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 evaluates a project where formal classroom learning of a second language was supplemented with informal, natural interactions with older native speakers of the target language, delivering a number of pedagogical and societal benefits. The authors introduce a model of intergenerational, intercultural encounters which aims to promote the use of community language resources; enrich the experiences of young learners; foster greater understanding between generations; break down cultural stereotypes; encourage appreciation of different cultures and enhance the quality of life and community engagement of older people with a bi/multilingual background. It draws on theories of language acquisition, discourse analysis and psychosocial perspectives to propose a model of language learning for students that can be used for any language or locality. It is therefore an essential resource for graduate students, researchers and language teachers as well as for education, aged and youth care policy makers, practitioners and community services workers who are interested in innovative language pedagogy.

An unmissable collection of eight unconventional and captivating short stories for young adult and adult intermediate learners of Spanish. 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 Spanish for Intermediate Learners has been written especially for students from a low-intermediate to intermediate level, designed to give a sense of achievement, and most importantly - enjoyment! Mapped to B1-B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) for languages, these eight captivating stories will both entertain you and give you 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 * Beautiful illustrations accompanying each story, to set the scene and support your understanding * 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!' With intriguing plots that will spark your imagination and keep you reading, Short Stories in Spanish for Intermediate Learners will take your grasp of Spanish to the next level with key features to support and consolidate your progress, including: * A glossary for bolded words in each text * A bilingual word list * Full plot summary * 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 Spanish for Intermediate Learners uses reading as the perfect tool to not only delight in learning Spanish, but to accelerate your journey towards fluency.

Written corrective feedback (CF) is a written response to a linguistic error that has been made in the writing of a text by a second language (L2) learner. This book aims to further our understanding of whether or not written CF has the potential to facilitate L2 development over time. Chapters draw on cognitive and sociocultural theoretical perspectives and review empirical research to determine whether or not, and the extent to which, written CF has been found to assist L2 development. Cognitive processing conditions are considered in the examination of its effectiveness, as well as context-related and individual learner factors or variables that have been hypothesised and shown to facilitate or impede the effectiveness of written CF for L2 development.

Teach yourself German in just 12 weeks with this fun, user-friendly, and uniquely visual language course. DK's 15 Minute German is the perfect course for busy people who want to learn German fast. Twelve themed chapters are broken down into easy-to-follow 15-minute daily lessons, spanning a range of practical themes, including leisure, business, food and drink, travel, and shopping. Each lesson combines vocabulary and grammar essentials with attractive full-colour images, making it quick, easy, and fun to learn new German vocabulary. There is no writing or homework - you simply use the cover flaps to hide the answers to exercises and test yourself as you learn. Each chapter ends with a review module, so you can track your progress and identify areas where you need further practice. The course includes a free audio app that enables you to hear German words and phrases spoken by native speakers. Use the app alongside the book's easy-to-use pronunciation guides to perfect your pronunciation and practise German conversation in real-life situations. Whether you're a complete beginner or just in need of a refresher course, there's no easier way to learn German than with 15 Minute German.

This volume provides an unprecedented insight into current approaches to crosslinguistic influence (CLI). The collection investigates a range of themes including linguistic relativity, the possible contributions of neurolinguistics, the problem of cognitive development and the role of the frequency of structures in acquisition from distinct, overlapping and complementary perspectives. Chapters focusing on vocabulary, morphosyntactic categories, semantic structures, and phonetic and phonological structures feature in the volume, as do over 20 languages, in order to offer new insights into both theoretical and empirical issues in CLI, including the consequences of great or little similarity in structures between languages. The relevance of CLI research for teaching is discussed in a number of chapters, as is the phenomenon of multilingualism. The collection will appeal to researchers, graduate and postgraduate students, teachers and professionals interested in the field of CLI in SLA.

This volume provides an unprecedented insight into current approaches to crosslinguistic influence (CLI). The collection investigates a range of themes including linguistic relativity, the possible contributions of neurolinguistics, the problem of cognitive development and the role of the frequency of structures in acquisition from distinct, overlapping and complementary perspectives. Chapters focusing on vocabulary, morphosyntactic categories, semantic structures, and phonetic and phonological structures feature in the volume, as do over 20 languages, in order to offer new insights into both theoretical and empirical issues in CLI, including the consequences of great or little similarity in structures between languages. The relevance of CLI research for teaching is discussed in a number of chapters, as is the phenomenon of multilingualism. The collection will appeal to researchers, graduate and postgraduate students, teachers and professionals interested in the field of CLI in SLA.

