This book offers a range of perspectives and insights from around the world on the teaching and learning of listening, speaking, reading and writing. It brings together contributors from across six continents, who analyse a wide range of teaching and learning contexts, including primary, secondary, tertiary, private, and adult ESL/EFL classes. In doing so, they provide locally relevant accounts that nonetheless resonate with other contexts and wider concerns. This informative and practical edited collection will appeal to students and scholars who are interested in the four building blocks of language learning, as well as language education and teacher education.

Devised in collaboration with the Open University and Macquarie University, Australia, Analysing English in a Global Context is specifically designed for the postgraduate student market, as well as for teachers of English as a second or foreign language throughout the world. This is a groundbreaking Reader which includes specially commissioned pieces as well as classic texts and provides a global perspective on the changing uses and forms of English and its impact on language teaching contexts. Students' skills in analysing these forms will be developed through an examination of the major functional models and their strengths and weaknesses.

This collection of original articles provides a state-of-the-art overview of key issues and approaches in contemporary language teaching. Written by internationally prominent researchers, educators, and emerging scholars, the chapters are grouped into five sections: rethinking our understanding of teaching, learner diversity and classroom learning, pedagogical approaches and practices, components of the curriculum, and media and materials. Each chapter covers key topics in teaching methodology such as reflective pedagogy, teaching large classes, outcomes-based language learning, speaking instruction, and technology in the classroom. Chapters assume no particular background knowledge and are written in an accessible style.

This book is a practical guide for English language teachers and teacher educators seeking to carry out and promote teacher action research within their institutional context. Based on contemporary theory and a reflexive and social approach to teacher professional development and learning, it offers readers structured methodologies and concepts, wide-ranging hands-on activity sets, and focused suggestions for appropriate and sustainable ways to implement action research across an institution. Experts Anne Burns, Emily Edwards and Neville John Ellis close the book by presenting ideas for conducting teacher research through reflective practice, exploratory practice and action research.

The Autism Detective was written to support early conversations about autism and neurodiversity. Through a positive lens it invites the reader to be a detective and follow super sleuths Kit and Scully on their latest mission. It is for children pre- and post- autism diagnosis, their siblings, parents, wider family, friends and teachers to explore and investigate what autism means to them. The interactive style and variety of voices make it great as a group reader for peer training in primary classrooms. The story helps spark discussion with references to the strengths and challenges that some autistic people may experience, whilst highlighting things that all children have in common, such as the need for love, friendship, acceptance and respect.

This book presents a novel approach to discussing how to research language teacher cognition and practice. An introductory chapter by the editors and an overview of the research field by Simon Borg precede eight case studies written by new researchers, each of which focuses on one approach to collecting data. These approaches range from questionnaires and focus groups to think aloud, stimulated recall, and oral reflective journals. Each case study is commented on by a leading expert in the field - JD Brown, Martin Bygate, Donald Freeman, Alan Maley, Jerry Gebhard, Thomas Farrell, Susan Gass, and Jill Burton. Readers are encouraged to enter the conversation by reflecting on a set of questions and tasks in each chapter.

This hands-on, practical guide for ESL/EFL teachers and teacher educators outlines, for those who are new to doing action research, what it is and how it works. Straightforward and reader friendly, it introduces the concepts and offers a step-by-step guide to going through an action research process, including illustrations drawn widely from international contexts. Specifically, the text addresses:

• action research and how it differs from other forms of research
• the steps involved in developing an action research project
• ways of developing a research focus
• methods of data collection
• approaches to data analysis
• making sense of action research for further classroom action.

Each chapter includes a variety of pedagogical activities:

• Pre-Reading questions ask readers to consider what they already know about the topic
• Reflection Points invite readers to think about/discuss what they have read
• action points ask readers to carry out action-research tasks based on what they have read
• Classroom Voices illustrate aspects of action research from teachers internationally
• Summary Points provide a synopsis of the main points in the chapter

Bringing the 'how-to' and the 'what' together, Doing Action Research in English Language Teaching is the perfect text for BATESOL and MATESOL courses in which action research is the focus or a required component.

Devised in collaboration with the Open University and Macquarie University, Australia, Analysing English in a Global Context is specifically designed for the postgraduate student market, as well as for teachers of English as a second or foreign language throughout the world. This is a groundbreaking Reader which includes specially commissioned pieces as well as classic texts and provides a global perspective on the changing uses and forms of English and its impact on language teaching contexts. Students' skills in analysing these forms will be developed through an examination of the major functional models and their strengths and weaknesses.

This volume brings together a collection of chapters outlining the principles and processes of action research and providing case studies of practitioner action research completed by teachers in the ELICOS (English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students) sector in Australia. The Action Research in ELICOS programme in which the teachers participated was an innovative collaboration between English Australia, the professional body for ELICOS, and Cambridge English Language Assessment commencing in 2010 and continuing to the present. An introductory chapter describes the initiation of the programme and the professional model adopted to support and facilitate the teachers' research, while a concluding chapter considers the impact of the programme on the teachers and on the ELICOS sector more generally. Case studies by the teachers present the action research processes they undertook to research receptive and productive skills and assessment of these skills in their classrooms.

On July 5, 1906, scandal breaks in the small town of Cold Sassy, Georgia, when the proprietor of the general store, E. Rucker Blakeslee, elopes with Miss Love Simpson. He is barely three weeks a widower, and she is only half his age and a Yankee to boot. As their marriage inspires a whirlwind of local gossip, fourteen-year-old Will Tweedy suddenly finds himself eyewitness to a family scandal, and that's where his adventures begin.
Cold Sassy Tree is the undeniably entertaining and extraordinarily moving account of small-town Southern life in a bygone era. Brimming with characters who are wise and loony, unimpeachably pious and deliciously irreverent, Olive Ann Burns's classic bestseller is a timeless, funny, and resplendent treasure.

