Languages for the Nation


Book Description

"Selected proceedings of the 2008 joint conference of the Southern Conference on Language Teaching and the South Carolina Foreign Language Teachers' Association."




English as a Global Language


Book Description

Written in a detailed and fascinating manner, this book is ideal for general readers interested in the English language.




Innovative Strategies for Heritage Language Teaching


Book Description

Heritage language (HL) learning and teaching presents particularly difficult challenges. Melding cutting-edge research with innovations in teaching practice, the contributors in this volume provide practical knowledge and tools that introduce new solutions informed by linguistic, sociolinguistic, and educational research on heritage learners. Scholars address new perspectives and orientations on designing HL programs, assessing progress and proficiency, transferring research knowledge into classroom practice, and the essential question of how to define a heritage learner. Articles offer analysis and answers on multiple languages, and the result is a unique and essential text--the only comprehensive guide for heritage language learning based on the latest theory and research with suggestions for the classroom.




Teaching Language Online


Book Description

Practical and accessible, this book comprehensively covers everything you need to know to design, develop, and deliver successful online, blended, and flipped language courses. Grounded in the principles of instructional design and communicative language teaching, this book serves as a compendium of best practices, research, and strategies for creating learner-centered online language instruction that builds students’ proficiency within meaningful cultural contexts. This book addresses important topics such as finding and optimizing online resources and materials, learner engagement, teacher and student satisfaction and connectedness, professional development, and online language assessment. Teaching Language Online features: A step-by-step guide aligned with the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) for Languages: Learning, Teaching and Assessment, and the World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA) standards Research-based best practices and tools to implement effective communicative language teaching (CLT) online Strategies and practices that apply equally to world languages and ESL/EFL contexts Key takeaway summaries, discussion questions, and suggestions for further reading in every chapter Free, downloadable eResources with further readings and more materials available at www.routledge.com/ 9781138387003 As the demand for language courses in online or blended formats grows, K-16 instructors urgently need resources to effectively transition their teaching online. Designed to help world language instructors, professors, and K-12 language educators regardless of their level of experience with online learning, this book walks through the steps to move from the traditional classroom format to effective, successful online teaching environments.




The Arabic Language in America


Book Description

As in any other situation of languages in contact, Arabic spoken in the United States is changing under the influence of English. It has incorporated different linguistic innovations, and interference from English occurs on the various linguistic levels. However, in many cases this interference does not lead to language attrition, but rather to the creation of an ethnic language with special uses understood only by members of the Arab-American community. Developed out of Aleya Rouchdy's own involvement and teaching of Arabic in the United States, this book--the first of its kind--is devoted to the full range of Arabic in America. In Part I contributors discuss borrowing and the changes occurring on the various linguistic levels of Arabic and the social factors that have contributed to these changes. Other chapters in Part I deal with code-switching between English and Arabic. Part II examines the shift toward English and the maintenance of Arabic as well as the attitudes that speakers display toward Arabic. Chapters in Part ill are pedagogical in nature. The essays explore the history of the study of Arabic in the United States and examine methods and materials used in the teaching of Arabic, as well as some of the theoretical and practical implications associated with these different approaches. Primarily for readers with special interest in Arab immigration, settlement, and ethnicity, The Arabic Language in America will also engage the attention of sociologists, social historians, anthropologists, linguists, and sociolinguists, who will find the book relevant for their work.




Dual Language Education


Book Description

Dual language education is a program that combines language minority and language majority students for instruction through two languages. This book provides the conceptual background for the program and discusses major implementation issues. Research findings summarize language proficiency and achievement outcomes from 8000 students at 20 schools, along with teacher and parent attitudes.




The SAGE Handbook of Intercultural Competence


Book Description

Containing chapters by some of the world's leading experts and scholars on the subject, this book provides a broad context for intercultural competence. Including the latest research on intercultural models and theories, it presents guidance on assessing intercultural competence through the exploration of key assessment principles.




Finding What Works in Health Care


Book Description

Healthcare decision makers in search of reliable information that compares health interventions increasingly turn to systematic reviews for the best summary of the evidence. Systematic reviews identify, select, assess, and synthesize the findings of similar but separate studies, and can help clarify what is known and not known about the potential benefits and harms of drugs, devices, and other healthcare services. Systematic reviews can be helpful for clinicians who want to integrate research findings into their daily practices, for patients to make well-informed choices about their own care, for professional medical societies and other organizations that develop clinical practice guidelines. Too often systematic reviews are of uncertain or poor quality. There are no universally accepted standards for developing systematic reviews leading to variability in how conflicts of interest and biases are handled, how evidence is appraised, and the overall scientific rigor of the process. In Finding What Works in Health Care the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommends 21 standards for developing high-quality systematic reviews of comparative effectiveness research. The standards address the entire systematic review process from the initial steps of formulating the topic and building the review team to producing a detailed final report that synthesizes what the evidence shows and where knowledge gaps remain. Finding What Works in Health Care also proposes a framework for improving the quality of the science underpinning systematic reviews. This book will serve as a vital resource for both sponsors and producers of systematic reviews of comparative effectiveness research.




Self-Esteem and Foreign Language Learning


Book Description

Self-Esteem and Foreign Language Learning deals with a topic which has been given surprisingly little attention in Second and Foreign Language Acquisition studies. Although there are several studies dealing with general education, this volume addresses the need to take self-esteem into consideration in the language classroom and adopts both theoretical/research and practical perspectives, with the hope of being useful for both researchers and practitioners. The book is organized into three main parts. Part I serves as an introduction to self-esteem. Part II reports on the existing literature about the theory and research dealing with self-esteem and foreign language learning, and Part III includes procedures for implementation and activities for classroom applications. Self-Esteem and Foreign Language Learning is edited by Fernando Rubio (PhD.), a researcher and teacher at the University of Huelva in Spain. Most of the chapters have been written by members of the research group “Affective factors in language learning”, which has also published a book on Multiple Intelligences and the teaching of English (Dr. Jane Arnold, Dr. Carmen Fonseca, etc.). There are two outside contributions: one is by Andrew Wright, author of numerous publications for language teachers, and the other by Veronica de Andrés, teacher trainer from the University of El Salvador (Argentina) and member of the executive board of the International Council for Self-Esteem. Dr. Elaine Horwitz of the University of Texas has contributed a preface.




First Language Use in Second and Foreign Language Learning


Book Description

This volume offers fresh perspectives on a controversial issue in applied linguistics and language teaching by focusing on the use of the first language in communicative or immersion-type classrooms. It includes new work by both new and established scholars in educational scholarship, second language acquisition, and sociolinguistics, as well as in a variety of languages, countries, and educational contexts. Through its focus at the intersection of theory, practice, curriculum and policy, the book demands a reconceptualization of code-switching as something that both proficient and aspiring bilinguals do naturally, and as a practice that is inherently linked with bilingual code-switching.