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In this volume researchers from Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North and South America employ a variety of theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches in their exploration of the links between identity, motivation, and autonomy in language learning. On a conceptual level the authors explore issues related to agency, metacognition, imagination, beliefs, and self. The book also addresses practice in classroom, self-access, and distance education contexts, considering topics such as teachers’ views on motivation, plurilingual learning, sustaining motivation in distance education, pop culture and gaming, study abroad, and the role of agency and identity in the motivation of pre-service teachers. The book concludes with a discussion of how an approach which sees identity, motivation, and autonomy as interrelated constructs has the potential to inform theory, practice and future research directions in the field of language teaching and learning.
This Element aims to elucidate the concept of language teacher agency by exploring the 'what' question, offering major conceptualisations of agency and explaining how they shape the way we approach teacher agency. The authors then continue with the 'why' question, and elaborate on the reasons that language teacher agency matters, based on a discussion of the varied purposes of teacher agency at multiple levels. They also acknowledge that teacher agency does not operate alone, and discuss how it intersects with such concepts as teacher identity, emotion, belief and knowledge. Based on this, they identify ways to promote teacher agency through making changes to contexts and/or actors. They then introduce the concept of collective agency and propose a multi-layered model based on an illustrative study. The Element ends with a call for a trans-perspective on understanding language teacher agency so as to facilitate the professional development of language teachers.
This monograph reports on a longitudinal inquiry into mainland Chinese undergraduates’ language learning experiences in an English medium university in a multilingual setting with a focus on their strategic language learning efforts. This book examines the issue as to what extent language learners’ strategic learning efforts depend on their ‘choice’, if ‘the element of choice’ is the defining characteristic of language learners’ strategic learning behaviour. The inquiry, using a qualitative and ethnographic research approach, reveals dynamic interaction between learners’ agency and contextual conditions underlying the participants’ strategic learning process. Such understanding informs pedagogical efforts to foster individual learners’ capacity for strategic learning and their capacities in opening up and sustaining a social learning space for exercising their strategic learning capacity or utilizing their strategic learning knowledge.
This monograph reports on a longitudinal inquiry into mainland Chinese undergraduates' language learning experiences in an English medium university. The inquiry reveals dynamic interaction between agency and contextual conditions underlying the participants' strategic learning efforts in a multilingual setting.
Doing Research in Applied Linguistics: Realities, dilemmas, and solutions provides insight and guidance for those undertaking research, and shows the reader how to deal with the challenges of this research involving real people in real settings. Featuring over twenty chapters by experienced and up-and-coming researchers from around the world, this book: outlines the steps involved in solving the problem and completing a successful, and publishable, project; provides case studies of obstacles faced at each stage of research, from preliminary planning to report writing; addresses issues of validity and reliability during data collection and analysis; discusses ethical issues in research dealing with vulnerable groups including children, refugees, and students; includes examples from longitudinal studies, and both qualitative and quantitative research. Doing Research in Applied Linguistics is essential reading for students studying research methods, or for those embarking on their first research project in applied linguistics or language education.
This volume offers research-based studies on English for Specific Purposes in higher education from across the world. By drawing on international studies, the book brings together diverse ESP practices and aspects of relevant issues in the development of ESP programs, teachers and learners in a coherent fashion. There is a growing need for undergraduate students to develop their proficiency of ESP skills and knowledge in the increasingly globalized world. Knowledge of ESP is an important factor in subject matter learning by students, and also closely related to the performance of university graduates in the relevant sectors. Careful planning and efficient implementation are essential to ensure the quality of the language learning process. For a variety of reasons, it proves difficult to maintain ESP instruction in higher education. These reasons include the incompetence of teachers, lack of materials for that specific context, as well as lack of opportunities for ESP teachers to develop their skills. The chapters in this book, taken from a wide variety of countries, shed light on the diversity of current practices and issues surrounding ESP.
This book presents a new extended framework for the study of early multicompetence. It proposes a concept of multilingual competences as a valuable educational target, and a view of the multilingual learner as a competent language user. The thematic focus is on multilingual skill development in primary schoolers in the trilingual province of South Tyrol, northern Italy. A wide range of topics pertaining to multicompetence building and the special affordances of multilingual pedagogy are explored. Key concepts like language proficiency, native-speakerism, or monolingual classroom bias are subjected to critical analysis.
This volume offers insights in current theoretical discussions, observations, and reflections from internationally and regionally celebrated scholars on the theory and practice of teaching English informed by a new school of thought, English as an International Language (EIL). This volume provides readers (scholars, teachers, teacher-educators, researchers in the relevant fields) with: Knowledge of the changing paradigm and attitudes towards English language teaching from teaching a single variety of English to teaching intercultural communication and English language variation. Current thoughts on the theory of teaching English as an international language by internationally-celebrated esta...
This volume accentuates how ELT materials can be a mediation of capitalizing on moral and cultural values, which are more locally-grounded in respective Southeast Asia (SEA) countries. It features critical studies on locally-produced ELT materials (textbooks) situated in the following SEA countries: Timor-Leste, The Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand. The chapters, written by experts who know the ELT context of their respective SEA country, critically examine the design and use of ELT materials widely used in local and national contexts. Thus, the volume provides fresh insight into how values are uniquely manifested in language classroom materials. The present text also brings together empirical, conceptual and practical grounds for incorporating moral and cultural values into ELT materials development in such a way that it views morality and culture as a mutually complementing entity. This much-needed volume will be a valuable resource for those interested in the design and use of language materials in culturally and linguistically diverse contexts, such as in the Asia Pacific, America, Africa, and Europe.
Over the past two decades, Chinese as a foreign or second language (CFL/CSL) has been increasingly taught and learnt as an important language both within and outside China. Studies in the field have attempted to address deep-seated tensions between existing educational ideologies, concepts, strategies, and approaches and student learning process and performance, and between existent teaching methods and techniques and the globalization of Chinese language education.