This book is a practical guide for English language teachers and teacher educators seeking to carry out and promote teacher action research within their institutional context. Based on contemporary theory and a reflexive and social approach to teacher professional development and learning, it offers readers structured methodologies and concepts, wide-ranging hands-on activity sets, and focused suggestions for appropriate and sustainable ways to implement action research across an institution. Experts Anne Burns, Emily Edwards and Neville John Ellis close the book by presenting ideas for conducting teacher research through reflective practice, exploratory practice and action research.

This hands-on, practical guide for ESL/EFL teachers and teacher educators outlines, for those who are new to doing action research, what it is and how it works. Straightforward and reader friendly, it introduces the concepts and offers a step-by-step guide to going through an action research process, including illustrations drawn widely from international contexts. Specifically, the text addresses:

• action research and how it differs from other forms of research
• the steps involved in developing an action research project
• ways of developing a research focus
• methods of data collection
• approaches to data analysis
• making sense of action research for further classroom action.

Each chapter includes a variety of pedagogical activities:

• Pre-Reading questions ask readers to consider what they already know about the topic
• Reflection Points invite readers to think about/discuss what they have read
• action points ask readers to carry out action-research tasks based on what they have read
• Classroom Voices illustrate aspects of action research from teachers internationally
• Summary Points provide a synopsis of the main points in the chapter

Bringing the 'how-to' and the 'what' together, Doing Action Research in English Language Teaching is the perfect text for BATESOL and MATESOL courses in which action research is the focus or a required component.

This book provides theoretical and pedagogical perspectives on teaching speaking within a coherent methodological framework. Teaching Speaking A Holistic Approach brings together theoretical and pedagogical perspectives on teaching speaking within a coherent methodological framework. The framework combines understandings derived from several areas of speaking research and instruction. By explaining, interpreting, evaluating, and synthesizing these diverse perspectives from linguistics and language learning, the text offers a comprehensive and versatile approach for teaching speaking. Different types of learning tasks are explained and illustrated with examples, and each chapter includes short tasks and ends with a number of tasks that enable readers to extend their ideas.

This collection provides an overview of current issues, debates, and approaches in Second Language Teacher Education (SLTE) presented by internationally prominent researchers, educators, and emerging scholars. Chapters address such issues as distance education, non-native English-speaking educators, technology, assessment, standards, and the changing contexts of contemporary language teaching and teacher education.

This book proposes that action research should be a collaborative process emerging from the practical concerns of groups of teachers working in a common or similar context. Teachers' first-person accounts provide the basis for exploring the challenges and constraints of action research. The book will be of interest to teachers seeking new directions for their own professional development as well as others interested in integrating collaborative action research into current practice and curriculum renewal.

This volume provides an up-to-date and comprehensive coverage of second language learning. The focus throughout the book is primarily on language learning, but each chapter also discusses the implications for teaching and assessment, thus informing both understanding and practice. The book contains nine sections, which aim to organise and reflect different dimensions of the diverse and complex scope of learning English as a second or additional language. Four themes which permeate the chapters are: learning and learners; learning and language; learning and language development; learning and learning context. The 36 chapters are up-to-date and authoritative, written by experts in the field. The content is accessibly written, with questions for discussion and follow-up reading suggestions provided.

The European Journal of Applied Linguistics and TEFL is a refereed academic publication, which aims to disseminate information, knowledge and expertise in the broad area of Applied Linguistics. Strong preference is given to contributions relating to second language acquisition, EFL pedagogy, teacher training and classroom innovation. This special issue consists of nine articles, which focus on the theme of Language Teachers as Researchers. Some of the topics discussed in this volume include: * the issue of practitioners' identity and trust while researching their own practice; * constructing teacher research identity; * action research for self-evaluation of teaching; * collaborative action research on notetaking; * video conferencing and reflective practice in language teacher education; * researching and understanding new literacies and language in use. This provides a valuable source of reference for applied linguists, teacher educators, materials developers and practitioners in the field of TESOL. The content also offers readers a deeper insight into current issues and practices, broadening their knowledge and promoting professional development.

Suicidal Thoughts is a compilation of some of the most moving and insightful writing accomplished on the topic of suicide. It presents the thoughts and experiences of fifteen writers who have contemplated suicide-some on a professional level, others on a personal level, and a few, both personally and professionally. Through this collection, the reader is able to bear witness to the struggle between life and death and to the devastating aftermath of suicide. Suicidal Thoughts provides readers with a better understanding of the reasons why some individuals give serious consideration to killing themselves.

"Cold Sassy Tree, Olive Ann Burns unforgettable story of a Georgia town at the turn of the century, has captivated millions of readers with its tale of Grandpa Blakeslee, his young bride Miss Love, and the irrepressible fiteen-year-old Will Tweedy. Throughout her long battle with cancer, Olive Ann Burns worked passionately on a sequel to this magical book. Only during her final days did she realize she wouldn't complete it, dictating from her hospital bed her wishes that the finished chapters be published.
The result is "Leaving Cold Sassy - a portait of the grown-up Will Tweedy; of the feisty young schoolteacher who captures his heart; of the town that has claimed a place in the American imagination; and, in a fascinating reminiscence by her editor, of Olive Ann Burns, a writer who didn't get a chance to finish her extraordinary tale.
Complete with Olive Ann Burn's notes for later scenes and chapters exactly as she wrote them, "Leaving Cold Sassy is a final, loving goodbye to Cold Sassy, Georgia.