Abstract: Through its mobility of people and capital, its global technologies, and its global information networks, globalization has changed the conditions under which foreign languages (FLs) are taught, learned, and used. It has destabilized the codes, norms, and conventions that FL educators relied upon to help learners be successful users of the language once they had left their classrooms. These changes call for a more reflective, interpretive, historically grounded, and politically engaged pedagogy than was called for by the communicative language teaching of the eighties. This special issue will explore how we are to conceive of such a pedagogy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This development offers both new opportunities and new challenges to educators. This chapter examines these opportunities and challenges in the context of the United States, where demographic shifts are changing how we think about the teaching of languages that, until recently, were taught exclusively as foreign languages.

Abstract: Should you sacrifice one man to save five? Whatever your answer, it should not depend on whether you were asked the question in your native language or a foreign tongue so long as you understood the problem. And yet here we report evidence that people using a foreign language make substantially more utilitarian decisions when faced with such moral dilemmas. We argue that this stems from the reduced emotional response elicited by the foreign language, consequently reducing the impact of intuitive emotional concerns. In general, we suggest that the increased psychological distance of using a foreign language induces utilitarianism. This shows that moral judgments can be heavily affected by an orthogonal property to moral principles, and importantly, one that is relevant to hundreds of millions of individuals on a daily basis.

Abstract: Training of pre- and in-service teachers constitutes one of the most important aspects in the quality assurance of language testing and assessment (LTA). For instance, foreign language (FL) teachers have to deal with standardised tests as well as their own classroom-based assessment procedures. This means they need the necessary expertise that can be provided by training measures. To gauge the current level of FL teachers in LTA literacy and identify their training needs in this area, data from seven European countries were collected in a mixed-methods study that used questionnaires (n = 853) and qualitative data from teacher interviews (n = 63) in selected countries across Europe. Despite the small differences across countries, the results show that only certain elements of teachers’ LTA expertise are developed. To compensate for insufficient training, teachers seem to learn about LTA on the job or use teaching materials for their assessment purposes. Teachers overall express a need to receive training a...

Abstract: Language learning is an emotionally and psychologically dynamic process that is influenced by a myriad of ever-changing variables and emotional “vibes” that produce moment-by-moment fluctuations in learners' adaptation. This individual-level study triangulates physiological, idiodynamic, interview, and self-report survey data of three high and three low anxiety language learners to examine their language anxiety, its triggers, and the interpretations of rapidly changing affective reactions over a short period of time. Participants were videorecorded giving a presentation, while wearing heart monitors, in their Spanish as a Foreign Language class. Using the idiodynamic method, participants self-rated their moment-by-moment anxiety 42 times over three and a half minutes and later explained their reactions in an interview. The strong relationship observed among the various converging data sources demonstrates the strength of considering language learners on an individual level using triangulated quantitative and qualitative approaches. The study generated pedagogical implications for dealing with both positive and negative emotions, facilitating the reinterpretation of physiological cues, planning “escape routes” that allow participants to remain active in communication exchanges, and invoking the positive power of preparation, planning, and rehearsal.

Abstract: Globalization and networking technologies have transformed the contexts, means, and uses of foreign language learning. The Internet offers a vast array of texts, films, music, news, information, pedagogical resources, sounds, and images from around the world as well as unprecedented opportunities for direct communication with native speakers in real time. However, the very technology that delivers these materials and interactions can produce subtle mediational effects that can influence how learners evaluate and interpret them. Focusing first on technological mediation broadly, and then on the specific context of desktop videoconferencing in a telecollaboration project, this article outlines the benefits and the potential pitfalls that computer mediation presents for the learning of languages and cultures. Specific attention is given to the question of what it means to mediate the foreign culture through interfaces that are familiar from one's home culture. The principal argument is that the dynamics of online language learning call for a relational pedagogy that focuses on how medium and context interact with language use. The goal of such an approach is to expose students to a broader scope of symbolic inquiry, to connect present text-making practices with those of the past, and to foster a critical perspective that will prepare young people to understand and shape future language and literacy practices.

Abstract: It is inevitable that learners make mistakes in the process of foreign language learning. However, what is questioned by language teachers is why students go on making the same mistakes even when such mistakes have been repeatedly pointed out to them. Yet not all mistakes are the same; sometimes they seem to be deeply ingrained, but at other times students correct themselves with ease. Thus, researchers and teachers of foreign language came to realize that the mistakes a person made in the process of constructing a new system of language is needed to be analyzed carefully, for they possibly held in them some of the keys to the understanding of second language acquisition. In this respect, the aim of this study is to point out the significance of learners’ errors for they provide evidence of how language is learned and what strategies or procedures the learners are employing in the discovery of language.

