Assessing English Language Proficiency in U.S. K-12 Schools offers comprehensive background information about the generation of standards-based, English language proficiency (ELP) assessments used in U.S. K-12 school settings. The chapters in this book address a variety of key issues involved in the development and use of those assessments: defining an ELP construct driven by new academic content and ELP standards, using technology for K-12 ELP assessments, addressing the needs of various English learner (EL) students taking the assessments, connecting assessment with teaching and learning, and substantiating validity claims. Each chapter also contains suggestions for future research that will contribute to the next generation of K-12 ELP assessments and improve policies and practices in the use of the assessments. This book is intended to be a useful resource for researchers, graduate students, test developers, practitioners, and policymakers who are interested in learning more about large-scale, standards-based ELP assessments for K-12 EL students.

Assessing English Language Proficiency in U.S. K-12 Schools offers comprehensive background information about the generation of standards-based, English language proficiency (ELP) assessments used in U.S. K-12 school settings. The chapters in this book address a variety of key issues involved in the development and use of those assessments: defining an ELP construct driven by new academic content and ELP standards, using technology for K-12 ELP assessments, addressing the needs of various English learner (EL) students taking the assessments, connecting assessment with teaching and learning, and substantiating validity claims. Each chapter also contains suggestions for future research that will contribute to the next generation of K-12 ELP assessments and improve policies and practices in the use of the assessments. This book is intended to be a useful resource for researchers, graduate students, test developers, practitioners, and policymakers who are interested in learning more about large-scale, standards-based ELP assessments for K-12 EL students.

This edited volume brings together several original studies that critically examine the quantitative and qualitative effects of service-learning (SL) on foreign and second language learning, and its impact on communities, learners, pre-service teacher candidates, and faculty-researchers. The book focuses on two key aspects: Innovative SL methodologies that seek to develop linguistic and cultural competencies and empirical investigations on the SL effects on all stakeholders. The analysis presented provides a unique insight into the challenges and future directions of SL research, pedagogical assessment, and community impact.

This edited volume provides a single coherent overview of vocabulary teaching and learning in relation to each of the four skills (reading, writing, listening, speaking). Each of the four sections presents a skill area with two chapters presented by two leading experts in the field, relating recent advances in the field to the extent that each skill area relates differently to vocabulary and how this informs pedagogy and policy. The book opens with a summary of recent advances in the field of vocabulary, and closes by drawing conclusions from the skill areas covered. The chapters respond to emerging vocabulary research trends that indicate that lexical acquisition needs to be treated differently according to the skill area. The editors have chosen chapters to respond to recent research advances and to highlight practical and pedagogical application in a single coherent volume.

The Routledge Handbook of Chinese Second Language Acquisition is the first reference work of its kind. The handbook contains twenty contributions from leading experts in the field of Chinese SLA, covering a wide range of topics such as social contexts, linguistic perspectives, skill learning, individual differences and learning settings and testing. Each chapter covers historical perspectives, core issues and key findings, research approaches, pedagogical implications, future research direction and additional references. The Routledge Handbook of Chinese Second Language Acquisition is an essential reference for Chinese language teachers and researchers in Chinese applied linguistics and second language acquisition.

The Routledge Handbook of Arabic Second Language Acquisition introduces major current approaches in Arabic second language acquisition (SLA) research and offers empirical findings on crucial aspects and issues to do with the learning of Arabic as a foreign language and Arabic SLA. It brings together leading academics in the field to synthesize existing research and develops a new framework for analyzing important topics within Arabic SLA. This handbook will be suitable as a reference work for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students and scholars actively researching in this area and is primarily relevant to sister disciplines within teacher training and Arabic applied linguistics. The themes and findings should, however, also be attractive to other areas of study, including theoretical linguistics, psycholinguistics, cognition, and cognitive psychology.

This book correlates English-speaking children's brain development and acquisition of language with the linguistic input that comes from children's books. Drawing from the most current research on the developing brain, the author demonstrates how language acquisition is exclusively interactive, and highlights the benefit that accrues when that interaction includes the exploratory language play found in early childhood literature. Through discussions of specific domains of grammar, the relation of these domains to children's literature through scaffolding, and the resultant linguistic and cognitive advantages for the child, this volume offers an innovative approach to early brain maturation.

