of her latest articles, Ur (Reference Ur, Mavridi and Xerri2020) emphasises the importance of teaching higher-order skills in the English classroom. This correlates with the teachers’ bottom-up understanding of the vital role of teaching communicative skills and intercultural interlingual understanding and promoting language awareness (cf., section on teachers in Badrian, Reference Badrian2019; Badrian & Ben Horine, Reference Badrian and Ben Horine2019). After theoretical arguments on the value of teaching higher-order thinking skills particularly by English teachers and taking into account that most online information is mediated by means of that language, Ur gives accessible illustrations of higher-order thinking application in practice: in language exercises, in reading, and in assessing the reliability of internet information.

The recent research into teaching methods in a secondary school and in HE is quite varied in how teachers define themselves and their teaching: EFL, ESL or ELF; some omit definitions altogether. Researchers’ interests and topics range from vocabulary acquisition in the EEL/EFL classrooms (Laufer, Reference Laufer2017; Laufer & Yohanan, Reference Laufer and Yohanan2017; Selivan, Reference Selivan2018; Bardenstein & Brandel, Reference Bardenstein and Brandel2019), developing reading skills (Koifman, Reference Koifman2019), raising learners’ awareness of collocations (Kennedy, Reference Kennedy2019 – EFL teacher) to research-justified techniques enhancing learning, such as ‘noticing’ (Herman, Reference Herman2019).

Herman uses noticing techniques for teaching vocabulary and writing, and concludes that noticing is significant not only for acquisition of grammar skills but also for all areas of learning, such as reading a story, doing an ‘unseen’, spelling, listening, sounding out the words, and trying to encourage better behaviour in the classroom. In addition to awareness raising, noticing helps train pupils to pay attention to language phenomena, with the added benefit of turning language learning into puzzle solving. When game elements are introduced, learner motivation tends to increase.

Considering that members of the young generation have difficulty concentrating on texts alone without visual support, Koifman (Reference Koifman2019) suggests teaching reading skills with the help of graphic organisers, mainly diagrams that provide a visual representation of information. Substantiating her suggestion with cognitive psychology scholarship, Koifman explains how graphic organisers can serve as clues extracted from the text to construct meaning, recognise key words, and the main idea, understand the plot structure, or to analyse the texts critically. Although this method is especially good for learning-disabled children, it is useful for all the students from the elementary to high school grades for a variety of purposes.

Practitioners and researchers explore ways to go beyond the standard course materials. Leebhoff (Reference Leebhoff2019, p. 17), e.g., argues that authentic children's literature sources such as nursery rhymes, picture books, fairy tales, poetry, fables, and the like, promote real learning, provide access to written and spoken language, grammatical structure, vocabulary, and, ‘most importantly, serve as an opportunity to use the language in a meaningful way’.

3.4.3 Developing literacy skills

Literacy, or rather, multiliteracy, has also attracted research attention. Stavans (Reference Stavans2015) argues that for the immigrant students of Ethiopian origin whose home language is either Amharic or Hebrew, the successful development of scholastic literacy is possible when there is mutual respect and interaction between the two literacy traditions enhancing literacy development not only of the children but also of their parents.

Russak (Reference Russak2019) conducted a study in which she evaluated literacy development in Arabic and Hebrew speakers in the elementary school. Her research takes into account the challenges of multilingualism. While her Hebrew-speaking subjects were in the early stage of becoming bilingual and bi-literal, Arabic speakers were obliged to start learning Hebrew prior to the beginning of the English program, so they were on the way to developing tri-literacy.

Russak's other study (Reference Russak2019) sought to examine universal versus language-specific elements that support EFL literacy acquisition. The researcher hypothesised that in line with the linguistic and orthographic proximity hypothesis, other skills, such as orthographic awareness, which is more reliant on specific linguistic knowledge, might not transfer as readily from L1 to additional languages. She also hypothesised that Arabic-speaking bi-literate EFL learners would show a cognitive and linguistic advantage over mono-literate Hebrew EFL learners in the early stages of EFL literacy acquisition. Over 350 schoolchildren participated in that study, carrying out 11 tasks, such as auditory discrimination, word repetition, orthographic choice, letter-sound correspondence, and others. The results reveal that amongst the Hebrew speakers, L1 literacy skills contributed significantly to all measures of literacy in EFL. This profile directly supports the idea that learning which has taken place in L1 can transfer across languages and facilitate L2 learning. Amongst the Arabic speakers, L1 literacy ability was not as directly predictive of EFL literacy; however, the addition of Hebrew L2 literacy skills acted as a facilitator to EFL literacy skills, as evidenced in strong associations between Hebrew L2 skills and EFL literacy measures. In other words, experience with the acquisition of an additional written language prior to the beginning of EFL literacy instruction contributed positively to literacy acquisition processes in EFL for this population. These findings underscore the potential contributions of multilingualism/multiliteracy to the acquisition of literacy skills in additional languages, through the expansion and strengthening of common underlying linguistic processes across the different languages of the learner (Hirosh & Degani, Reference Hirosh and Degani2018). The researcher concludes that literacy acquisition in EFL should start only after pupils have acquired a solid and stable literacy foundation in their L1 and, if an L2 is involved, in that language as well.

