Task-based language teaching is now a well-established pedagogic approach but problematic issues remain, such as whether it is appropriate for all learners and in all instructional contexts. This book draws on the author's experience of working with teachers, together with his knowledge of relevant research and theory, to examine the key issues. It proposes flexible ways in which tasks can be designed and implemented in the language classroom to address the problems that teachers often face with task-based language teaching. It will appeal to researchers and teachers who are interested in task-based language teaching and the practical and theoretical issues involved. It will also be of interest to students and researchers working in the areas of applied linguistics, TESOL and second language acquisition.

This book deals with intercultural pragmatics and how both nonnative teachers (NNTs) and native teachers (NTs) may enhance their classroom instruction regarding target language (TL) pragmatics. It focuses primarily on the experiences of instructors as they teach their learners about the pragmatics of the TL, both in second and foreign language learning settings. It makes clear that there are aspects of teaching pragmatics where it may help to be an NT and other areas where it may help to be an NNT and proposes creative ideas that both sets of teachers may draw on to compensate for gaps in their knowledge. Further themes in the book include ideas for motivating students who want to learn about pragmatics, the role of technology in teaching and learning pragmatics, the role of learning strategies, the assessment of pragmatics and ways to research pragmatics. The book will be of interest to teachers, teacher educators and students interested in researching and improving the teaching of pragmatics.

This fully revised edition provides a comprehensive discussion of how insights and concepts from new materialism and posthumanism might be used in investigating second language learning and teaching in classrooms. Alongside the sociocultural and poststructural perspectives discussed in the first edition, this new book presents insights from new materialism on identity, second language learning and pedagogical practices. This application of new theory deepens our understanding of how minority language background children learn English in the context of their classrooms. The author comprehensively explains the new materiality perspectives and suggests how research from this perspective might provide new insights on second language learning and teaching in classrooms. The book is unique in analysing empirical classroom data from a sociocultural, but also a new materiality perspective, and has the potential to change our understandings of research and pedagogical practices.

This fully revised edition provides a comprehensive discussion of how insights and concepts from new materialism and posthumanism might be used in investigating second language learning and teaching in classrooms. Alongside the sociocultural and poststructural perspectives discussed in the first edition, this new book presents insights from new materialism on identity, second language learning and pedagogical practices. This application of new theory deepens our understanding of how minority language background children learn English in the context of their classrooms. The author comprehensively explains the new materiality perspectives and suggests how research from this perspective might provide new insights on second language learning and teaching in classrooms. The book is unique in analysing empirical classroom data from a sociocultural, but also a new materiality perspective, and has the potential to change our understandings of research and pedagogical practices.

How to Dazzle at Reading for Meaning contains 42 photocopiable sheets for use with secondary pupils who are working at levels 1-3 (Scottish levels A-B) of the National Curriculum in English. The sheets use simple language, lively illustrations and adolescent-friendly activities to help pupils to build up an understanding of what they are reading. Strategies include sequencing, cloze procedure and comprehension to help pupils gain fluency and confidence. The tasks are kept fairly short, with text kept to a minimum, so children will experience success and achievement.

This book addresses fundamental questions regarding the relationships between successful language learning and strategy use and development, according to learner, situational or target variables. It considers strategy effectiveness from an individual point of view and discusses pedagogical issues, especially relating to teacher perceptions and training, classroom and learner factors, methodology and content. This new edition has been reworked and revised to include an extensive review, analysis and re-interpretation of the existing literature and an update on the theoretical debate surrounding language learning strategies. The research methodology section has been considerably extended and detailed explanations are now given for how to analyse data from research studies. Rather than focusing on strategies divorced from the 'real world' of the classroom, this book explores the issues from the teaching/learning point of view and will be of interest to students, teachers, trainee teachers, teacher educators and researchers alike.

