An Open Access edition of this book will be available on the Liverpool University Press website and the OAPEN library. In a world increasingly defined by the transnational and translingual, and by the pressures of globalization, it has become difficult to study culture as primarily a national phenomenon. A Handbook offers students across Modern Languages an introduction to the kind of methodological questions they need to look at culture transnationally. Each of the short essays takes a key concept in cultural study and suggests how it might be used to explore and illuminate some aspect of identity, mobility, translation, and cultural exchange across borders. The authors range over different language areas and their wide chronological reach provides broad coverage, as well as a flexible and practical methodology for studying cultures in a transnational framework. The essays show that an inclusive, transnational vision and practice of Modern Languages is central to understanding human interaction in an inclusive, globalized society. A Handbook stands as an effective and necessary theoretical and thematically diverse glossary and companion to the 'national' volumes in the series.

This collection of essays tackles the issues that arise when multilingualism meets translation and discusses the findings with a particular focus on Slavonic migrant languages. Despite its high relevance from both the theoretical and the applied perspective, the intersection of multilingualism and translation has been rather neglected in international research on multilingualism. This volume intends to create a new angle within this wide field of research and to systematize the most relevant approaches and ideas on this topic in international Slavonic studies.

This volume looks at different ways in which research and educational practice in Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) can be linked. The chapters, contributed by academics and teachers of English, explore teacher training, material writing and sharing, course design and Open Educational Resources (OER).

This volume offers a collection of best practices carried out in university contexts with the aim of highlighting the relevant role that Language Centres play in the field of language learning and the benefit they receive from European project planning. Issues such as intercomprehension, integration and diversity, interlinguistic models in disadvantaged migration contexts, audio description, cinema and translation as well as crosscurricular studies for university students, learners' assessment, the promotion of plurilingualism in enterprises and in the legal field are tackled with special attention on the theoretical and practical dimensions that projects need to consider during the planning, implementation and dissemination actions. The variety of topics shows the daily liveliness that University Language Centres experience and the energy that they offer to the national and international communities. Thus the final chapter attentively explores strategies of Quality Assurance which further enhance the value of team work and project work within and beyond the academic context. This has the aim of promoting both cooperation that crosses geographical boundaries as well as quality in project dynamics which encourages a wide-angled multilingual and multicultural perspective.

Teacher research is recognized, in ELT and education more generally, as a powerful transformative strategy for teacher development and school improvement. This volume provides original insights into this issue by focusing on the processes involved in becoming and being a teacher researcher.

The book contains a selection of papers reflecting cutting-edge developments in the field of learning and teaching second and foreign languages. The contributions are devoted to such issues as classroom-oriented research, sociocultural aspects of language acquisition, individual differences in language learning, teacher development, new strands in second language acquisition research as well as methodological considerations. Because of its scope, the diversity of topics covered and the adoption of various theoretical perspectives, the volume is of interest not only to theorists and researchers but also to methodologists and practitioners, and can be used in courses for graduate students.

This best-selling dictionary is now in its 4th edition. Specifically written for students of language teaching and applied linguistics, it has become an indispensible resource for those engaged in courses in TEFL, TESOL, applied linguistics and introductory courses in general linguistics. Fully revised, this new edition includes over 350 new entries. Previous definitions have been revised or replaced in order to make this the most up-to-date and comprehensive dictionary available. Providing straightforward and accessible explanations of difficult terms and ideas in applied linguistics, this dictionary offers: Nearly 3000 detailed entries, from subject areas such as teaching methodology, curriculum development, sociolinguistics, syntax and phonetics. Clear and accurate definitions which assume no prior knowledge of the subject matter helpful diagrams and tables cross references throughout, linking related subject areas for ease of reference, and helping to broaden students' knowledge The Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics is the definitive resource for students.