Abstract: Mobile-Assisted Language Learning (MALL) has existed now for nearly two decades with its application to foreign language instruction chronicled in some 340 implementation studies. For several years already, proponents have claimed that MALL is commonplace in foreign language instruction. In reality, with few exceptions, published studies of MALL implementations have not progressed much beyond pilot testing, i.e., design proposals, proof of concepts, limited experiments, class trials. Above all, what is most striking about published MALL implementation studies is the virtual lack of follow-up reports of curricular integration. In order to put MALL applications into perspective, this paper is organized into three sections. The first gives an overview of published MALL implementation studies, the second provides a comparative analysis of MALL applications, and the last addresses the issue of MALL curricular integration. On the basis of this review, the paper concludes that MALL remains marginal in terms of the number of students and courses involved, the duration of implementations, the language skills targeted, the kinds of learning activities undertaken and the methodological approach used. Nonetheless, it also maintains that the necessary technological base and pedagogical expertise are in place to bring MALL in from the fringes to the core of foreign language teaching.

Abstract: The goal of foreign language teaching is expanding from communicative competence towards an intercultural action competence. Essential in the new orientation is the shift towards a more balanced emphasis between the external factors in the learning environment and the personal capacity, conceptions, beliefs and assumptions inside the learner's mind. As part of the changes, assessment is seen as an important means of enhancing the elearning processes, emphasising the role of refelctive self-assessment. The text explores and integrates the necessary knowledge base and practices in foreign language education in terms of the basic concepts of experiential learning, intercultural learning, autobiographical knowledge and teacher development, together with the philosophical underpinnings of foreign language education.

Abstract: This study presents the first experimental evidence that singing can facilitate short-term paired-associate phrase learning in an unfamiliar language (Hungarian) Sixty adult participants were randomly assigned to one of three “listen-and-repeat” learning conditions: speaking, rhythmic speaking, or singing Participants in the singing condition showed superior overall performance on a collection of Hungarian language tests after a 15-min learning period, as compared with participants in the speaking and rhythmic speaking conditions This superior performance was statistically significant (p < 05) for the two tests that required participants to recall and produce spoken Hungarian phrases The differences in performance were not explained by potentially influencing factors such as age, gender, mood, phonological working memory ability, or musical ability and training These results suggest that a “listen-and-sing” learning method can facilitate verbatim memory for spoken foreign language phrases

Abstract: This paper presents the effect of robotics assisted language learning (RALL) on the vocabulary learning and retention of Iranian English as foreign language (EFL) junior high school students in Teh...

Abstract: Feelings of anxiety are commonly expressed by Saudi learners in their English as a foreign language (EFL) classes. These feelings typically exert detrimental effects on these learners’ foreign language attainment. This paper reports on the findings of a large-scale study for which three data collection iterations were conducted over three years to investigate the levels and sources of foreign language anxiety (FLA) among 1389 Saudi EFL learners. Learners were asked to report the amount of anxiety they typically experienced in English language classes and the potential causes that aroused their feelings of language anxiety. The Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) was used to evaluate learners’ anxiety. Descriptive statistics, such as mean and standard deviation, were used to assess the levels of learners’ anxiety, and an explanatory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted to identify the sources that evoked learners’ anxiety in classroom-based language learning. Participating learners in the three studies reported moderate to high levels of anxiety, with communication being the key cause of learners’ language anxiety. The three studies’ findings were highly consistent, and thus, we were able to propose a context-based model of FLA in the Saudi EFL context.

Abstract: Zeliha Aydin, Ozyegin University Senem Yildiz, Bogazici University This study focuses on the use of wikis in collaborative writing projects in foreign language learning classrooms. A total of 34 intermediate level university students learning English as a foreign language (EFL) were asked to accomplish three different wiki-based collaborative writing tasks, (argumentative, informative and decision-making) working in groups of four. Student wiki pages were then analyzed to investigate the role of task type in the number of self and peer-corrections as well as form-related and meaning-related changes. In addition, focus-group interviews and questionnaires were conducted to find out how students would describe their overall experience with the integration of a wikibased collaborative writing project in their foreign language learning process. The results revealed that the argumentative task promoted more peer-corrections than the informative and decision-making tasks. In addition, the informative task yielded more self-corrections than the argumentative and decision-making tasks. Furthermore, the use of wiki-based collaborative writing tasks led to the accurate use of grammatical structures 94% of the time. The results of the study also suggest that students paid more attention to meaning rather than form regardless of the task type. Finally, students had positive experiences using wikis in foreign language writing, and they believed that their writing performance had improved.