This book addresses fundamental questions regarding the relationships between successful language learning and strategy use and development, according to learner, situational or target variables. It considers strategy effectiveness from an individual point of view and discusses pedagogical issues, especially relating to teacher perceptions and training, classroom and learner factors, methodology and content. This new edition has been reworked and revised to include an extensive review, analysis and re-interpretation of the existing literature and an update on the theoretical debate surrounding language learning strategies. The research methodology section has been considerably extended and detailed explanations are now given for how to analyse data from research studies. Rather than focusing on strategies divorced from the 'real world' of the classroom, this book explores the issues from the teaching/learning point of view and will be of interest to students, teachers, trainee teachers, teacher educators and researchers alike.

Storytelling is an art, as well as a skill. It allows the listener to take an idea and shape it into something that is relatable on a personal level. In The Art of Storytelling: Telling Truths Through Telling Stories, Amy E. Spaulding enables the reader to learn how to develop this skill, while also discovering the tradition of storytelling. Spaulding covers a wide array of important storytelling elements, from advice on choosing, learning, and presenting the stories to discussions on the importance of storytelling through human history and its continued significance today. This book includes an annotated list of stories, as well as a bibliography of collections and a brief list of recommendations for online sources. Designed for anyone who wants to develop the skill of telling stories, The Art of Storytelling is a resource for drama students, teachers, librarians, and for those learning on their own without a formal class setting.

This book is a passionate engagement with Gilles Deleuze and collaborative writing, in which four writers explore together the insights that Deleuze has contributed to the topic. This powerful and complex text, which will appeal to scholars within qualitative inquiry, investigates the question of how we might begin to write, together, on what Deleuze would call an immanent plane of composition. On such a Deleuzian plane, or plateau, the writers seek to bond with Deleuze, to open up with him a new stream of thought and of being.

This book discusses literacy development in heritage language speakers and presents the results of four different quantitative studies that investigate the transfer of literacy skills in bi- and multilingual language development. The empirical studies focus on different populations of pupils, most of them located in various parts of Switzerland, and emphasise the potential residing in shared or transferred resources between their heritage languages and the languages spoken in the region to which their family has immigrated. The goal of all studies was to gain an understanding of the factors, both linguistic and non-linguistic in nature, that contribute to the development of language skills in both the heritage and school languages. Theoretical assumptions are put to the test via hypothesis testing and the generally shared assumptions on bilingual education are questioned based on the data. Furthermore, methodological problems in the investigation of linguistic interdependence are discussed. This book contributes to the scholarly investigation of potential beneficial effects in academic proficiency across languages in migrant children.

This book discusses literacy development in heritage language speakers and presents the results of four different quantitative studies that investigate the transfer of literacy skills in bi- and multilingual language development. The empirical studies focus on different populations of pupils, most of them located in various parts of Switzerland, and emphasise the potential residing in shared or transferred resources between their heritage languages and the languages spoken in the region to which their family has immigrated. The goal of all studies was to gain an understanding of the factors, both linguistic and non-linguistic in nature, that contribute to the development of language skills in both the heritage and school languages. Theoretical assumptions are put to the test via hypothesis testing and the generally shared assumptions on bilingual education are questioned based on the data. Furthermore, methodological problems in the investigation of linguistic interdependence are discussed. This book contributes to the scholarly investigation of potential beneficial effects in academic proficiency across languages in migrant children.

This book studies the art of public speaking as oration instead of just ornamentation. It repositions public speaking as a fundamental business leadership act and a solution-enabling and problem-solving communication approach. Drawing on in-depth case studies, it considers various situations that a managerial leader encounters and delivers speech solutions as strategic manoeuvres for attaining desired targets. The volume: Deals with public speaking exclusively from a business perspective; Produces a workable manual of managerial public speaking that introduces the concept of oration as Or-Action (oratory that leads to desired action); Presents a variegated analysis of speech texts from history, politics, fiction, social media, film industry, platform content, and business-product presentations; Customises speeches into unique speech clusters where readers can readily find the type of speech texts they require for their own specific content development. The first of its kind, this book will be a key text for entrepreneurs, corporate managers, academic practitioners, and executives. It will also be of interest to students and researchers of behavioural economics, rhetoric, strategy, communication studies, business communication, fiction theory, generation studies, and virtual reality studies.