So, Russak poses a question: do these two different language populations treated as equals in the framework of the national EFL curriculum require differential treatment? Since L1 Arabic skills do not necessarily contribute directly to EFL literacy skills and since Hebrew (L2) scores in this group are low, this population might need supplementary instruction at initial stages of the additional language acquisition. Another possibility is that the L1 and L2 skills of this population need strengthening prior to the introduction of literacy instruction in an additional language in order to help the Arabic speakers harness the inherent potential of their multilingual background as a contributing factor to literacy acquisition in additional languages.

3.4.4 Information technologies in English-language teaching

A country boasting a high-technology industry, Israel has integrated computer technologies in most spheres of its socio-economic life, including education. The revised school curriculum for all levels of English studies (Ministry of Education, 2018b) and the Professional Framework for English Teachers 2020 (Ministry of Education, 2019) state that among the new approaches to English teaching is the integration of Information Communications Technology (ICT) skills, which should enable learners to cope with the challenges of using modern digital tools. The document warns the reader that technology is only a means to an end, and so its integration into teaching should be informed by pedagogical considerations. It formulates the principles underlying the integration of information and communications technology within language teaching and learning that embrace technical, social, and moral issues. However, the links to the guidelines on the use of technology in teaching and to the ‘criteria and checklists for approving technology-based English-teaching activities’ are severed (Ministry of Education, 2018b, p. 16). Therefore, teachers who wish to develop their own digital materials or tasks requiring the use of the web sources have to search for relevant literature themselves or rely on their own common sense.

The first in-house digital materials in HE institutions appeared in the 1990s, and several universities, e.g., Tel Aviv, Haifa, and the Technion-IIT, launched Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) labs used for class visits and autonomous learning. Universities bought some industrially-produced programs in English but also worked on their own ones closely related to their curricula. The advent of course-management systems and web 3.0. reduced interest in the CALL labs, but that at the Technion-IIT is widely used in English teaching for developing students’ reading and listening comprehension skills, rote drill, and productive tasks.

Most universities and academic colleges today have disposed of printed course packs and use the open-source course-management system Moodle, which enables uploading of text files and multimedia and quizzes supplied with guided feedback. It also allows teachers to organise blog discussions, add various plug-ins expanding the repertoire of learning tasks, and lets students annotate texts collaboratively. These affordances provide teachers with more opportunities for flipped teaching and add flexibility by combining traditional teaching modes with collaborative and autonomous studies. However, surveys and focus interviews conducted by the CALL lab staff at the Technion ITT reveal that BA students, who are less motivated than MA and PhD students in improving their English, are less engaged in making use of the interactive features of the multimedia modules and digital grammar and vocabulary tutorials, such as help screens with rules, word-family charts, thematic glossaries, and guided feedback, which gives hints and asks questions that help find the answer, pointing to contextual clues.

Teachers in the HE institutions also include in their professional repertoire the use of mobile applications Kahoot! (https://kahoot.com/) and Socrative (https://www.socrative.com/). Both are free game-based platforms that can be used to create quizzes, discussions, or polls. Silbenberg (Reference Silbenberg2018) held a survey at the Academic College of Tel Aviv Yaffo to check the students’ attitude to the integration of Kahoot! vocabulary quizzes into frontal classes. The overall evaluation of the respondents (over 80%) was positive. Kahoot! helped them focus both on the tasks and on the teacher's explanations and helped them remember tested words better. One can hypothesise that the students favor gaming platforms in class because they allow them to interact and compete, work individually and in teams, and, most importantly, allow them to switch from more traditional learning activities to what seems close to entertainment.