Abstract: The present study focuses on the influence of starting age and input on foreign language learning. In relation to starting age, the study investigates whether early starters in instructional settings achieve the same kind of long-term advantage as learners in naturalistic settings and it complements previous research by using data from oral performance. In relation to input, this study examines and compares the relative impact on learners' oral performance of different input measures: number of years of instruction, number of hours of curricular and extracurricular lessons, number of hours spent abroad in an English-speaking setting, and current contact with the target language. Film-retelling oral narratives from 160 learners of English are analysed in terms of fluency, lexical diversity, and syntactic complexity. Correlational and regression analyses show that input has a stronger association with measures of oral performance than starting age, and that cumulative exposure and, above all, contact with high-quality input are good predictors of learners' oral performance in the foreign language.

Abstract: This article offers an overview of historical developments in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teaching methodology over the last 250 years. Being based on periods rather than methods, it is intended as an alternative kind of account to the ‘method mythologies’ which have tended to dominate professional thinking for the last thirty years. Thus, we structure our account according to four periods characterized by main concerns and overall approaches, revealing greater continuity and overlap among teaching theories and practices than in accounts which accept discrete, bounded ‘methods’ as the primary unit of organization. Confronting a conception of the past typically presented as universal but in fact reflecting a USA-centric perspective, our alternative, UK-focused and, to some extent, European version of history asserts the value of explicit geographical contextualization and indicates a new direction for the history of EFL teaching — ‘beyond method’, and in multiple locations.

Abstract: Foreign language education in the 21st century still teaches vocabulary mainly through reading and listening activities. This is due to the link between teaching practice and traditional philosophy of language, where language is considered to be an abstract phenomenon of the mind. However, a number of studies have shown that accompanying words or phrases of a foreign language with gestures leads to better memory results. In this paper, I review behavioral research on the positive effects of gestures on memory. Then I move to the factors that have been addressed as contributing to the effect, and I embed the reviewed evidence in the theoretical framework of embodiment. Finally, I argue that gestures accompanying foreign language vocabulary learning create embodied representations of those words. I conclude by advocating the use of gestures in future language education as a learning tool that enhances learning the mind.

Abstract: The paper discusses the challenges and opportunities that the English as a lingua franca (ELF) paradigm raises for ESOL teacher education. I argue that one of the prominent implications of the ELF paradigm for ESOL teachers is the need to review and ultimately change their convictions about key aspects of foreign language teaching, such as normativity, the role of native/non-native speakers, and the function of teacher feedback in the foreign language classroom. I review evidence from the ELF literature that supports such a perspective and discuss the kind of reflective reviewing that teachers need to engage in. I argue that, while the critical approach is certainly the right way to go, it is not enough. What is necessary is a more rigorous approach that would go beyond merely ex- posing teachers to the principles and criteria of ELF and prompt them to critically consider and ultimately transform their deeper convictions about these issues. I present a framework for such a transformative perspective that aims at educating the ELF-aware teacher.

Abstract: Language and gesture are viewed as highly interdependent systems. Besides supporting communication, gestures also have an impact on memory for verbal information compared to pure verbal encoding in native but also in foreign language learning. This article presents a within-subject longitudinal study lasting 14 months that tested the use of gestures in the classroom, with the experimenter presenting the items to be acquired. Participants learned 36 words distributed across two training conditions: In the audio-visual condition subjects read, heard, and spoke the words; in the gestural condition subjects additionally accompanied the words with symbolic gestures. Memory performance was assessed through cued native-to-foreign translation tests at five time points. The results show that gestures significantly enhance vocabulary learning in quantity and over time. The findings are discussed in terms of Klimesch's connectivity model (CM) of information processing. Thereafter, a code, a word, is better integrated into long-term memory if it is deep, that is, if it is comprised of many interconnected components.

