This book presents a selection of papers on teaching English as a foreign language and the role of language education in human development. As thinking skills rely on language, language education should exceed utilitarian and everyday communicative needs and should be the basis for developing other school subjects. The book provides practical suggestions for language teaching, for the development of logical thinking and the understanding of the linguistic relationship between the first and the second languages in a historical perspective.

Reflective Dialogue presents professional educators with the necessary background and skills to engage in reflective dialogue with language learners effectively. It draws on work in the fields of advising in language learning, reflective practice, sociocultural theory, language learner autonomy, counseling, and life coaching to provide both an introduction to the field and guidance for researching advising in action. The book also includes a wide variety of practical ideas and over 30 sample dialogues that offer clear demonstrations of the concepts discussed in practice. This dynamic textbook's practical approach illustrates how reflective dialogue can promote language learner autonomy and how language advising can be implemented successfully both inside and outside the classroom.

Language teachers' competencies in computer-assisted language learning (CALL) are a crucial factor affecting their own implementation of CALL. However, there is still a concern that many language teachers are not adequately prepared to make effective use of CALL or to identify and evaluate potential CALL solutions. This can be the result of many different factors and raises the question of how to train teachers to develop their CALL knowledge and skills to a greater degree. The discussion of approaches to training language teachers in the use of technology adopted in areas of Australia, the UK and the US provides valuable insights for those already involved in this area, and inspiration for those who have some interest in carrying out this kind of training, but as yet have little or no experience. This book explores the current status of CALL teacher education and discusses issues and challenges CALL teacher educators face in their own contexts. Specifically, it looks at postgraduate CALL courses offered at different universities to find ways of improving CALL teacher training. It represents the first overview of a topic that is relevant to most postgraduate courses in Applied Linguistics or TESOL across the globe. The use of technology for language learning and teaching is increasingly common but, as is so often the case, training for teachers in how to use that technology remains limited, to a large extent by lack of expertise among trainers.

Reflective Dialogue presents professional educators with the necessary background and skills to engage in reflective dialogue with language learners effectively. It draws on work in the fields of advising in language learning, reflective practice, sociocultural theory, language learner autonomy, counseling, and life coaching to provide both an introduction to the field and guidance for researching advising in action. The book also includes a wide variety of practical ideas and over 30 sample dialogues that offer clear demonstrations of the concepts discussed in practice. This dynamic textbook's practical approach illustrates how reflective dialogue can promote language learner autonomy and how language advising can be implemented successfully both inside and outside the classroom.

The book focuses on the most difficult aspect of learning/teaching Chinese as an additional language-literacy acquisition. Theoretically, this book provides frameworks and evidence from both cognitive and sociocultural perspectives on the nature of CAL reading development. Pedagogically, the book showcases how to teach and assess CAL reading skills. Methodologically, this book includes empirical studies using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Geographically, the authors/contributors are from different parts of the world: North America, Europe and Asia. Their participants/subjects/students in these studies have diverse backgrounds. In terms of scope, the book covers a much broader spectrum of issues about CAL reading research and classroom teaching than has previously been available. Writing is also discussed in the book. In terms of technology, the book includes discussion on how the use of computers, the Internet and social media impacts students' Chinese literacy acquisition. The book also presents some findings on how to use technology to teach different subskills of CAL reading.

Pragmatic competence plays a key role in intercultural communication, particularly for students studying in a target community. This book investigates the effect of study abroad on second language learners' productive and receptive pragmatic competences, as well as their cognitive processes during speech act production. It employs a variety of research instruments, both quantitative and qualitative, to explore learners' pragmatic development over one year. The inclusion of a control group is a methodological strength of the longitudinal study, many such studies often not including a control group. In addition, the study longitudinally examines learners' cognitive processes during study abroad with innovative and insightful analyses. The book makes an important contribution to second language pragmatics with regard to developmental changes in both speech act production and perception during such processes.

