Translanguaging theory and pedagogy have emerged as central to the recent multilingual turn in educational linguistics and language teaching, including ELT. This article will explore translanguaging from theoretical and practical perspectives, aiming to clarify what it is and is not claiming, and what types of pedagogic practice it advocates, both…

The Introduction to this Special Issue on ELT and English-medium education in multilingual university settings provides a picture of the dynamic backdrop to the issues addressed by our contributing writers. We begin with a reflection on the nature of ELT and then move to a discussion of the specific nature of English-medium education in higher…

This study investigated the impact of student-selected pairs on emotional engagement and language-learning opportunities generated during collaborative tasks. Sixteen learners of English at a Hong Kong secondary school performed collaborative tasks in two pairing arrangements: student-selected pairing and teacher-assigned pairing (mixed…

Scholarly conversations in writing pedagogy increasingly centre our roles in reproducing epistemic and structural biases, and consequently the need to decolonize our curriculum. These conversations can be especially informative for L2 writing instruction, given its focus on the academic socialization of ESL for non-Western students. This article…

This paper looks into the dilemma of what counts as a grammatical 'learner error' in ELT on the basis of recent results from English variationist research and English as a lingua franca research. Examples from these studies show that features often perceived as 'errors' for EFL speakers also occur in ESL production--where they are called…

Following the multilingual trend in language education, translanguaging advocates active use of multiple languages and other meaning-making resources in a dynamic and integrated way in teaching and learning. When it comes to foreign language education, translanguaging advocates a view that the languages the learners already have should and can…

With the development of language corpora, linguists have been able to identify how often specific words, phrases, and expressions are used, and in which contexts. However, applications of corpora in the wider domain of language teaching have remained limited. This article presents an approach to utilizing corpora, combining principles from…

This instructional intervention investigated the potential for the text reconstruction task "dictogloss" to facilitate the learning of English verb-noun collocations, for example 'carry a risk'. Research has shown that learners have difficulties in using such collocations, but few useful instructional techniques are on offer.…

Learners with reading and/or spelling difficulties (RSD) generally also show severe problems in learning EFL. Taking into consideration several observational and interventional studies, this article illustrates some practical and pragmatic means of identifying RSD, and provides possible solutions when addressing these difficulties in ELT…

This study examines the relative effects of teacher code-switching and English-only instruction on the vocabulary learning of EFL preschoolers (age 5 and 6), along with their attitudes towards language choices in English learning. Seventy-two young EFL learners were engaged in storytelling activities, either in code-switching or English-only…

This article reports on a case study of a language school in Greece, with a view to putting forward an understanding of the drivers that sustain or delay curricular innovation. Key to this understanding is the construct of intentionality, defined as "purposes" that drive teaching and learning activity. In the article, we describe three…

Learners' language background is one of the factors which may influence the amount and functions of own-language use in English instruction. This article reports a study in which a group of almost 400 Polish and Norwegian secondary school learners of English were asked how their own languages are used in the classroom, how they use them when they…

The use and appropriate amount of students' own language (OL) in foreign language classes remains a subject of debate. While exclusive new language (NL) use may not necessarily always benefit all learners, especially young language learners (YLLs), overuse of the students' OL may not provide the same range of communicative experiences as greater…

This article describes a study into the functions of code-switching in EFL classes at a Colombian language school. It was undertaken to decide whether the official "English-only" policy in place in this and other classrooms is pedagogically justified. The results suggest that code-switching may not necessarily be connected to ability…

On the premise that the learning of a second or foreign language should contribute to, rather than subtract from, the cultural and linguistic resources which a learner already possesses, this paper documents an individual teacher's pedagogically centred challenge to a politically driven and potentially exclusive English-only language policy within…