In this paper, we build on southern and decolonial theories of multilingualism and invite a south-north conversation through a concept we propose as "reciprocal multilingual awareness." Reciprocity is a core value of southern societies that balance pluralities of episteme, language, and communality. Central features of southern…

This paper reports on an innovative approach to oral language development in one British Columbia elementary school, in the context of a larger-scale research project aimed at building cultural inclusive classrooms through the development of imaginative teaching practices. A number of approximately three-week units were designed to lead students…

The vexed question of the relationship between "language" and "culture" will be the starting point. I do not propose to "resolve" the question but to consider some ways in which relationships between cultural awareness and language awareness might be conceptualised and then have some impact on language education. By…

The Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) aims to encourage language learners to think about what they do when communicating, and to think about what they can do to help themselves and others to learn a language better. This paper considers to what extent the CEFR supports language learning by looking at how a group of learners, in the…

Describes the work of Fabula, a multinational, multidisciplinary project funded by the European Commission. Focuses on the evaluation of a bilingual multimedia storybook with primary school children in both Welsh- and English-medium settings in South Wales. Explores insights on language preferences, learning strategies, and hypotheses about the…

A discussion of the teaching of poetry begins with a brief look at attitude toward poetry within British educational institutions, followed by an assessment of the relationship between poetry teaching and teaching reading skills to children and foreign language learners. A new approach for teaching poetry is presented. (11 references) (Author/LB)

This paper describes a collaborative Internet-based project involving foreign language students and teacher trainees in three different countries. The project involved both online collaboration with international partners and face-to-face classroom activities and was designed not only to facilitate purposeful, authentic language use, but also to…

Examines second-language instruction at the primary school level in Ireland, where there is significant demand for instruction in languages other than the mandatory Irish and English. An argument is made for a language awareness approach to introduce students to a third language. (39 references) (MDM)

This paper explores the sociolinguistic awareness in English of tertiary level students in Hong Kong and Wuhan (Mainland China). The language data consisted of specific instances when a native speaker presenter made changes, in the course of oral delivery, to the written text of a conference paper that she had prepared in advance. Matched pairs of…

Results of a survey of 200 parents attending baby and child clinics in North Wales show that parents know less about language development than about other areas of child development. Results suggest that both monolingual and bilingual parents and their children would benefit from improved information on how to facilitate language development. (43…

A model of language and speciality-area content teaching and learning in Japan is built on a concern to develop dialogically engaged language communal communication (DELCC) in class to be extended outside in the wider society. This model is applicable to other university contexts insofar as the FAO language is conceptualised and practised for life…

Describes the bachelor of arts program in applied language at the University of Brighton, England, which combines second-language learning and linguistics. The limitations of the program as it was originally conceived are examined, as well as recent improvements. Course objectives, content, and teaching methods are discussed. (17 references) (MDM)

This paper aims to shed light on the explicit-implicit paradigm contention in connection with the foreign language area of English spelling. To this end, it frames the subject against the backdrop of the prolonged dispute between implicit, whole language, top-down, or whole-to-part approaches and explicit, traditional, bottom-up, or part-to-whole…

This article examines the nature of language education and the national curriculum for language education in Italian elementary and secondary schools. Analysis of the curriculum shows the place given to the development of language awareness and of conscious knowledge of language in Italian schools. (seven references) (MDM)

This paper derives from the innovative language teacher education programme described in a previous article published in "Language Learning Journal" (Burley & Pomphrey, 2002). It outlines the development in student teachers' understanding of their role as language educators through an analysis of the beginning and end of this…