Abstract: In recent years, the term ‘English as a lingua franca’ (ELF) has emerged as a way of referring to communication in English between speakers with different first languages. Since roughly only one out of every four users of English in the world is a native speaker of the language (Crystal 2003), most ELF interactions take place among ‘non-native’ speakers of English. Although this does not preclude the participation of English native speakers in ELF interaction, what is distinctive about ELF is that, in most cases, it is ‘a ‘contact language’ between persons who share neither a common native tongue nor a common (national) culture, and for whom English is the chosen foreign language of communication’ (Firth 1996: 240).

Abstract: Collocations are both pervasive in language and difficult for language learners, even at an advanced level. In this book, these difficulties are for the first time comprehensively investigated. On the basis of a learner corpus, idiosyncratic collocation use by learners is uncovered, the building material of learner collocations examined, and the factors that contribute to the difficulty of certain groups of collocations identified. An extensive discussion of the implications of the results for the foreign language classroom is also presented, and the contentious issue of the relation of corpus linguistic research and language teaching is thus extended to learner corpus analysis.

Abstract: This critical volume, provides an in-depth analysis of second language reading's multiple dimensions.The paperback edition describes the complexity of reading and explains how reading differs in a first and second language. The book is broad in scope, covering all major aspects of the reading process and synthesizing all current reading research. The author provides a cross-linguistic orientation, explaining how first and second languages can mutually facilitate one another. This important volume offers strategies for enhancing literary acquisition, second-language learning and bilingual processing, and will serve as a valuable guide for graduate students, professors, researchers and foreign language teachers.

Abstract: A structural equation model of second language (L2; English) reading comprehension was tested on a sample of 135 Spanish-speaking 4th-grade English-language learners (ELLs). The model included 2 levels: decoding and oral language. English decoding measures included alphabetic knowledge and fluency. English oral language measures included vocabulary knowledge and listening comprehension. The model had reasonable goodness of fit. Decoding skills played a less predictive role than oral language proficiency. L2 listening comprehension made an independent, proximal contribution to L2 reading comprehension, whereas L2 vocabulary knowledge assumed both proximal and distal relationships with L2 reading comprehension. Results suggest that, given adequate L2 decoding ability, L2 vocabulary knowledge is crucial for improved English reading comprehension outcomes for Spanish-speaking ELLs.

Abstract: Introduction. 1. Diagnosing foreign language proficiency: a testing/ teaching interface 2. Diagnosis in other fields 3. The Dialang System 4. Setting standards 5. The value of a Vocabulary Size Placement Test 6. The role of self-assessment 7. Diagnosing Reading 8. Diagnosing Listening 9. Diagnosing Writing 10. Diagnosing Grammar 11. Diagnosing Vocabulary. 12. The value of feedback and advice 13. The future: Experimental Items 14. The use of self assessment in benchmarking 15. Future research and development.

Abstract: In this book the author builds a comprehensive framework for the assessment of young language learners in both foreign language and second language learning situations. She begins by considering why we need a special book on young learner assessment, and describes the nature of young learner language learning. The assessment approach is task-based and is centred around tasks and techniques suitable for young learners, with particular emphasis on classroom assessment. Oral language assessment, and reading and writing assessment are addressed in separate chapters, as is the large-scale testing of young learners. Underpinned by sound theory, the book is full of practical guidelines, and draws on examples of assessment contexts, issues and practices from around the world. Assessing Young Language Learners was winner of the Kenneth W Mildenberger Prize in 2006.