First Language versus Foreign Language deals with the "battle" that takes place in writers' heads when writing in a foreign language. Most academics today need to write in another language than in their first language (L1) in order to publish in internationally recognized journals. However, as writing research has shown, writing in a foreign language (FL) presents difficulties. The study compares L1 and FL writing, analysing written texts and the writing processes in terms of fluency, errors and revision. It takes a closer look at the "battle" between the L1 and the FL and offers useful insight. The findings allow a glimpse at the processes that take place in the brain, calling for new didactic approaches to FL writing.

This empirical study investigates the acquisition and development of nominal morphology in L1-English-speaking children acquiring German as a second language in an immersion school context. The focus is on accuracy development in the emerging German article system. Embracing theoretical and applied aspects of second language acquisition research, the study brings together educational, cognitive and psycholinguistic dimensions of second language learning and teaching. Results have implications for curriculum design and quality development in language immersion and content and language integrated learning.

This volume explores the elusive subject of English prosody-the stress, rhythm and intonation of the language-, and its relevance for English language teaching. Its sharp focus will be especially welcomed by teachers of English to non-native speakers, but also by scholars and researchers interested in Applied Linguistics. The book examines key issues in the development of prosody and delves into the role of intonation in the construction of meaning. The contributions tackle difficult areas of intonation for language learners, providing a theoretical analysis of each stumbling block as well as a practical explanation for teachers and teacher trainers. The numerous issues dealt with in the book include stress and rhythm; tone units and information structure; intonation and pragmatic meaning; tonicity and markedness, etc... The authors have deployed speech analysis software to illustrate their examples as well as to encourage readers to carry out their own computerized prosodic analyses.

Pushing the field forward in critically important ways, this book offers clear curricular directions and pedagogical guidelines to transform foreign language classrooms into environments where stimulating intellectual curiosity and tapping critical thinking abilities are as important as developing students' linguistic repertoires. The case is made for content-based instruction-an approach to making FL classrooms sites where intellectually stimulating explorations are the norm rather than the exception. The book explicitly describes in detail how teachers could and should use content-based instruction, explains how integration of content and language aims can be accomplished within a program, identifies essential strategies to support this curricular and pedagogical approach, discusses issues of assessment within this context, and more. Content-Based Foreign Language Teaching provides theoretical perspectives and empirical evidence for reforming curricula and instruction, describes models and curriculum planning strategies that support implementation of well-balanced FL programs, explores the transformative potential of critical pedagogy in the FL classroom, and offers illustrations of secondary and post-secondary language programs that have experimented with alternative approaches. Advancing alternatives to conventional curriculum design, this volume posits meaning-oriented approaches as necessary to create language programs that make a great difference in the overall educational lives of learners

The volume brings together a selection of invited articles and papers presented at the 4th International CILC Conference held in Jaen, Spain, in March 2012. The chapters describe English using a range of corpora and other resources. There are two parts, one dealing with diachronic research and the other with synchronic research. Both parts investigate several aspects of the English language from various perspectives and illustrate the use of corpora in current research. The structure of the volume allows for the same linguistic aspect to be discussed both from the diachronic and the synchronic point of view. The chapters are also useful examples of corpus use as well as of use of other resources as corpus, specifically dictionaries. They investigate a broad array of issues, mainly using corpora of English as a native language, with a focus on corpus tools and corpus description.

Standardised tests and language certification exams have been a popular topic in the field of assessment for many years now. The washback effect of such tests, that is how and to which degree language tests influence teaching and learning, has been the focus of several research projects in various contexts with different results, but at the same time of significant importance. Investigating the impact and consequences of tests is a great step towards creating better and fairer tests. This book focuses on a research study of the washback effect of the FCE test (First Certificate in English), developed and administered by Cambridge English Language Assessment (formerly ESOL). The context of the study is Greece, where unique socioeconomic elements and characteristics have rendered language certification increasingly important and have significantly contributed to the quality and quantity of the washback effect produced.