In an effort to bring English teaching closer to real-life situations, instructors in Israel find partners abroad to conduct collaborative virtual projects. Several such projects were run as part of teacher-training programs bringing together pre-service teachers with their peers in Canada, Germany, and the USA (see Waldman & Harel, Reference Waldman, Harel and Schwarzer2015; Waldman, Harel, & Schwab, Reference Waldman, Harel, Schwab, Jager, Kurek and O'Rourke2016; Lawrence & Spector-Cohen, Reference Lawrence, Spector-Cohen, Tafazoli, Gomez-Parra and Huertas2018; O'Dowd, Sauro, & Spector-Cohen, Reference O'Dowd, Sauro and Spector-Cohen2020). Such international telecollaborative exchanges offer language teachers the opportunity to experientially work with ICT tools within an international community of practice to explore the benefits and hurdles of technology-mediated, intercultural language teaching and learning and their potential impacts on curriculum development and teaching practice (Lawrence & Spector-Cohen, Reference Lawrence, Spector-Cohen, Tafazoli, Gomez-Parra and Huertas2018, p. 2). This type of interaction is learner-centered and involves both formal and informal learning, and negotiations of meaning within a collaborating team (Waldman & Harel, Reference Waldman, Harel and Schwarzer2015). Moreover, since the outcome of the projects is either a jointly-prepared poster, a Wiki page, or an oral presentation at a video conference, it gives participants practice in formal and informal communication in English. The topics of the projects vary, ranging from those closely associated with the students’ future profession, e.g., the evaluation of EFL teaching systems in the participants’ countries (Waldman et al., Reference Waldman, Harel, Schwab, Jager, Kurek and O'Rourke2016) to those targeting education of responsible citizens, e.g., ‘social justice and global awareness’ (Waldman & Harel, Reference Waldman, Harel and Schwarzer2015). While in the past English teachers tried to find student partners who were native speakers of English, today they realise that in the students’ future professional practices they are likely to be exposed to a variety of accents, politeness styles, expression of emotions, etc. So, in the projects in which for all the participants English is not a mother tongue, there are additional challenges in the interpretation of verbal behaviour. Collaborative projects bringing together participants from different countries help students improve the soft skills essential for successful intercultural communication (Scott-Monkhouse et al., Reference Scott-Monkhouse, Tal and Yelenevskayaforthcoming). Taking into account that the main goals set for the student participants are concerned with content and creation of joint products, we witness what can be called ‘incidental language learning’ – learning by doing and reinforcing the language skills acquired in the course of traditional learning.

All the international virtual projects reported by Israeli English teachers and their international collaborators enabled students to practice both receptive and productive skills and gave a boost to their learner autonomy. Yet in order for these projects to be successful, they require teachers’ involvement, and help at all stages, from setting goals, consultations on information gathering and selecting, to discussions of the poster/paper outlines, rehearsals of presentations and question-and-answer sessions of video conferences, and others. Enhancing language teaching with fast evolving and changing technologies is an important pedagogical mission, and it requires of teachers to constantly acquire new skills and often learn from their technologically savvy students.

Technological advances help SEN students. Those who need audio support can work with text-to-speech programs for studies and testing. Electronic and online dictionaries as well as apps for mobile devices are widely used in English teaching and help students develop their vocabulary. Some teachers use a multimodal approach, summoning visual support, using color highlighting in PPT presentations, and preparing subtitles for educational videos. Some universities, e.g., Tel Aviv and the Technion-IIT, have remedial programs for SEN students, making use of electronic resources (Silbenberg, Reference Silbenberg2016; Tal, Reference Tal2016).

One such project is run at the Technion-IIT. It offers learning disabled graduate students the chance to participate in an EAP course prior to taking the in-house English Proficiency Examination. One of the problems with SEN students participating in classes together with their peers is that in big classes (30–35 students) the teacher seldom has an opportunity to adjust the rhythm of the class, explanations, and tasks to the needs of SEN students. One-on-one tutorials make this possible. The instructor and the student recapitulate important points and jointly work out learning strategies appropriate for each student. SEN students are encouraged to self-assess and reflect about the tools and methods that are effective for them. Both the course and the tutorials widely use online materials that enable students to work at their own pace. The teacher of the class and the tutor observe the students closely and offer appropriate accommodations in the tests. Grammar and vocabulary pre- and post-tests indicate progress, although in some severe cases one semester proves to be insufficient for a SEN student to attain a level required of an MA student. The post-course questionnaires show that the participants are mostly satisfied by a combination of direct instruction, multisensory methods, and the individualised approach. Many of them feel that the remedial program equips them with tools to continue language learning autonomously (Tal, Reference Tal2016). Like in other HE institutions in Israel, English classes at the Technion are conducted only in English. Even when teachers feel that reference to the country's lingua franca, Hebrew, could help, they refrain due to a growing number of international students in English classes. However, in remedial tutorials, the teacher often switches to Hebrew. Moreover, working with international students, she tries to mobilise their metalinguistic skills, comparing how things are done in English and their L1. Unfortunately, such programs are not available for all the SEN students who need them. One reason is financial constraints, the other is a lack of specially trained teachers. According to a recent study of school teachers conducted by Russak, only 43% of her project participants had any training in special education (Reference Russak2016, p. 4).