Mobility and Localisation in Language Learning


Book Description

Learning a foreign language facilitates the most intimate access one can get to the culture and society of another language community. The process of learning a foreign language always involves intercultural levels of engagement between the languages and cultures concerned. This series is not limited to the field of applied linguistics but also includes relevant research from linguistic anthropology, language learning pedagogy, translation studies and language philosophy.




The Personal World of the Language Learner


Book Description

This book presents a radical turn in Second Language Acquisition research by introducing a conceptual paradigm that challenges rationalist, instrumental and empiricist approaches to language learning theory. It argues for a shift in focus from measuring the effectiveness of language learning processes to humanising the language learning experience. This new paradigm explores the force of affect, the imagination and creativity and their roles in assembling language learners' intimate worlds. 'The personal' is reclaimed and acts as driving force for language learning and the sphere in which learners engage both their minds and bodies in a constant socialization of feelings and emotions. The author provides examples from real language learners using a variety of modern languages to provide insights on the kind of personal worlds that languages compel us to inhabit. This book will be of interest to those working with language learning and language education theory, language teachers, and researchers and students who are interested in issues of identity and intercultural communication in language learning.




Liberating Language Education


Book Description

This book responds to a growing body of work in sociolinguistics and applied linguistics that places an emphasis on situated descriptions of language education practices and illuminates how these descriptions are enmeshed with local, institutional and wider social forces. It engages with new ways of understanding language that expand its meaning by including other semiotic resources and meaning-making practices and bring to the fore its messiness and unpredictability. The chapters illustrate how a translingual and transcultural orientation to language and language pedagogy can provide a point of entry to reimagining what language education might look like under conditions of heightened linguistic and cultural diversity and increased linguistic and social inequalities. The book unites an international group of contributors, presenting state-of-the-art empirical studies drawing on a wide range of local contexts and spaces, from linguistically and culturally heterogeneous mainstream and HE classrooms to complementary (community) school and informal language learning contexts.




Critical Perspectives on Language Teaching Materials


Book Description

This Critical Perspectives on Language Teaching Materials brings together a collection of critical voices on the subject of language teaching materials for use in English, French, Spanish, German and Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) classrooms.




Global Citizenship in Foreign Language Education


Book Description

In light of increasing globalization, this collection makes the case for global citizenship education as a way forward for transforming foreign language learning and teaching to better address current and future global challenges in times of unprecedented change. The volume maps a multi-dimensional approach within foreign language pedagogy to take up the challenge of "educating the global citizen". Drawing on sociocultural, pedagogical, cosmopolitan, digital and civic-minded perspectives, the book explores the challenges in constructing epistemological frameworks in increasingly global environments, the need for developing context-sensitive educational practices, the potential of linking up with work from related disciplines, and the impact of these considerations on different educational settings. The collection reflects an international range of voices, attuned to global and local nuances, to offer a holistic compilation of conceptual innovations to showcase the relevance of global citizenship issues in foreign language education and encourage future research. This book will be of interest to scholars in intercultural education, foreign language education, and language teaching, as well as policymakers and foreign language teachers. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.




Interculturality in Learning Mandarin Chinese in British Universities


Book Description

As China and Chinese language learning moves centre stage economically and politically, questions of interculturality assume even greater significance. In this book interculturality draws attention to the processes involved in people engaging and exchanging with each other across languages, nationalities and ethnicities. The study, which adopts an ecological perspective, critically examines a range of issues and uses a variety of sources to conduct a multifaceted investigation. Data gathered from interviews with students of Mandarin sit alongside a critical discussion of a wide range of sources. Interculturality in Learning Mandarin Chinese in British Universities will be of interest to students and academics studying and researching Chinese language education, and academics working in the fields of language and intercultural communication, intercultural education and language education in general.




The Critical Turn in Language and Intercultural Communication Pedagogy


Book Description

This edited research volume explores the development of what can be described as the ‘critical turn’ in intercultural communication pedagogy, with a particular focus on modern/foreign language education. The main aim is to trace the realisations of this critical turn against a background of unequal power relations, and to illuminate the role that radical culture educators can play in the making of a more democratic and egalitarian social order. The volume takes as a starting point the idea that criticality draws on a number of intellectual traditions, which do not always focus on social and political critique, and argues that because ideological hegemony impacts on the meanings that people create and share, intercultural communication pedagogy ought to locate itself within wider socio-political contexts. With reference points drawn from critical and transnational social theory, critical pedagogy and intercultural theory, contributors to this volume provide readers with powerful ways that show how this can be achieved, and together assess the impact that their understanding of criticality can make on modern/foreign language education. The volume is divided into three major parts, namely: ‘theorising critically’, ‘researching critically’ and ‘teaching critically’.




Representations of the World in Language Textbooks


Book Description

This book presents a new and comprehensive framework for the analysis of representations of culture, society and the world in textbooks for foreign and second language learning. The framework is transferable to other kinds of learning materials and to other subjects. The framework distinguishes between five approaches: national studies, citizenship education studies, cultural studies, postcolonial studies and transnational studies. In a series of concrete analyses, the book illustrates how one can describe and uncover representations of the world in textbooks for English, German, French, Spanish, Danish and Esperanto. Each analysis is accompanied by suggestions of possible supplements and changes. The book points to the need for language learning materials to deal seriously with knowledge about the world, including its diversities and problems.




Languages of the Wider World


Book Description

The last few decades have seen a stretching and exchange of local, regional and national languages, identities, cultures, and economies worldwide as a consequence of globalisation and technology development. Significantly, the languages of the Middle East, Africa, Asia, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and Russia have been attracting increasing strategic, commercial and civic attention. Collectively referred to as ‘Languages of the Wider World’ (LWW), these languages are important given the emergence of new centres of capital and cultural accumulation in the 21st century, such as Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRICs). This volume focuses on LWW in use, and on their teaching and learning. It ranges from a highly localized focus (on learners and teachers of Community/Heritage Languages), to broader national and international foci (on policy makers and multilingualism; on teachers in primary, secondary and tertiary systems). It aims to inspire researchers and practitioners to work on languages other than the ones that have been the mainstay of the field to facilitate the development of a vibrant and critical community of enquiry in Languages of the Wider World. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Language Learning Journal.




Handbook of Mobile Learning


Book Description

Winner of the AECT Division of Distance Learning (DDL) Distance Education Book Award! This handbook provides a comprehensive compendium of research in all aspects of mobile learning, one of the most significant ongoing global developments in the entire field of education. Rather than focus on specific technologies, expert authors discuss how best to utilize technology in the service of improving teaching and learning. For more than a decade, researchers and practitioners have been exploring this area of study as the growing popularity of smartphones, tablets, and other such devices, as well as the increasingly sophisticated applications for these devices, has allowed educators to accommodate and support an increasingly mobile society. This handbook provides the first authoritative account of the theory and research that underlies mobile learning, while also exemplifying models of current and future practice.