C-Tests bestehen aus mehreren kurzen Texten, in denen fehlende Wortteile zu rekonstruieren sind. Sie haben hervorragende psychometrische Eigenschaften und werden in einer Vielzahl von Kontexten zur oekonomischen Messung von (allgemeiner) Sprachkompetenz eingesetzt. Dieser Band illustriert den aktuellen Stand der C-Test-Forschung. Der Fokus liegt auf Augenscheingultigkeit und Washback von C-Tests; C-Test-Leistung und Intelligenz; C-Tests als Screening-Instrumente fur TestDaF und SIMTEST; ROC-Analysen zur Zuordnung von C-Test-Ergebnissen zu den Kompetenzstufen des GER; Verwendung von C-Tests im Unterricht. Eine Besonderheit des Bandes ist die umfassende C-Test-Bibliographie des Herausgebers. C-Tests consist of several short texts in which the missing parts of words have to be reconstructed. C-Tests have excellent psychometric properties and are used in many contexts as economical tests of language proficiency. This collection of papers illustrates the state of the art of C-Test research. It focuses on face validity and washback of C-Tests, C-Test performance and intelligence, C-Tests as screening devices for TestDaF and SIMTEST, ROC analyses for relating C-Test scores to the CEFR as well as use of C-tests in the classroom. A special feature of the volume is the editor's comprehensive C-Test bibliography.

How did the (old) Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK) assess the Chinese proficiency of non-native speakers of Chinese? What inferences can be derived from HSK test taker scores, especially from Western test takers? How difficult is it to learn Chinese according to the HSK? Thirty years of research have been synthesized into an argument-based approach for validating the most widespread test for Chinese as a foreign language. In addition, the author has analyzed the scores of a sample of over 250 German test takers in order to investigate how many hours German natives needed on average to study for reaching a specific HSK level. This work also extensively discusses validation theory for psychological testing, and it demonstrates how to put an argument-based approach to validation into practice.

Die Kommunikation in der Touristik hat in der germanistischen Forschungslandschaft bislang vergleichsweise wenig Beachtung gefunden. Mit seinen insgesamt 18 oftmals kontrastiv ausgerichteten Beitragen aus der Germanistik, Anglistik und Romanistik moechte der mehrsprachig angelegte Band dazu beitragen, die hier entstandene Lucke zu schliessen. Mit verschiedenen Schwerpunktsetzungen werden in den Beitragen sprachliche Darstellungswelten und -weisen in der Tourismuskommunikation, Sprach- und Kulturtransfer sowie sprachdidaktische Herausforderungen behandelt. Der Band setzt es sich insbesondere zum Ziel, einen einfuhrenden UEberblick uber Themenschwerpunkte und aktuelle Forschungstendenzen zu vermitteln.

Many countries have national policies in relation to English language teaching that are monitored through standardized tests, and students' performance in these tests may have a significant impact on their career prospects. When such high stakes become attached to a language test, it begins to play a far greater role than originally intended. A preeminent example is the College English Test (CET), taken biannually by upwards of ten million students in China, which makes it the world's largest national English test. Its impact is evident in many areas of Chinese society. Specified grades on the CET are requirements for graduation from universities, many job applications and even some residence permits. Consolidated CET results are widely used for rating teachers for promotion and for competitively grading institutions, hence influencing strategic planning by universities, government departments and companies, particularly those engaged in publishing or bookselling. The CET has, furthermore, given rise to a highly organized cheating 'industry', which is the subject of frequent governmental disclaimers and warnings. This book reports on an extensive study of the impact of the CET in China, both on the lives of students and teachers and on educational and governmental institutions. The authors also draw theoretical and practical implications from their study for educational planners in other countries.

"Corpora and Language Education" critically examines key concepts and issues in corpus linguistics, with a particular focus on the expanding interdisciplinary nature of the field and the role that written and spoken corpora now play in the fields of professional communication, teacher education, translation studies, lexicography, literature, critical discourse analysis, and forensic linguistics. The book also presents a series of corpus-based case studies illustrating central themes and best practices in the field.