Public Speaking for Criminal Justice Professionals: A Manner of Speaking is a one-of-a-kind public speaking guide specifically written for criminal justice professionals, written by a criminal justice professional. Author Thomas Mauriello has worked his entire professional career both as a practitioner and as an educator in the fields of criminal justice and forensic science. This book outlines the public speaking skills he has learned, used, and taught to thousands of criminal justice, forensic science, security, and counterintelligence professionals over the years. The book can either be read from cover-to-cover-to fine tune the reader's existing oral communication skills-or read in a modular fashion, as a reference guide to focus on certain skills and techniques. A list of over 55 proven, effective presentation tools will be listed, discussed, and demonstrated throughout the book-using illustrated criminal justice and forensic sciences topic examples. Contrary to popular believe, simply knowing your subject or being an expert in the subject does not guarantee a successful presentation. Aristotle, who many recognize as the Father of Public Speaking and Forensic Debate, said it best when he declared, "It is not enough to know what to say, one must know how to say it." This guide focuses on technique and the recognition that a speaker must have of both the subject and the listener. The purpose is to improve readers' skill level and ability to engage and, thereby, inform the listener. Whether preparing to speak to one person, or one thousand people, Public Speaking for Criminal Justice Professionals provides specific techniques for professionals to speaking with confidence, and present effective engaging presentations.

Public Speaking for Criminal Justice Professionals: A Manner of Speaking is a one-of-a-kind public speaking guide specifically written for criminal justice professionals, written by a criminal justice professional. Author Thomas Mauriello has worked his entire professional career both as a practitioner and as an educator in the fields of criminal justice and forensic science. This book outlines the public speaking skills he has learned, used, and taught to thousands of criminal justice, forensic science, security, and counterintelligence professionals over the years. The book can either be read from cover-to-cover-to fine tune the reader's existing oral communication skills-or read in a modular fashion, as a reference guide to focus on certain skills and techniques. A list of over 55 proven, effective presentation tools will be listed, discussed, and demonstrated throughout the book-using illustrated criminal justice and forensic sciences topic examples. Contrary to popular believe, simply knowing your subject or being an expert in the subject does not guarantee a successful presentation. Aristotle, who many recognize as the Father of Public Speaking and Forensic Debate, said it best when he declared, "It is not enough to know what to say, one must know how to say it." This guide focuses on technique and the recognition that a speaker must have of both the subject and the listener. The purpose is to improve readers' skill level and ability to engage and, thereby, inform the listener. Whether preparing to speak to one person, or one thousand people, Public Speaking for Criminal Justice Professionals provides specific techniques for professionals to speaking with confidence, and present effective engaging presentations.

Exam Board: SQA Level: National 5 Subject: English First teaching: September 2017 First exam: Summer 2018 Successfully develop the key language skills that students must demonstrate across the National 5 English assessments. Covering reading, writing, talking and listening - vital skills for learning, life and work - this course companion helps students to fulfil their potential at N5 and beyond. - Introduces the language skills required for National 5 English, offering advice for studying and revising these skills throughout the school year - Focuses on strategies for approaching the RUAE and Scottish Texts sections of the exam, providing explanations of command words and different question types, worked examples and practice questions - Takes students step by step through the process of analysing an extract/passage, looking at word choice, imagery, structure and many other linguistic techniques - Improves every student's language skills, with dozens of ready-made and accessible activities, including independent work, group discussion points and extension tasks - with answers provided online at hoddergibson.co.uk/answers-N5-English-Language

National Geographic Reading and Vocabulary Focus is an all-new, four-level reading series that provides the essential reading skills and vocabulary development for maximum academic readiness. Readings grounded in rich National Geographic content tap into learners' curiosity about the world, naturally encouraging inquiry and opportunities to synthesize information. - A comprehensive, three-part vocabulary development program builds student confidence as learners encounter new or unfamiliar words in academic texts: - Academic Vocabulary sections develop the language that students will encounter in academic readings. - Multiword Vocabulary sections identify words that are commonly grouped together and then prompt learners to work with them in different contexts for enhanced comprehension. - Topic Vocabulary is presented as a reading preview strategy to enhance learner comprehension of the text.

Tones are the most challenging aspect of learning Chinese as a second language, and L2 learners' perceptual categories differ in important and fascinating ways from those of native speakers. This book explores the relationship between tone perception and production among native speakers and non-native learners as illustrated in the experiments the author conducted with native speakers, true learners and heritage learners, all of whom were tested on their ability to produce tones naturally and to perceive 81 synthesized tones in various contexts. The experiments show that each group processes tones differently with regard to both register (tonal level) and contour (tonal shape). The results also reveal how three types of cues - acoustic, psychological and contextual - influence non-native speakers' tone perception and production.

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.

This landmark volume offers a collection of conceptual papers and empirical research studies that investigate the dynamics of language learning motivation from a complex dynamic systems perspective. The contributors include some of the most well-established scholars from three continents, all addressing the question of how we can understand motivation if we perceive it as continuously changing and evolving rather than as a fixed learner trait. The data-based studies also provide useful research models and templates for graduate students and scholars in the fields of applied linguistics and SLA who are interested in engaging with the intriguing area of examining language learning in a dynamic vein.