The past two decades have created quantitatively higher and qualitatively different demands for foreign language skills. Learners' needs, expectations and contexts of language use have undergone radical and far-reaching transformations. This collection of essays by experienced educators, teacher trainers and researchers from diverse linguistic, cultural and professional settings offers a fresh perspective on the aspects and ways of teaching skills which are crucial to contemporary language instruction, especially at the more advanced stages, but which have oftentimes been unjustly neglected in the classroom. The book discusses issues ranging from approaches to teaching, contexts of instruction, testing and assessment to curriculum development and technology in the classroom.

Humor in the Classroom provides practical, research-based answers to questions that educational researchers and language teachers might have about the social and cognitive benefits that humor and language play afford in classroom discourse and additional language learning. The book considers the ways in which humor, language play, and creativity can construct new possibilities for classroom identity, critique prevailing norms, and reconfigure particular relations of power. Humor in the Classroom encourages educational researchers and language teachers to take a fresh look at the workings of humor in today's linguistically diverse classrooms and makes the argument for its role in building a stronger foundation for studies of classroom discourse, theories of additional language development, and approaches to language pedagogy.

This book addresses the issue of using texts of culture in the EFL classroom. It analyzes some of the common problems observed in the teaching of English to senior secondary schools students, particularly in the context of the school leaving examination. It offers a discussion of the role of English language education in the school curriculum and stresses the importance of using texts with cognitive appeal at lessons. It presents the impact of literature, films and songs on the student's overall development and a set of criteria for text selection. It also investigates the English teacher's role in exploiting the educational potential of culture texts and proposes a way of integrating them with a system of preparation for the school leaving examination in English.

Humor in the Classroom provides practical, research-based answers to questions that educational researchers and language teachers might have about the social and cognitive benefits that humor and language play afford in classroom discourse and additional language learning. The book considers the ways in which humor, language play, and creativity can construct new possibilities for classroom identity, critique prevailing norms, and reconfigure particular relations of power. Humor in the Classroom encourages educational researchers and language teachers to take a fresh look at the workings of humor in today's linguistically diverse classrooms and makes the argument for its role in building a stronger foundation for studies of classroom discourse, theories of additional language development, and approaches to language pedagogy.

First published in 1967, this book was based on new descriptions of English emerging from recent research. It provides an introduction to the study of the English language for the first-year university student. It will also be invaluable to all those concerned with the teaching and learning of English as a foreign or second language, particularly the teacher in training and the university student.

Der Band enthalt 34 Beitrage, die beim 45. Linguistischen Kolloquium in Veszprem (Ungarn) vom 16. bis 18. September 2010 prasentiert wurden. Die Autoren beschaftigen sich mit alteren und neueren Arbeitsfeldern der Sprachwissenschaft sowie ihren innovativen Ergebnissen. Die internationale Zusammensetzung der Kolloquiumsteilnehmer und ihre diversen methodischen Standpunkte und Aspekte bieten ein breit gefachertes Forschungsfeld im linguistischen Wissenschaftsbetrieb. Neben Angewandter Linguistik, Interkultureller Linguistik, Pragmatik, Lexikologie, Semantik, Kontaktlinguistik und Grammatikographie ist auch die Sektion Fremdsprachendidaktik vertreten. Daruber hinaus werden in dem Sammelband Fragen fur kunftige Forschungen formuliert. This volume presents 34 papers delivered at the 45th Linguistics Colloquium in Veszprem (Hungary) from 16th to 18th September, 2010. The authors deal with older and newer fields of work in linguistics as well as their innovative results. The international composition of the participants and the various methodological positions and aspects of the academic activities in linguistics offer the possibility of a broad field of research. Apart from Applied Linguistics, Intercultural Linguistics, Pragmatics, Lexicology, Semantics, Contact Linguistics and Grammaticography, the book also presents Foreign Language Didactics. Moreover, the book suggests topics for future research.

Learning a foreign language in its cultural context has a significant effect on the subjective mind, ranging from the unsettling to the inspirational. The complex interplay between native and foreign languages, their cultural conceptualisations and discourses and the mind and body of the learner results in the subjective construction of individual positionings located "in between" the languages and cultures involved. These processes are not restricted to the cognitive level of learning but also involve deep-seated habits, values and beliefs. These habits, values and beliefs are to a certain extent the result of subjective experiences and feelings; however, they are also embedded in a socio-cultural network of concepts, norms, traditions and life-worlds, so that they are characterised both by the learner's subjectivity and by the sociality and (inter-)culturality of their environment. The essays in this volume explore the subjective dimension of intercultural language learning, ranging from theoretical considerations to empirical studies and providing stimulating insights into this important area of study.