Abstract: We discuss the challenges of Web-based teaching for language teachers and then describe in detail an extended episode of misunderstanding that occurred between 2 students discussing their versions of history during a classroom-based, asynchronous telecollaborative project between learners of German in the United States and learners of English in Germany. We argue that discussion of such moments of miscommunication can be valuable learning opportunities for both students and teachers. They open up for explicit discussion what usually remains invisible in cross-cultural communication: the nature of the subject matter, the conditions of cross-linguistic exchanges, the nature of language as discourse, and the goals of foreign language education. Our analysis suggests that as students explore the nature of language and communication across cultures through their technology-mediated interactions, teachers are pivotal in helping them take an intercultural stance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Note on Transliterations Preface General Introduction 1: Historical Background 2: Language, Culture, and Identity 3: Arabic 4: Berber 5: French 6: Foreign Languages 7: Bilingualism 8: Code Switching and its Social Significance 9: Language Use and Language Attitudes 10: Language Policy, Literacy, and Education Conclusion References Index Map

Abstract: Objectives. We examined the relationship between ability to speak English and receipt of Papanicolaou tests, clinical breast examinations, and mammography in a multiethnic group of women in the United States.Methods. We used longitudinal data from the Study of Women Across the Nation to examine receipt of breast and cervical cancer screening among Chinese, Japanese, Hispanic, and White women who reported reading and speaking (1) only a language other than English, (2) another language more fluently than English, or (3) only English or another language and English with equal fluency. Logistic regression was used to analyze the data.Results. Reading and speaking only a language other than English and reading and speaking another language more fluently than English, were significantly and negatively associated with receipt of breast and cervical cancer screening in unadjusted models. Although these findings were attenuated in adjusted models, not speaking English well or at all remained negatively associated...

Abstract: This article reports on a study investigating English language teaching (ELT) practices in secondary-level classrooms in China. A sample of 252 secondary school graduates from different parts of the country completed a questionnaire on various instructional practices. Analyses of the data revealed that whereas classroom instruction in socioeconomically developed regions has taken on some features of communicative language teaching (CLT), instructional practices in the less developed areas are still characterized by traditional language teaching methodologies. The regional differences in instructional practices are traced to various economic, social, and cultural factors. The analysis shows that what transpires in the foreign language classroom is inevitably shaped and constrained by contextual influences. This conclusion high-lights the need for an ecological perspective to replace the technological one that predominates in international endeavors to reform language education. The article concludes by discussing what the adoption of an ecological approach entails in the Chinese contexts for ELT.

Abstract: This paper aims at emphasizing the use of literature as a popular technique for teaching both basic language skills (i.e. reading, writing, listening and speaking) and language areas (i.e. vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation) in our times. Reasons for using literary texts in foreign language classroom and main criteria for selecting suitable literary texts in foreign language classes are stressed so as to make the reader familiar with the underlying reasons and criteria for language teachers’ using and selecting literary texts. Moreover, literature and the teaching of language skills, benefits of different genres of literature (i.e. poetry, short fiction, drama and novel) to language teaching and some problems encountered by language teachers within the area of teaching English through literature (i.e. lack of preparation in the area of literature teaching in TESL / TEFL programs, absence of clear-cut objectives defining the role of literature in ESL / EFL, language teachers’ not having the background and training in literature, lack of pedagogically-designed appropriate materials that can be used by language teachers in a classroom context) are taken into account.

Abstract: The present study focused on two research questions related to early reading abilities among Hong Kong beginning readers. First, how do Chinese native language phonological processing skills predict reading acquisition in both Chinese and English as a second language in young children? Second, to what extent are these native language phonological processing skills bidirectionally associated with reading in Chinese and English as a second language? Our study design emerged primarily as a result of two others, one focused on phonological processing skills and Chinese character recognition in Chinese kindergarteners (McBride-Chang & Ho, 2000a) and one on transfer of phonological processing skills from Chinese to English word recognition in older children (Gottardo, Yan, Siegel, & Wade-Woolley, 2001).