This volume provides a comprehensive overview of contemporary language shift and identity in a language community in the mid-Atlantic South to offer a unique window into ethnic dialect formation and sociolinguistic processes underpinning dialect acquisition. Drawing on data collected from over 100 interviews of members North Carolina Hispanicized English speakers in Durham, North Carolina, the book employs a quantitative approach and uses statistical software in analyzing the data collected to focus on the sociolinguistic variable of past tense unmarking to explore sociolinguistic processes at work in English language learner variation. The focus on a specific variable allows for the opportunity to explore specific processes in more detail, including the ways in which speakers accommodate regional and ethnic varieties of their peers and the internal and environmental factors guiding dialect acquisition. Illuminating new facets to the processes of language learning, language contact, and ethnolect emergence, this volume is key reading for students and researchers in second language acquisition and variationist sociolinguistics.

Classroom observation has become a tool for analysing and improving English Language Teaching (ELT). This book represents the state of the art in language education and classroom interaction research from a data-driven empirical perspective. The micro-analytic, multimodal, and videographic approaches represented here understand classrooms as sites of complex, naturally occurring interaction. The volume demonstrates that the investigation of this communicative setting is the basis for insights into the inner workings of classrooms and the development of strategies for teacher education. The introductory article complements the volume by giving a comprehensive overview of the theories and methods that have come to bear in classroom observation.

The Routledge Handbook of Spanish Language Teaching: metodologias, contextos y recursos para la ensenanza del espanol L2 provides a comprehensive, state-of-the-art account of the main methodologies, contexts and resources in Spanish Language Teaching (SLT), a field that has experienced significant growth world-wide in recent decades and has consolidated as an autonomous discipline within Applied Linguistics. Written entirely in Spanish, the volume is the first handbook on Spanish Language Teaching to connect theories on language teaching with methodological and practical aspects from an international perspective. It brings together the most recent research and offers a broad, multifaceted view of the discipline. Features include: Forty-four chapters offering an interdisciplinary overview of SLT written by over sixty renowned experts from around the world; Five broad sections that combine theoretical and practical components: Methodology; Language Skills; Formal and Grammatical Aspects; Sociocultural Aspects; and Tools and Resources; In-depth reflections on the practical aspects of Hispanic Linguistics and Spanish Language Teaching to further engage with new theoretical ideas and to understand how to tackle classroom-related matters; A consistent inner structure for each chapter with theoretical aspects, methodological guidelines, practical considerations, and valuable references for further reading; An array of teaching techniques, reflection questions, language samples, design of activities, and methodological guidelines throughout the volume. The Routledge Handbook of Spanish Language Teaching contributes to enriching the field by being an essential reference work and study material for specialists, researchers, language practitioners, and current and future educators. The book will be equally useful for people interested in curriculum design and graduate students willing to acquire a complete and up-to-date view of the field with immediate applicability to the teaching of the language.

When people attempt to learn a new language, the language(s) they already know can help but also hinder their understanding or production of new forms. This phenomenon, known as language transfer, is the focus of this book. The collection offers new theoretical perspectives, some in the empirical studies and some in other chapters, and consists of four sections considering lexical, syntactic, phonological and cognitive perspectives. The volume provides a wealth of studies on the influence of Chinese on the acquisition of English but also includes studies involving Finnish, French, Hindi, Korean, Persian, Spanish, Swedish and Tamil. It will be of great interest to researchers and students working in the areas of crosslinguistic influence in second language acquisition, language pedagogy and psycholinguistics.

This book brings together linguistic, psycholinguistic and educational perspectives on the phenomenon of cognate vocabulary across languages. It presents a large-scale, long-term research project focusing on Polish-English cognates and their use by bilingual and multilingual learners/users of English. It discusses extensive qualitative and quantitative data to explain which factors affect a learner's awareness of cognates, how adult learners can benefit from raised awareness and whether cognate vocabulary can be used with younger learners as a motivational strategy. The work shows how cognate vocabulary can be examined from a range of methodological perspectives and provides considerable insights into crosslinguistic influences in language learning. While the focus of the studies is Polish-English cognates, the research will be of interest to anyone teaching learners of different language constellations, levels, ages and backgrounds.