This book studies the art of public speaking as oration instead of just ornamentation. It repositions public speaking as a fundamental business leadership act and a solution-enabling and problem-solving communication approach. Drawing on in-depth case studies, it considers various situations that a managerial leader encounters and delivers speech solutions as strategic manoeuvres for attaining desired targets. The volume: Deals with public speaking exclusively from a business perspective; Produces a workable manual of managerial public speaking that introduces the concept of oration as Or-Action (oratory that leads to desired action); Presents a variegated analysis of speech texts from history, politics, fiction, social media, film industry, platform content, and business-product presentations; Customises speeches into unique speech clusters where readers can readily find the type of speech texts they require for their own specific content development. The first of its kind, this book will be a key text for entrepreneurs, corporate managers, academic practitioners, and executives. It will also be of interest to students and researchers of behavioural economics, rhetoric, strategy, communication studies, business communication, fiction theory, generation studies, and virtual reality studies.

More than ever, professional English is now cruising towards an enormous challenge in the European university context due to the extremely significant moment we are living in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). The European convergence process is demanding immediate reflections, serious analyses, and profound reforms in specialized language teaching that lead to reach Bologna standards by 2010. This book aims to present an overview of professional English in the current academic landscape in Europe. It intends to shed light on a range of issues, both theoretical and practical, related to ESP, focusing on discourse analysis, corpus analysis, information and communication technologies, methodological approaches, curriculum design, and empirical research into language learning in broad terms. Because teachers need to be researchers and inquirers, this overview thus makes a contribution to the professional English field with the purpose of highlighting several important questions in the entire ESP academic mainstream. Scholars from different European universities explore specialized languages and document ESP teaching methodologies at university levels from a multidimensional perspective.

This book explores how complex systems theory can contribute to the understanding of classroom language learner motivation through an extended examination of one particular, situated research project. Working from the lived experience of the participants, the study describes how action research methods were used to explore the dynamic conditions operating in a foreign language classroom in Japan. The book draws attention to the highly personalised and individual, yet equally co-formed nature of classroom foreign language learning motivation and to the importance of agency and emotions in language learning. It presents an extended illustration of the applicability of complex systems theory for research design and process in SLA and its narrative approach shines light upon the evolving nature of research and role of the researcher. The study will be a valuable resource for practitioners, researchers and postgraduate students interested in classroom language teaching and learning, especially those with a focus on motivation among learners.

This book constitutes a holistic study of how and why late starters surpass early starters in comparable instructional settings. Combining advanced quantitative methods with individual-level qualitative data, it examines the role of age of onset in the context of the Swiss multilingual educational system and focuses on performance at the beginning and end of secondary school, thereby offering a long-term view of the teenage experience of foreign language learning. The study scrutinised factors that seem to prevent young starters from profiting from their extended learning period and investigated the mechanisms that enable late beginners to catch up with early beginners relatively quickly. Taking account of contextual factors, individual socio-affective factors and instructional factors within a single longitudinal study, the book makes a convincing case that age of onset is not only of minimal relevance for many aspects of instructed language acquisition, but that in this context, for a number of reasons, a later onset can be beneficial.

This is a ``must-have'' for anyone who desires to effectively and successfully sell their products, projects, ideas or services. The new edition has been revised and expanded to include detailed coverage of the current methods and procedures required by the government and used by commercial companies for bid preparation; the latest applications for identifying and tracking fund sources; new desktop publishing techniques for rapid proposal preparation along with available software; and storyboarding methods. The concept of ``straight-line'' control is presented for the first time and a complete case study provided to illustrate how to evolve a proposal from development through strategic marketing planning.