Abstract: This article addresses Spanish for native speakers (SNS) instruction from the perspective of critical pedagogy, including the critical examination of dominant educational paradigms as well as the proposal of alternative models. Emphasizing the inherently political nature of education and the role of language in the production of knowledge, culture, and identities, the author analyzes current models of SNS and argues that appropriateness-based models designed to promote expansion of students' linguistic repertoires may reinforce dominant sociolinguistic hierarchies and deny student agency. An emerging critical approach is considered, and a proposal that emphasizes the political-as well as the formal and social-aspects of language, and the promotion of student agency is presented. Specific suggestions for the implementation of the proposed approach are provided. Introduction Thanks in part to the changing demographics in the general U.S. population, as well as within Spanish language classes, the past few decades have been a period of increased interest in the educational needs of Spanish-speaking students. Of course, the growing attention now being paid to this segment of the school population is also a result of the Chicano and Latino rights movements which gained strength and recognition in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as the (relative) increase in representation of Latino scholars and educators within academia. Consequently, great strides have been made in the description of the linguistic abilities and needs of students who enroll in Spanish classes with some knowledge of Spanish (e.g., Carreira, 2003; Valdes, 1997), as well as in the development of pedagogical materials designed to address these abilities and needs (e.g., Marques, 2000; Roca, 1999; Samaniego, Rojas, & Alarcon, 2000). Despite these advances, as well as the numerous calls for a broader conceptualization of the needs of heritage language speakers (e.g., Aparicio, 1997; Carreira, 2000; Faltis, 1990; Martinez, 2003; Villa, 1996, 2003), many Spanish for native speakers (SNS) programs focus primarily on the linguistic development of students, and in particular, on the acquisition of what has been called "standard" Spanish.1 Such a focus reflects a depoliticized conceptualization of both education and language-a conceptualization challenged by researchers and pedagogues adopting a critical approach to education (e.g., Bartolome & Macedo, 1999; Giroux, 1991, 2000; Walsh, 1991). Critical pedagogues have called for researchers and instructors to recognize the inherently political nature of education and to investigate how certain educational practices socialize students to comply with and uphold existing class and social divisions. Whereas there is a well-established critical research tradition examining the teaching of "standard" English, as well as a growing body of research on critical approaches to second and foreign languages, critical approaches to heritage language instruction have been less common. Thus, there is still a pressing need to critically examine existing heritage language curricula-something the present article attempts to address. In addition to exploring the sociopolitical implications of dominant educational paradigms, critical pedagogues have proposed alternative program objectives, curricular foci, and pedagogical practices. They largely reject assimilation as an educational objective, as well as the construction of students as passive recipients of knowledge, arguing instead that educators should encourage student agency and prepare students to play an active role in the "shaping and reshaping of [their] social world" (Fairclough, 2001, p. 197), including the creation of a more democratic society. In order to develop more just educational programs, educators must pay attention to the specific social and political contexts in which students live and study (Canagarajah, 1999; Pennycook, 2001), and they must strive to bring the life experiences of marginalized students into the center of the classroom (Giroux, 1991). …

Abstract: Purpose: This article addresses a series of questions that are critical to planning and implementing effective intervention programs for young linguistically diverse learners with primary language ...

Abstract: Background.Approximately 3.5 million U.S. schoolchildren are limited in English proficiency (LEP). Disparities in children's health and health care are associated with both LEP and speaking a language other than English at home, but prior research has not examined which of these two measures of language barriers is most useful in examining health care disparities.Objectives.Our objectives were to compare primary language spoken at home vs. parental LEP and their associations with health status, access to care, and use of health services in children.Methods.We surveyed parents at urban community sites in Boston, asking 74 questions on children's health status, access to health care, and use of health services.Results.Some 98% of the 1,100 participating children and families were of non-white race/ethnicity, 72% of parents were LEP, and 13 different primary languages were spoken at home. “Dose-response” relationships were observed between parental English proficiency and several child and parental sociodemo...

Abstract: Pragmatics, the ability to act and interact by means of language, is a necessary and sometimes daunting learning task for second and foreign language learners. This chapter will review central issues and findings in second language (L2) developmental pragmatics, examine the effects of instruction, and provide an overview of data collection methods.

Abstract: This article reports on a study of teacher perceptions concerning teaching behaviors and attitudes that contribute to effective foreign language teaching and learning. The data were collected by means of a questionnaire to which 457 postsecondary foreign language teachers of French, German, and Spanish who are members of ACTFL responded. Based on current research on second language acquisition (SLA), various teaching behaviors and attitudes of effective foreign language teachers were identified for inclusion on the questionnaire. The results indicate an emerging professional consensus regarding a number of teacher behaviors and attitudes related to foreign language teaching. The more that is known about teacher beliefs, the more likely the profession will be to create models for foreign language teacher preparation and evaluation that reflect relevant behaviors and attitudes of foreign language teaching.