Winner of the SAGE/ILTA Book Award 2016 Re-examining Language Testing explores ideas that form the foundations of language testing and assessment. The discussion is framed within the philosophical and social beliefs that have forged the practices endemic in language education and policy today. From historical and cultural perspectives, Glenn Fulcher considers the evolution of language assessment, and contrasting claims made about the nature of language and human communication, how we acquire knowledge of language abilities, and the ethics of test use. The book investigates why societies use tests, and the values that have driven changes in practice over time. The discussion is presented within an argument that an Enlightenment inspired view of human nature and advancement is most suited to a progressive, tolerant, and principled theory of language testing and validation. Covering key topics such as measurement, validity, accountability and values, Re-examining Language Testing provides a unique and innovative analysis of the ideas and social forces that shape the practice of language testing. It is an essential read for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students of Applied Linguistics and Education. Professionals working in language testing and language teachers will also find this book invaluable.

Winner of the SAGE/ILTA Book Award 2016 Re-examining Language Testing explores ideas that form the foundations of language testing and assessment. The discussion is framed within the philosophical and social beliefs that have forged the practices endemic in language education and policy today. From historical and cultural perspectives, Glenn Fulcher considers the evolution of language assessment, and contrasting claims made about the nature of language and human communication, how we acquire knowledge of language abilities, and the ethics of test use. The book investigates why societies use tests, and the values that have driven changes in practice over time. The discussion is presented within an argument that an Enlightenment inspired view of human nature and advancement is most suited to a progressive, tolerant, and principled theory of language testing and validation. Covering key topics such as measurement, validity, accountability and values, Re-examining Language Testing provides a unique and innovative analysis of the ideas and social forces that shape the practice of language testing. It is an essential read for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students of Applied Linguistics and Education. Professionals working in language testing and language teachers will also find this book invaluable.

This volume brings together thirteen articles presented at the 27th International Conference of the Croatian Applied Linguistics Society held in Dubrovnik in 2013. The authors explore four groups of issues: stability and change at the intersection of the standard and other varieties; language policy and language attitudes in relation to the status of L1 and L2; bilingualism and multilingualism; translation solutions reaffirming and/or establishing the norm. The articles focus on the contemporary Croatian and Slovenian sociolinguistic situation, relating it to the current situation in Europe.

This book delineates a range of linguistic features that characterise the reading texts used at the B2 (Independent User) and C1 (Proficient User) levels of the Greek State Certificate of English Language Proficiency exams in order to help define text difficulty per level of competence. In addition, it examines whether specific reader variables influence test takers' perceptions of reading comprehension difficulty. The end product is a Text Classification Profile per level of competence and a formula for automatically estimating text difficulty and assigning levels to texts consistently and reliably in accordance with the purposes of the exam and its candidature-specific characteristics.

The author addresses key questions of foreign language teaching: How does foreign language learning take place? What is the mechanism of foreign language use and learning? What are the sources of our understanding of these processes? What significance does our understanding have for foreign language teaching? The main argument is that, in order to deal with the complexity of language learning and meet the current demands for foreign language competency, we must employ the framework of an empirical, relatively autonomous discipline of Foreign Language Didactics, constituted as a "normal" science which strives to understand foreign language learning as its subject-matter. This constructivist psycholinguistic conception targets language learning processes in the real world, i.e. as language use in the context of verbal communication, i.e. comprehension and production in speech and writing. The processes are represented as taking place in the learner's cognitive system for information processing in communicative interaction, a universal human phenomenon. This perspective leads to systematic options and strategies for the practical teaching of foreign languages with focus on English as a world language.

