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Perspectives on Individual Characteristics and Foreign Language Education
Learner characteristics have been at the center of second language acquisition and foreign language education research in response to the puzzling questions: Why are there often large differences in second language (L2) learning achievement and why do many learners, though proficient first language speakers, not succeed in learning a L2? The papers in this book explore and challenge the three key factors in individual difference research: language aptitude, language learning strategies and motivation.
Foreign Language Teaching in Asia and Beyond
This book, comprising two parts, is concerned with both the science and the art of foreign language teaching, with a particular, but not exclusive, focus on Asia. Under the theme of “Theoretical foundation and research”, Part 1 of this book informs the readers about recent efforts in theoretical and empirical research which have had an impact on foreign language teaching or promise to yield results that will shape its future. These studies, not just from the domain of foreign language teaching but also its primary feeder disciplines of linguistics and second language acquisition, offer the necessary theoretical and conceptual foundation for both current and future research and practice. As its theme “Classroom practice and evaluation studies” suggests, Part 2 focuses on new and innovative developments in curricular and classroom practice, all built upon insights from research in the above-mentioned disciplines and poised to become standard practices. These projects include qualitative and quantitative evaluation studies which have yielded insightful data for the refinement and continued development of the projects and their underlying theoretical concepts.
Processes and Process-Orientation in Foreign Language Teaching and Learning
There can be no products without processes. Though this statement may seem to be no more than an overused generalization, it encapsulates the undoubted importance of processes and process-oriented approaches in language teaching and learning. In foreign language education in recent decades, researchers and practitioners alike are increasingly focusing their attention on: 1) the learner as the active subject of learning and the internal processes that constitute his/her learning leading to the development of communicative competence; 2) teaching approaches, curricula and materials that reflect this view of language learning; and 3) other factors such as the sociocultural context, social inter...
Media in Foreign Language Teaching and Learning
While educators and educational psychologists debate the influence of media on learning, there can be little doubt that media is now an integral constituent of any educational context. In particular, computer and internet media, with their immense processing power and multimedia capabilities, can have significant bearing on learning processes and outcomes in today's learning environment. Such media, which are increasingly designed to be highly interactive and adaptable, can enable reflective, productive and communicative activities and have much potential for foreign language learning. The book contains 16 papers which look at different forms of media and explore how these affect or can be u...
Handbook of Japanese Sociolinguistics
This volume is the first comprehensive survey of the sociolinguistic studies on Japanese. Japanese, like other languages, has developed a highly diverse linguistic system that is realized as variation shaped by interactions of linguistic and social factors. This volume primarily focuses on both classic and current topics of sociolinguistics that were first studied in Western languages, and then subsequently examined in the Japanese language. The topics in this volume cover major issues in sociolinguistics that also characterize sociolinguistic features of Japanese. Such topics as gender, honorifics, and politeness are particularly pertinent to Japanese, as is well-known in general sociolingu...
Researching Multilingually
This book examines what ‘researching multilingually’ means in practice and theory. It is multinational and transnational in scope, including the voices of both experienced and emerging scholars who reflect on the process of conducting, analyzing and reporting multilingual research in various settings. Together the chapters address issues including theorizing multilingualism and collaborative research with multilingual scholars and research participants; navigating insider or outsider positioning with research participants; making and accepting language choices among researchers and participants during research; translating and interpreting multilingual data; and confronting policy challenges of multilingual research design and reporting in English-dominant contexts. The book ties these processes to existing theories of multilingualism in research and proposes new ways of understanding best practices while also wrestling with challenges and at times ‘failures’ in the research process.
Bridging the Humor Barrier
The language barrier is a familiar term, but what exactly is the humor barrier? Humor is a universal phenomenon, but the cultural variance in how humor is used can prove to be a major obstacle for English language learners hoping to communicate effectively in cross-cultural contexts. While a growing number of researchers have explored the importance of helping language learners better understand the humor of the target culture, in Bridging the Humor Barrier: Humor Competency Training in English Language Teaching, editors John Rucynski Jr. and Caleb Prichard bring together language teachers and researchers from a range of cultural and teaching contexts to tackle how to actually overcome the h...
Individuality in Language Change
Linguists have typically studied language change at the aggregate level of speech communities, yet key mechanisms of change such as analogy and automation operate within the minds of individual language users. Drawing on lifespan data from 50 authors and the intriguing case of the special passives in the history of English, this study addresses three fundamental issues relating to individuality in language change: (i) how variation and change at the individual level interact with change at the community level; (ii) how much innovation and change is possible across the adult lifespan; (iii) and to what extent related linguistic patterns are associated in individual cognition. As one of the first large-scale empirical studies to systematically link individual- and community-based perspectives in language change, this volume breaks new ground in our understanding of language as a complex adaptive system.
Activating and Engaging Learners and Teachers
This book offers a nuanced, integrated understanding of EFL learning and instruction and investigates both learner and teacher perspectives on four thematically interconnected parts. Part I encompasses chapters on psychological aspects related to teaching and learning and presents the latest research on positive language education, teacher empathy, and well-being. Part II deals with EFL teaching methodology, specifically related to teaching pronunciation, language assessment, peer response, and strategy instruction. Part III addresses aspects of cultural learning including inter- and transculturality, digital citizenship, global learning, and cosmopolitanism. Part IV concerns teaching with literary texts, for instance, to reflect on social and political discourse, facilitate empowerment, imagine utopian or dystopian futures, and to bring non-Western narratives into language classrooms.