Abstract: This article reviews and summarizes the literature on intercultural competence and intercultural communicative competence in order to better understand how these notions can impact the cultural component of a foreign language curriculum. Building on various models of intercultural communicative competence, examples of cultural tasks that promote intercultural communicative competence and represent best practices in language teaching and learning are presented and illustrated for classroom

Abstract: This chapter argues that multilingual education is not the only way of responding to language diversity at school; indeed, the large number of home languages present in many schools means that it is impossible to implement traditional modes of bi- and multilingual education. We begin by distinguishing between the multilingualism of educational elites, which involves languages that enjoy a high degree of cultural prestige, and the multilingualism of children from immigrant homes, whose languages are often felt to have no educational value. We then consider the arguments advanced in favour of monolingual and multilingual educational models. Proponents of the monolingual model believe that children from immigrant backgrounds should be immersed in the language of schooling; home languages have no role to play at school because they are seen as obstacles to effective acquisition of the majority language. Proponents of bilingual models, on the other hand, argue that education partly in the pupil’s home language provides a more effective basis for learning the language of schooling than immersion, enhances pupils’ self-esteem, and helps to preserve immigrant languages. A review of empirical research shows that there is no knock-down argument in favour of one particular model of language education; clearly, no single model can possibly suit all contexts. We propose that there are three strategies for responding to linguistic diversity at school: a constructive language policy; raising language awareness; and facilitating functional multilingual learning. This last is conceptualised as an alternative to the binary opposition between monolingual and multilingual education: a new pedagogical approach that exploits children’s plurilingual repertoires as didactic capital for learning.

Abstract: There are some factors influencing teaching and learning of foreign language. In teaching Arabic, for example, linguistic factors, such as Phonology, Grammatical rules, Morphology, and Vocabulary. Non linguistic factor also influences teaching and learning Arabic, for example, teaching aids, teaching method, age and environment. Teaching method in Arabic classroom is one of the important factor. This article discusses how linguistic factor and non linguistic factor influenced Arabic Classroom. DOI: 10.15408/a.v1i2.1137

Abstract: Preface by the Series Editors. Preface. Acknowledgements. List of Tables. List of Figures. 1. Introduction. 2. The Arabs in Israel: Internal and Regional Developments. 3. The Linguistic Repertoire: Sociolinguistic and Political Aspects. 4.Policy and Teaching Arabic as a Mother Tongue. 5. Policy and Teaching Hebrew as a Second Language. 6. Policy and Teaching English as a First Foreign Language. 7. Policy and Teaching French as a Second Foreign Language. 8. Language Attitudes and Ideologies. Epilogue. Appendix I. Appendix II. Bibliography. Subject Index.

Abstract: As English has increasingly become associated with social and economic power in the context of globalisation, there has been a growing concern regarding achievement gaps in English that appear to be correlated to learners’ socio-economic status (SES). The present study aims to examine how parents’ SES and their behaviours and beliefs about English education relate to their children’s English language learning, and how such relationships may differ across different grade levels. The participants were fourth-, sixth- and eighth-grade students who had learned English from the third-grade level (572 students in total) together with their parents in a medium-sized city in China. An extensive parental survey revealed that while parental beliefs about English education and their beliefs about their children’s success in acquiring English did not differ between different SES groups, their direct behaviours (such as providing direct assistance for their children to learn English) and their indirect behaviours (suc...

Abstract: Can online collaboration yield a positive effect on academic writing in a foreign language? If so, what exactly is the added value, compared to individual writing, and (how) does it translate to better output? These are the central questions addressed in this paper. L2 writing research has long highlighted the benefits of collaboration in terms of both L2 learning and text quality. Most recently, the positive effect of co-ownership and peer feedback on process and product has been emphasized in studies on Computer-Supported Collaborative Writing. What has remained underexplored is the impact of web 2.0 technologies on advanced L2 writing. The present paper bridges this gap through an empirical study combining Web 2.0 technologies with an academic writing task. Collaborative and individual writing processes and products are compared by applying a mixed-methods approach. The results shed new light on claims made in previous studies that collaboration leads to higher text accuracy. No statistically relevant difference was found between the individual and collaborative syntheses in terms of complexity, accuracy, and fluency. However, collaborative texts score significantly higher on appropriate content selection and organization. Analysis of the process data shows that this is due to in-depth discussions during the planning phase.

Abstract: Foreign language education is deeply affected by globalization, destabilizing some of the central ideas that have helped form national languages, and, by contrast, foreign languages. This article traces the economic origins of contemporary globalization and the deep communication effects that arise. Migration of peoples, instantaneous communication technologies, and new modes of imagining relationships in the context of vast flows of population, ideas, goods, and communication mean that teachers of different languages need to make multilingual and multicultural realities, rather than national and foreign ones, central notions in curriculum, teaching, and language choice. Professional dialogue between teachers of English, traditional foreign languages, heritage/community languages, and other categories of language interest are required to foster a new overall understanding of the enterprise of language education, suited to the altered world context of contemporary globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]