Explicit Learning in the L2 Classroom offers a unique five-prong (theoretical, empirical, methodological, pedagogical, and model building) approach to the issue of explicit learning in the L2 classroom from a student-centered perspective. To achieve this five-prong objective, the book reports the theoretical underpinnings, empirical studies, and the research designs employed in current research to investigate the constructs of attention and awareness in SLA with the objectives to (1) propose a model of the L2 learning process in SLA that accounts for the cognitive processes employed during this process and (2) provide pedagogical and curricular implications for the L2 classroom. The book also provides a comprehensive treatise of research methodology that is aimed at not only underscoring the major features of conducting robust research designs with high levels of internal validity but also preparing teachers to become critical readers of published empirical research.

Researching Pedagogic Tasks brings together a series of empirical studies into the use of pedagogical tasks for second language learning, with a view to better understanding the structure of tasks, their impact on students, and their use by teachers. The volume starts with an introduction to the background and key issues in the topic area and is then organised into three sections: the first section focuses on the language and learning of students on tasks the second on the use of tasks in the language classroom the third on the use of tasks for language testing Each section begins with a succinct section introduction, and the volume concludes with an afterword relating the theme of the volume to issues in curriculum development. The chapters include both experimental and qualitative approaches to the topic, some providing original accounts of specific studies, others offering overviews of linked series of studies.

The 21st-century global linguistic landscape has seen many changes for language learners. New assessments have been made in a host of areas, especially regarding learners' needs, motives, the target of instruction, and methodologies. The new realities, locales and purposes of communication all necessitate a shift in attitude and a new set of competencies is required of the teacher. This volume comprises a multi-faceted and thoughtful response to these changes in both modern reality and teaching philosophy. It is a study of a few of the other ways to tackle situations outside of norms and routines. The authors of this volume possess many years of teaching experience, and have stepped off the roads most travelled to explore new avenues and find novel solutions in foreign language teaching. This volume familiarises readers with contemporary theoretical debate and new research, and demonstrates how to easily translate these into practical, everyday classroom applications.

In this book, Farr examines the spoken and written language of post-observation teaching-practice feedback on teacher education programs. To do so, she draws upon theories from discourse analysis, conversation analysis, and pragmatics to frame the analysis of feedback meetings and written tutor reports, which are then examined using comparative quantitative and qualitative corpus-based techniques. The overall aim is to determine the defining characteristics of this genre, focusing especially on pragmatic factors, with the ultimate goal of investigating the salient aspects responsible for making feedback both effective and affective. Farr's research draws upon a spoken corpus of feedback interactions and a written corpus of tutor reports from language teacher education and is also strongly informed by data in the form of diary reflections and questionnaire responses from student teachers and questionnaire responses from the relevant tutors.

Family Language Learning is a practical guide designed to support, advise and encourage any parents who are hoping to raise their children bilingually. It is unique in that it focuses on parents who are not native speakers of a foreign language. It gives parents the tools they need to cultivate and nurture their own language skills while giving their children an opportunity to learn another language. The book combines cutting-edge research on language exposure with honest and often humorous stories from personal interviews with families speaking a foreign language at home. By dispelling long-held myths about how language is learned, it provides hope to parents who want to give their children bilingual childhoods, but feel they don't know where to start with learning a foreign language.

Talking About Language Assessment is the first book to take an interview-based approach to the history of language assessment. This collection consists of interviews originally featured in Language Assessment Quarterly with renowned language assessment experts. Contextualized with commentary by the editor, the articles in this text cover many of the essential areas of language testing and assessment including assessment design, validation argument, epistemological issues in research, and language assessment policy. This text is a valuable compilation on the history of language assessment, and an ideal resource for researchers and students in the field of language testing and assessment.

This book aims to aid English teachers at the junior and senior secondary school levels in teaching pronunciation within a regular EFL syllabus. It presents such a way of incorporating the phonetic and lexical components so as to facilitate students' acquisition of a standard phonetic system and to prevent them from forming habitual mistakes in individual words. It highlights key areas of the English phonetic system and provides examples of strategies how to use a course-book for the sake of teaching pronunciation. The discussion of teaching the phonetic system relies on the comparison between its conscious and unconscious acquisition. Teaching individual vocabulary items (especially reversing habitual mispronunciations) is analysed through contrasting mental and behavioural learning.