Insights into Senior Foreign Language Education


Book Description

This book examines the unique characteristics of teaching foreign languages to senior learners. It discusses the potential age-related barriers and learning difficulties which may be encountered in senior foreign language education as well as solutions to overcome these challenges. The author describes the processes of human aging from different perspectives and introduces the concept of lifelong learning. The book proposes classroom practices, activities and materials that may be adopted when working with senior learners which will prove useful to teachers and teacher trainers, as well as to educational policymakers and planners. Furthermore, it describes potential modifications to educational programmes that may be introduced in order to eliminate affective barriers, making the learning material relevant and motivating, and encouraging the use of adult learning strategies.




Attitudes to Modern Foreign Language Learning


Book Description

Draws on comparative education to offer an insight into the development of modern foreign language learning.




From Equity Insights to Action


Book Description

Your Greatest Assets are Right Before Your Eyes: Your Multilingual Learners! Equity for multilingual learners (MLLs) means that students’ cultural and linguistic identities, backgrounds, and experiences are recognized as valued, rich sources of knowledge and their academic, linguistic, literacy, and social–emotional growth is ensured to the fullest potential. This ready-to-use guide offers practical, classroom-level strategies for educators seeking thoughtful, research-informed, and accessible information on how to champion equity for MLLs in a post-COVID era. Focused on the deliberate daily actions that all teachers of multilingual learners can take, this resource guide captures a compelling advocacy framework for culturally and linguistically responsive equity work, including Authentic examples of how educators understand and support MLLs through an equity lens Student portraits of multilingual learners’ experiences Accessible answers to essential how-to questions Robust professional learning activities Access to print and online resources for additional information Thoughtful probes throughout the guide help teachers develop student agency and foster pathways in their own practice and communication with multilingual learners.




Intercultural Foreign Language Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Contexts


Book Description

While research into intercultural teaching has grown exponentially during the past two decades, the research has primarily resorted to the use of quantitative data collection instruments and the interpretation of scores calculated through them. As such, studies in the field can seem somewhat decontextualized, ignoring in some cases setting-specific parameters. Therefore, further study is needed to bring together theory, research, and practice demonstrating how this teaching is reflected in research design and how it is undertaken in different settings. Intercultural Foreign Language Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Contexts is an essential reference source that provides a series of rich insights into the way intercultural education is practiced in numerous international contexts and showcases practical examples of teaching situations and classroom activities that demonstrate its impact within the classroom. Featuring research on topics such as higher education, multilingualism, and professionalism, this book is ideally designed for educators, researchers, administrators, professionals, academicians, and students seeking pedagogical guidance on intercultural teaching.




Diversity and Inclusion in English Language Education


Book Description

This edited volume takes an expansive, no-nonsense view of the spectrum of English language learners to address their varied backgrounds and their wide range of needs, worries, motivations, and abilities. Each chapter addresses a key area and group of students to enable English language teachers to come away with the knowledge and skills they need to support their students. The contributors, who represent a diverse range of voices themselves, cover essential topics, including dyslexia, neurodiversity, linguistic inclusion, deaf students, LGBTQI+ students, racial and cultural inclusion, and more. Accessible and grounded in cutting-edge research, this book features key concepts, methodologies, and strategies that will encourage reflection and inclusive pedagogy. An invaluable resource for students, researchers, and professionals, this volume demonstrates how English language education can be a force for transformative change and social inclusion.




Individual differences in Computer Assisted Language Learning Research


Book Description

This book syntheses cutting-edge research on the role of individual differences (IDs) in the field of SLA and in computer assisted language learning. It also outlines the theoretical and methodological issues at the heart of this research, presents empirical findings and charts future directions of this research. Pawlak and Kruk provide an overview of the latest theoretical developments in research on IDs in SLA as well as methodological considerations that are crucial when researching individual variation, with special emphasis on data-collection procedures that are most prominent in CALL. The book goes on to summarize and explore a body of empirical evidence concerning the role of individual difference factors in CALL, singling out existing gaps, methodological problems, and areas in need of further investigation. Finally, the authors provide a guide on how empirical investigations of individual difference factors in CALL can be improved by incorporating latest developments from the broader field of SLA. This book will be of great interest to postgraduates and scholars in the domain of applied linguistics and second language education who are interested in CALL, as well as those studying and undertaking research in second language learning and teaching.




Political, Pedagogical and Research Insights into Early Language Education


Book Description

This book represents a valuable contribution to current discussions on teaching languages to young learners. It offers new perspectives from around the world about macro- and micro-language planning and policies, theories and research, and pedagogical suggestions regarding teaching languages to young learners. The volume offers comprehensive coverage of topics touching upon important aspects of the cognitive and social learning processes of young learners, the current situation of early language teacher education, and primary-level classroom practices. It begins with a discussion of planning and policies around the world with regards to teaching languages to children, before presenting a review of theoretical frameworks and offering research-based studies that test these theories. It will be of interest to policymakers, program designers, researchers, teacher trainers, and teachers, as well as undergraduate and graduate students of Foreign Language Education and TESOL programs at universities.




Insights into Language Teaching and Learning : Malaysian Perspectives (UUM Press)


Book Description

Insights into Language Teaching and Learning: Malaysian Perspectives offers theoretical and practical aspects of language teaching and learning, and focuses on classroom practices of both teachers and learners. This book is written in a clear and reader-friendly manner to create readers’ interest on the various issues of discussion. The uniqueness of this book is that it captures and disseminates various practices and perspectives being adopted in the teaching and learning of English in the Malaysian context. This book is ideal for undergraduate and postgraduate students as well as teachers who are working or researching on second language learners. This book with its contemporary issues should also be of interest to academicians, professionals and researchers.




East Asian Perspectives on Silence in English Language Education


Book Description

Silence is a key pedagogical issue in language education. Seen by some as a space for thinking and reflection during the learning process, for others silence represents a threat, inhibiting target language interaction which is so vital during second language acquisition. This book eschews stereotypes and generalisations about why so many learners from East Asia seem either reluctant or unable to speak in English by providing a state-of-the art account of current research into the complex and ambiguous issue of silence in language education. The innovative research included in this volume focuses on silence both as a barrier to successful learning and as a resource that may in some cases facilitate language acquisition. The book offers a fresh perspective on ways to facilitate classroom interaction while also embracing silence and it touches on key pedagogical concepts such as teacher cognition, the role of task features, classroom interactional approaches, pedagogical intervention and socialisation, willingness to communicate, as well as psychological and sociocultural factors. Each of the book’s chapters include self-reflection and discussion tasks, as well as annotated bibliographies for further reading.




Insight into EFL Teaching and Issues in Asia


Book Description

This collection offers insight into current issues in teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Asia. University and secondary school teachers and researchers from nine different countries share experiences they have encountered in their English-language courses, offering suggestions for incorporating new methodologies and techniques both in and outside the classroom. Not only is this book filled with valuable teaching techniques that the contributors have found successful, but it also introduces new ways of dealing with various social situations in the classroom. This book is unique in that it offers the perspective of teaching English in Asia, where students often don’t get many opportunities to engage with the language in informal settings. This book is geared towards university-level instructors and secondary school teachers teaching EFL in Asia, as well as researchers conducting cross-cultural studies which investigate foreign language learning and acquisition in today’s global society. English language teaching has become a booming industry in this region, and with the professionalization of the field comes abundant opportunities for research and informed practices. This book stands alone in its purpose in generating a current view of the situations which EFL teachers and students in Asia today face. Topics discussed in this volume include action research projects, successful teaching practices, innovative language assistance programs, and issues of autonomy and identity.