This book contributes to the growing field of foreign language teaching and testing by shedding light on mediation between languages. Stathopoulou offers an empirically-grounded definition of mediation as a form of translanguaging and offers tools and methods for further research in multilingual testing. The book explores what cross-language mediation entails, what processes and strategies are involved, and the challenges often faced by mediators. As well as stressing the importance of administering tests which favour cross-language mediation practices, the author encourages the implementation of language programmes which promote the mingling-of-languages idea and target the development of language learners' effective translanguaging practices. Researchers studying translanguaging, multilingualism, multilingual testing and the use of mother tongue in the foreign language classroom will all find this book of interest.

The architecture of the human language faculty has been one of the main foci of the linguistic research of the last half century. This branch of linguistics, broadly known as Generative Grammar, is concerned with the formulation of explanatory formal accounts of linguistic phenomena with the ulterior goal of gaining insight into the properties of the 'language organ'. The series comprises high quality monographs and collected volumes that address such issues. The topics in this series range from phonology to semantics, from syntax to information structure, from mathematical linguistics to studies of the lexicon. To discuss your book idea or submit a proposal, please contact Birgit Sievert

Innovations and Challenges in Grammar traces the history of common understandings of what grammar is and where it came from to demonstrate how 'rules' are anything but fixed and immutable. In doing so, it deconstructs the notion of 'correctness' to show how grammar changes over time thereby exposing the social and historical forces that mould and change usage. The questions that this book grapples with are: Can we separate grammar from the other features of the language system and get a handle on it as an independent entity? Why should there be strikingly different notions and models of grammar? Are they (in)compatible? Which one or ones fit(s) best the needs of applied linguists if we assume that applied linguists address real-world problems through the lens of language? And which one(s) could make most sense to non-specialists? If grammar is not a fixed entity but a set of usage norms in constant flux, how can we persuade other professionals and the general public that this is a positive observation rather than a threat to civilised behaviour? This book draws upon both historical and modern grammars from across the globe to provide a multi-layered picture of world grammar. It will be useful to teachers and researchers of English as a first and second language, though the inclusion of examples from and occasional references to other languages (French, Spanish, Malay, Swedish, Russian, Welsh, Burmese, Japanese) is intended to broaden the appeal to teachers and researchers of other languages. It will be of use to final-year undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral students as well as secondary and tertiary level teachers and researchers in applied linguistics, second language acquisition and grammar pedagogy.

This book presents a new methodology for facilitating the acquisition of second languages in a natural way. This methodology aims to facilitate the acquisition of a second language in the same way that a child acquires his mother tongue, taking into account the characteristics of the environment of the acquisition of an L2, which in most cases is the classroom. These pedagogic principles have been obtained through a detailed study of infant and children's developmental psychology and the infant-directed speech (IDS), also known as Motherese. The book also provides with the main criticism different methods and approaches had had over the years and explains why this method overcomes these criticisms to teach a second language effectively

The exponential growth and development of modern technologies in all sectors has made it increasingly difficult for students, teachers and teacher educators to know which technologies to employ and how best to take advantage of them. The Routledge Handbook of Language Learning and Technology brings together experts in a number of key areas of development and change, and opens the field of language learning by exploring the pedagogical importance of technological innovation. The handbook is structured around six themes: historical and conceptual contexts core issues interactive and collaborative technologies for language learning corpora and data driven learning gaming and language learning purpose designed language learning resources. Led by fundamental concepts, theories and frameworks from language learning and teaching research rather than by specific technologies, this handbook is the essential reference for all students, teachers and researchers of Language Learning and TESOL. Those working in the areas of Applied Linguistics, Education and Media Studies will also find this a valuable book.

This book focuses on the effects of L1 cognitive resources on L2 reading e.g. the effects of L1 reading ability, the ability in L1 mental-structure building, L1 cognitive use in L2 reading, and other related cognitive mechanisms and capacities of EFL learners in China. It integrated test-based and product-oriented as well as VPA-based (verbal protocol analysis) and process-oriented experiments to address the problems of reading in a second language. This book provides several theoretical, methodological and pedagogical insights, including the multidimensional nature of L2 reading and Vygotskyan sociocultural theory as a suitable L2 reading framework, combined approaches on L2 studies, and the rewarding active use of L1 cognitive resources in L2 learning.