Abstract: Foreword/ Preface 1. Teaching foreign languages in an intercultural world Lies Sercu 2. Objectives of foreign language education and culture teaching time Paloma Castro and Lies Sercu 3. Familiarity and contacts with foreign cultures Phyllis Ryan and Lies Sercu 4. Pupils' culture-and-language learning profile Maria del Carmen Mendez Garcia and Lies Sercu 5. Culture teaching practices Ewa Bandura and Lies Sercu 6. Culture in foreign language teaching materials Leah Davcheva and Lies Sercu 7. Experiential culture learning activities: school trips and exchange projects Chryssa Laskaridou and Lies Sercu 8. Opinions regarding different facets of intercultural competence teaching Lies Sercu 9. The foreign language and intercultural competence teacher Lies Sercu 10. The future of intercultural competence in foreign language education. Recommendations for professional development, educational policy and research Lies SercuAppendix 1: Questionnaire/ Appendix 2: Bonferroni multiple comparison test results

Abstract: The contributions of phonological short-term memory and existing foreign vocabulary knowledge to the learning of new words in a second language were compared in a sample of 40 Greek children studying English at school. The children's speed of learning new English words in a paired-associate learning task was strongly influenced by their current English vocabulary, but was independent of phonological memory skill, indexed by nonword repetition ability. However, phonological memory performance was closely linked to English vocabulary scores. The findings suggest that in learners with considerable familiarity with a second language, foreign vocabulary acquisition is mediated largely by use of existing knowledge representations.

Abstract: After Independence in 1957, the government of Malaysia set out on a program to establish Bahasa Melayu as official language, to be used in all government functions and as the medium of instruction at all levels. For 40 years, the government supported a major program for language cultivation and modernization. It did not however attempt to control language use in the private sector, including business and industry, where globalization pressure led to a growing demand for English. The demand for English was further fuelled by the forces of the internationalization of education which were met in part by the opening of English-medium affiliates of international universities. In 2002, the government announced a reversal of policy, calling for a switch to English as a medium of instruction at all levels. This paper sets out to analyze the pressures to which the government was responding.

Abstract: This paper reviews briefly the close relationship that foreign language research has sustained with social and political power since the emergence of applied linguistics as a field of scientific inquiry and, more recently, with the demands of economic competitiveness and national security. It examines two debates that capture well the conflicting demands currently placed on foreign language researchers and educators: the demand by a global economy for both communicative and intercultural competence, and the demand by the U.S. government for speakers with 'advanced levels' of language proficiency to serve the needs of national security. It argues that applied linguistic research, in its efforts to build a theory of practice, should reflect on its own conditions of possibility and openly discuss with practitioners not only the categorization, but also the framing, of real-world problems.

Abstract: This paper investigates the effects of explicit instruction and self-analysis on the acquisition of second-language (L2) pronunciation, specifically of nine Spanish phonemes learned by native speakers of English. Oral data were collected from seventeen students enrolled in an undergraduate course in Spanish Phonetics at the beginning and end of the semester. The treatment consisted of standard phonetics instruction, practice with voice analysis software and oral self-analysis projects. Target sounds were rated for accuracy of pronunciation through voice analysis software. Results are promising, indicating that the participants receiving explicit phonetics instruction improved their pronunciation on specific features.