As an issue of controversy, corrective or negative feedback has been a much debated and investigated topic in theory and research on second-language acquisition. This book contributes to the ongoing discussion by reporting on a classroom study which examined the effects of two corrective feedback types - recasts and clarification requests - on the acquisition of the French verb forms passe compose and imparfait. The study also looked at the role of individual differences in analytic ability, working memory and anxiety in predicting the learning gains. This research makes an original contribution by investigating the types of corrective feedback that have not previously been compared for French verb forms, by targeting high school learners, by eliciting both oral and written language production and by including tests of three factors of individual differences.

Content and Language Integrated Learning has received a strong tailwind in European educational and language policies. It is on the verge of becoming a mainstream phenomenon. However, an overly speedy implementation of "CLIL for all" might bear a number of risks for all groups of stakeholders. The purpose of this book is to link the growing empirical knowledge about the full complexity of CLIL to the current European educational and language policies. The articles collected in this volume contribute to a more systematic evidence base of CLIL that has frequently been called for at a European level. This bi-lingual volume (English/German) brings together authors from several European countries to present significant findings from recent CLIL research in the light of the developments in education policy. The four parts of the book focus on the reconstruction of learning processes, learner achievement, theory-driven investigations of the concept of CLIL itself, and critical reflections on the current "CLIL boom".

This study explores the argument that postcolonial Africa has been the setting for competing external language spread policies (LSPs) by ex-colonial European countries at the turn of the 21st Century. It focuses on the external LSPs developed by the governments of Portugal, Brazil, United Kingdom, France and Germany towards Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau from the 1990s to the present. The study offers a perspective on the web of relationships involving European ex-colonial powers and the African postcolonial countries of Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique. The author seeks to examine the development of external (European) LSPs and the construction of politico-linguistic blocs in a complex context whilst taking into account the colonial heritage and its lingering dependencies, the construction and maintenance of nationhood and the increasing globalisation of the world.

Der Sammelband Fremdsprachen in der Perspektive lebenslangen Lernens bietet einen breit gefacherten Einblick in die Thematik der neuen Reihe Fremdsprachen lebenslang lernen. Es werden Themen wie die Faktoren Alter und Motivation, Hypothesen Sensibler Phasen, Autonomes Lernen, Mehrsprachigkeit, das Sprachenportfolio, die Verwendung von Chunks beim Spracherwerb und Deutsch als Zweitsprache im Kindes- und Erwachsenenalter aus der ubergreifenden Sicht lebenslangen Lernens behandelt. Neben empirischen und theoretischen Arbeiten werden auch Berichte aus der Praxis vorgestellt.

Recent years have seen a growing interest in the pedagogical benefits of digital games, which have the potential to engage learners and to encourage interaction in the target language. The use of digital games in language education is based on the premise that successful learning is integrated into the sociocultural context of learners' lives and encourages collaboration and lifelong learning, bridging learning within and outside the language classroom. However, the potential of digital games has not been properly investigated from a second language learning and teaching perspective. This volume presents the first dedicated collection of papers to bring together the state-of-the-art in research into game-based learning. It includes theoretical, empirical, and practice-oriented contributions and as such will appeal to anyone with an interest in the most recent developments in language education.

This volume offers a timely snapshot of current theory and research in the field of psychology in foreign language learning. It makes a powerful case for a more prominent role for psychology in language learning theory and emphasizes the importance of an understanding of psychological factors for enhancing pedagogical practice. Featuring contributions from leading researchers from around the world, the chapters are designed to be accessible to both specialists and non-specialists. Each chapter focuses on a different psychological construct and provides an overview of current thinking in the area drawing on insights from educational psychology, as well as an example of current research carried out by the authors. The wide range of theoretical perspectives and research approaches are unified by a common concern for the practical realities facing teachers and learners, making this book essential reading for anyone with an interest in the psychology of learning a foreign language.