Intensification plays a major role in spoken and written interaction, enabling the writer or speaker to express different levels of commitment. This book explores the patterns and meanings of intensifiers in Chinese learner English by ways of comparison with native English. The study is conducted within the theoretical framework of Firthian contextual theory of meaning, Sinclairian model of Extended Units of Meaning (EUM) and Hunston's pattern grammar. The method of contrastive inter-language analysis (CIA) is adopted and the intensifier collocations in learner English and native English are explored by means of quantitative and qualitative analyses of corpora data. This book is the first attempt to investigate the patterning and meaning features of intensifiers systematically with the corpora data in Chinese learner English. Readers will obtain a relatively complete picture of how Chinese learners use intensifiers to realize their attitudinal meanings.

This unique volume offers a comprehensive discussion of essential theoretical and methodological issues concerning the pivotal role of working memory in second language learning and processing. The collection opens with a foreword and introductory theoretical chapters written by leading figures in the field of cognitive psychology. Following these are three research sections containing chapters providing original data and innovative insights into the dynamic and complex relationships between working memory and specific areas of second language processing, instruction, performance and development. Each section concludes with a commentary which is written by a noted SLA researcher and which charts the course for future research. This book provides a fascinating collection of perspectives on the relationship between working memory and second language learning and will appeal to those interested in the integration of cognitive psychology with SLA research.

This unique volume offers a comprehensive discussion of essential theoretical and methodological issues concerning the pivotal role of working memory in second language learning and processing. The collection opens with a foreword and introductory theoretical chapters written by leading figures in the field of cognitive psychology. Following these are three research sections containing chapters providing original data and innovative insights into the dynamic and complex relationships between working memory and specific areas of second language processing, instruction, performance and development. Each section concludes with a commentary which is written by a noted SLA researcher and which charts the course for future research. This book provides a fascinating collection of perspectives on the relationship between working memory and second language learning and will appeal to those interested in the integration of cognitive psychology with SLA research.

This book examines personal names, including given and acquired (or nick-) names, and how they were used in Anglo-Saxon England. It discusses their etymologies, semantics, and grammatical behaviour, and considers their evolving place in Anglo-Saxon history and culture. From that culture survive thousands of names on coins, in manuscripts, on stone and other inscriptions. Names are important and their absence a stigma (Grendel's parents have no names); they may have particular functions in ritual and magic; they mark individuals, generally people but also beings with close human contact such as dogs, cats, birds, and horses; and they may provide indications of rank and gender. Dr Colman explores the place of names within the structure of Old English, their derivation, formation, and other linguistic behaviour, and compares them with the products of other Germanic (e.g., Present-day German) and non-Germanic (e.g., Ancient and Present-day Greek) naming systems. Old English personal names typically followed the Germanic system of elements based on common words like leof (adjective 'beloved') and wulf (noun 'wolf'), which give Leofa and Wulf, and often combined as in Wulfraed, (raed noun, 'advice, counsel') or as in Leofing (with the diminutive suffix -ing). The author looks at the combinatorial and sequencing possibilities of these elements in name formation, and assesses the extent to which, in origin, names may be selected to express qualities manifested by, or expected in, an individual. She examines their different modes of inflection and the variable behaviour of names classified as masculine or feminine. The results of her wide-ranging investigation are provocative and stimulating.

This book analyses processes of mode-switching in second language acquisition as they relate to Korean learners of English. In this empirical study, the author examines how native language influences and shapes usage of second language, particularly when the two are so dramatically different both in terms of grammar and the cultures in which they are anchored. Learning to speak English, she argues, entails switching from the formulaic to the strategic mode so that varying speaking norms and linguistic values are fully understood. This results in a mode switch towards the target culture. This intriguing book will be of interest to students and scholars of applied linguistics, sociolinguistics and English language education.

This monograph investigates 15 L2 creative writers' social constructive power in identity constructions. Through interviews and think-aloud story writing sessions, the central study considers how L2 writer voices are mediated by the writers' autobiographical identities, namely, their sense of selves formulated by their previous language learning and literacy experiences. The inquiry takes the epistemological stance that L2 creative writing is simultaneously a cognitive construct and a social phenomenon and that these two are mutually inclusive. The study contributes to L2 creative writing research and L2 learner identity research and will be of benefit to researchers, language teachers and writing instructors who wish to understand creative writing processes in order to help develop their students' positive self-esteem, confidence, motivation and engagement with the L2.

The present study describes German and English personal nouns taking account of historical linguistic aspects and using features in such a way that lexicalized derivatives can be analysed, and at the same time the conditions can be established for new formations, and an explicit description of the commonalties and differences between the two languages can be provided.