Abstract: This article is republished from The Canadian Modern Language Review,60, 4, pp. 501–526. It is published as an article exchange between the MLJ and the CMLR. The articles for the exchange were selected by committees from the Editorial Board of each journal according to the following criteria: articles of particular relevance to international readers, especially those in the United States and Canada; and articles that are likely to provoke scholarly discussion among readers of the journal of their republication. The MLJ thanks Keiko Koda, chair, Michael Everson, Lourdes Ortega, and Ross Steele for their work selecting this CMLR article for republication in the MLJ. The MLJ article to appear in the CMLR, 61, 5, is: “Second Language Acquisition as Situated Practice: Task Accomplishment in the French Second Language Classroom,” by Lorenza Mondada and Simona Pekarek Doehler (MLJ, 88, 2004, pp. 501–518). The Editors of both journals hope their readers will find this sharing of scholarship interesting and beneficial. Using a framework based on conversation analysis (Auer, 1984, 1995, 1998), this article presents an analysis of learner code-switching between first language (L1) and second language (L2) in an advanced foreign language (FL) classroom. It was found that students code-switch not only as a fallback method when their knowledge of the L2 fails them, or for other participant-related functions, but also for discourse-related functions that contexualize the interactional meaning of their utterances. These uses strikingly resemble code-switching patterns in non-classroom bilingual settings and show that language learners are able to conceptualize the classroom as a bilingual space. Learners orient to the classroom as a community of practice (Wenger, 1998) through their code-switching patterns as manifestations of a shared understanding about their actions and about themselves as members of that community.

Abstract: Introduction PART 1. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1. Third language acquisition 2. Pragmatic competence and foreign language learning 3. The sociolinguistic context: language learning and use in the Valencian community PART II. THE STUDY 4. The Method 5. The Role of Pragmatic Instruction in Developing Foreign Language Learners' Pragmatic Competence 6. Proficiency-level Effects on Pragmatic Production 7. Task-effects on Pragmatic Production 8. The Role of Bilingualism in Meta-pragmatic Awareness 9. Pragmatic production and awareness of third language learners. Summarising the findings References

Abstract: List of Tables and Figures Preface Acknowledgements Globalization and Migration Multiculturalism and Identities The Global City and the History of Migration and Multilingualism in Britain and London Researching London Stories Japanese Graduate Students in London French Foreign Language Teachers in London Spanish-speaking Latinos in London British Asian Undergraduate Students in London S.Preece Taking Stock: Where to, London? Notes Bibliography Index

Abstract: Non-native speaker teachers (NNSTs) are typically treated as second class citizens in the world of language teaching. The problem is especially acute in the realm of teaching English as a foreign language (EFL)'. A possible explanation for this unfortunate state of affairs is not all that far to seek: in today's world, English is not just another language; it is the hottest selling commodity on the foreign language teaching market. A close look at the history and expansion of the EFL industry since the end of World War I1 and the emergence of the new world order shows how the multi-billion dollar language market, with its tentacles reaching out far and wide-indeed

Abstract: Is there a shortage of critical foreign language skills in the United States? Recent concerns about national security and economic globalization suggest increased demand and wage premia for foreign language speakers. The use of English as the international language, however, suggests a decrease in demand for foreign language skills in the United States. To address this question, we study a representative sample of U.S. college graduates. Ordinary least squares regressions with controls for cognitive ability, nonparametric methods based on the propensity score, and panel data methods suggest a 2%–3% wage premium for college graduates who can speak a second language.

Abstract: Using both proficiency tests and self-assessment measures, this study investigated (a) whether 3 subgroups of Japanese heritage language (JHL) learners would demonstrate language behaviors distinctively different from those of traditional Japanese as a foreign language (JFL) learners, and (b) which domains of language use and skills would specifically identify such differentiation. Statistical analyses of data collected from 185 JFL and JHL students aged 17–22 indicated that there were striking similarities between the JFL Learner group and 2 JHL groups (JHL students with at least 1 Japanese-speaking grandparent but without a Japanese-speaking parent as 1 group, and JHL students of Japanese descent without either a Japanese-speaking parent or grandparent as the other). In contrast, another group of JHL students (those with at least 1 Japanese-speaking parent) proved to be substantially different from other groups in (a) grammatical knowledge, (b) listening and reading skills, (c) self-assessed use/choice of Japanese, and (d) self-ratings of a number of can-do tasks (Clark, 1981) that represented a wide range of abilities.