Every writing teacher needs a toolkit of good lesson plans and inspiring assignments. "The College Writing Toolkit: Tried and Tested Ideas for Teaching College Writing" is just such a practical resource, offering practical tools for both new and experienced teachers seeking to expand their professional repertoire. The Toolkit provides a collection of tried and tested methods and techniques for eliciting and working on students' writing in a college or university environment. Contributors from all over the world reflect on best practices for teaching writing and for generating writing assignments that help college or university students to learn and to express themselves with confidence, clarity, and originality and in a range of genres. Each contribution is written in a format specifying the theoretical and conceptual framework of the pedagogical activity, its purpose, audience, and intended outcomes. Contributors also describe the situations in which the activity has been tried, what the results have been, and how the activity has been modified accordingly. An important aspect of the descriptions is the contributors' reflections on the value of the activity and their recommendations for applying it for best results in the same and different types of contexts, such as for different types of institutions and audiences of students. Those who incorporate the practices of the Toolkit in their own teaching can therefore benefit from another practitioner's understanding and experience gained from refining an activity over time to enhance its effectiveness. College and university writing teachers can use and creatively adapt these activities to help their students improve their writing process, use writing as a mode of thought and reflection, master writing genres, and write effectively in their course assignments. The Toolkit is a resource for both novice and experienced writing teachers looking to try something different or new in their classes with a knowledge of a previous context in which it has been successful. By using the practical tools in "The College Writing Toolkit", college/university writing teachers can expand their repertoire while gaining experience that connects them to the practices of others in the field in the ongoing expansion and refinement of the tools of the writing trade.

An unmissable collection of eight unconventional and captivating short stories for young and adult learners of Swedish. "Olly's top-notch language-learning insights are right in line with the best of what we know from neuroscience and cognitive psychology about how to learn effectively. I love his work - and you will too!" - Barbara Oakley, PhD, Author of New York Times bestseller A Mind for Numbers Short Stories in Swedish for Beginners has been written especially for students from high-beginner to low-intermediate level, designed to give a sense of achievement, a feeling of progress and most importantly - enjoyment! Mapped to A1-B1 on the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) for languages, these eight captivating stories are designed to give you a sense of achievement and a feeling of progress when reading. What does this book give you? - Eight stories in a variety of exciting genres, from science fiction and crime to history and thriller - making reading fun, while you learn a wide range of new vocabulary - Controlled language at your level to help you progress confidently - Realistic spoken dialogues to help you learn conversational expressions and improve your speaking ability - Accessible grammar so you learn new structures naturally, in a stress-free way - Pleasure! Research shows that if you're enjoying reading in a foreign language, you won't experience the usual feelings of frustration - 'It's too hard!' 'I don't understand!' Carefully curated to make learning a new language easy, these stories include key features that will support and consolidate your progress, including: - A glossary for bolded words in each chapter - Full plot summary - A bilingual word list - Comprehension questions after each chapter. As a result, you will be able to focus on enjoying reading, delighting in your improved range of vocabulary and grasp of the language, without ever feeling overwhelmed. From science fiction to fantasy, to crime and thrillers, Short Stories in Swedish for Beginners will make learning Swedish easy and enjoyable.

This book offers a comprehensive account of individual differences variables as well as contextual factors that impinge on second language learners' willingness to communicate (WTC). Firstly, it adopts a macro-perspective on WTC, which entails an attempt to identify variables that are related to WTC, taking into account the specificity of the Polish higher education setting. Secondly, it embraces a micro-perspective on WTC, striving to pinpoint the individual and contextual influences on levels of WTC in the course of regularly-scheduled, naturally-occurring English classes, as well as to capture the dynamic nature of WTC during such classes. Together, these perspectives bring the reader closer to understanding the mechanisms underlying WTC in specific contexts, thereby providing a basis for recommendations for classroom practice that could translate into learners' success. It will be of interest to second language acquisition researchers and students, as well as to methodologists and materials writers who can use the research findings to improve the practice of teaching and learning speaking in the language classroom.