Writing centers in universities and colleges aim to help student writers develop practices that will make them better writers in the long term and that will improve their draft papers in the short term. The tutors who work in writing centers accomplish such goals through one-to-one talk about writing. This book analyzes the aboutness of writing center talk-what tutors and student writers talk about when they come together to talk about writing. By combining corpus-driven analysis to provide a quantitative, microlevel view of the subject matter and sociocultural discourse analysis to provide a qualitative macrolevel view of tutor-student writer interactions, it further establishes how these two research methods operate together to produce a robust and rigorous analysis of spoken discourse.

Concise and focused, the Wonders Reading/Writing Workshop is a powerful instructional tool that provides students with systematic support for the close reading of complex text. Introduce the week's concept with video, photograph, interactive graphic organizers, and more Teach through mini lessons that reinforce comprehension strategies and skills, genre, and vocabulary Model elements of close reading with shared, short-text reads of high interest and grade-level rigor

Five minutes a day is all it takes to begin learning Japanese! Beginning Japanese Phrases Writing Practice Pad is the perfect interactive resource for busy people who want to start learning Japanese or students looking for a fun way to review what they've learned. This interactive paper pad helps even those completely unfamiliar with the language learn and write 336 essential Japanese phrases--in just a few minutes a day! Each tear-out sheet introduces a common Japanese phrase in bold, easy-to-read type, along with the pronunciation and meaning in English. Plus, language learners can use the provided practice boxes to try writing the phrase themselves! Cultural notes are provided on the back along with etiquette tips on when and how to use the phrase. This language practice pad includes: Contains over 275 tear-off sheets--each presenting a new and useful Japanese phrase Each phrase is in Japanese script along with its pronunciation and English translation Practice boxes are provided for you to write the phrase several times while memorizing it Learn a new phrase each day and keep the practice sheets for easy review later Helpful cultural notes and etiquette tips on Japanese usage are provided Charts showing the 92 hiragana and katakana characters Whether you're planning a trip to Japan or just looking to expand your vocabulary, this practice pad offers a quick and fun way to learn, reference, and review popular Japanese phrases. Five minutes a day is all you need--and you're on your way to speaking and writing Japanese!

Here you will find the collective experience of three writers and editors distilled into a complete guide to writing science fiction. Separate chapters cover Idea, Plot, Character, Background, Science, Tragedy, and Comedy. Twelve stories, each a first sale by its author, illustrate the main points of the book. A foreword by Isaac Asimov gives an overall look at the task of becoming an SF writer, and an appendix by the editors explains exactly how to prepare a manuscript for publication.

Manual pratico de escrita em portugues/Developing Writing Skills in Portuguese provides intermediate- and advanced-level students with the necessary skills to become competent and confident writers in the Portuguese language. With a focus on writing as a craft, Manual pratico de escrita em portugues offers a rich selection of original materials including narrative texts, expository essays, opinion pieces and newspaper articles. Each chapter covers a specific kind of writing and is designed to help tackle the material in small units. The book aids students in crafting clear, coherent and cohesive texts by means of guided practice and step-by-step activities. Suitable for use as a classroom text or as a self-study course, this book is ideal for students at level B2 - C2 of the Common European Framework for Languages or at Intermediate High - Advanced High on the ACTFL proficiency scales.

FranklinCovey Style Guide: For Business and Technical Communication can help any writer produce documents that achieve outstanding results. Created by FranklinCovey, the world-renowned leader in helping organizations enhance individual effectiveness, this edition fully reflects today's online media and global business challenges. The only style guide used in FranklinCovey's own renowned Writing Advantage TM and Technical Writing Advantage TM programs, it covers everything from document design and graphics to sentence style and word choice. This edition's many improvements include extensive new coverage of graphics, writing for online media, and international business English. Through dozens of examples and model documents, writers learn how to overcome "writer's block" and efficiently create documents from start to finish. FranklinCovey's experts show how to get powerful results from every email; add distinctiveness and power to any online presence; write far more effective proposals, letters, memos, reports, and resumes; and improve all forms of documentation, from business procedures to highly technical content. You'll learn how to quickly discover and prioritize the information you need, whether you're planning a presentation, leading a meeting, or managing a project. The authors reveal how to design visuals that communicate messages instantly and intuitively, and use charts, color, illustrations, maps, photos, and tables to supercharge any presentation. Packed with up-to-the-minute examples, this A-Z guidebook can help you write more effectively no matter who you are - whether you're a business or sales professional who must motivate and persuade, a technical professional who must explain challenging content more clearly and accurately, or a student who needs stronger writing skills to succeed in school and in your career.