Despite an increasing number of studies that explore language learning beyond the classroom (LBC), research examining LBC activities in relation to in-class learning is very limited. This paper investigates what kinds of LBC activities university students of Chinese and Japanese in Australia engage in and how they connect these activities to…

"The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment" (CEFR) (Council of Europe. 2001. "Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment." Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) has been widely accepted as a reference for aligning curricula, learning…

International comparative curriculum research is becoming more important in a globalised world. However, up-to-date comparative studies of international foreign language education policies are still rare. This study compares current modern foreign language curricula in England with that in the state of North-Rhine Westphalia in Germany at Key…

In this opinion piece we problematise foreign language (FL) learning curricula which are rigidly based on carefully sequenced input and constrained learning opportunities. Whilst an important component in language learning, language knowledge constitutes more than phonics vocabulary and grammar. Our stance is premised on the understanding that,…

This study reports on the findings of a questionnaire administered to 93 students studying Japanese as a foreign language (JFL) at British universities, focusing on their views of the role of grammar in their learning of Japanese. Learners' views are important because mismatches with their teachers' views can affect their learning negatively.…

Recent research has studied teacher emotions vis-à-vis teachers' learning, practice, and identity development and called for teacher-learning practices to include an intentional focus on emotions. Responding to this call, I designed a teacher-learning activity called 'critical autoethnographic narrative' (CAN). I coached teacher candidates (TCs)…

Many English as a foreign language (EFL) learners worldwide spend hours playing commercial-off-the-shelf massively multiplayer online games. They engage in a multitude of different interactions with the game environment and possibly with other gamers, using English as the predominant medium of communication. This raises the question of whether…

The present study explores the effects of distributed practice by extending this area of research to L2 learning from audiovisual input. A total of 96 L1 Russian elementary to advanced learners of English watched five episodes of captioned TV series under three viewing distribution conditions: longer spacing of viewing once per week; shorter…

This study explores the relationship between the experience of confusion and the outcomes of Chinese character learning by learners of Chinese as a heritage language (CHL). Based on the claim that impasses triggering confusion can lead to deeper learning of conceptually difficult material, the study employed three impasse-driven tasks. The tasks…

This study draws on teacher perception data gathered from 65 secondary school modern languages (L2) teachers in South-East England. Data were collected via four iterations of an online questionnaire and follow-up interviews with six heads of department. This paper reports respondents' perceived strengths and development needs in relation to their…

This paper reports a case study focusing on naturalistic communication between a Chinese beginning non-native speaker of English (NNS) and an English native speaker (NS). The participants engage informally in a form of tandem learning, with each in turn taking the dominant role in the conversation through teaching the other vocabulary items in…

The present study explores the ways in which young EFL learners draw on lived experiences, viewed as interactional experiences in L1 or L2 which they have participated in or observed, to ground their metapragmatic understandings. Building on previous research with adult (e.g. McConachy 2018) and young learners (Savic 2021; Savic and Myrset 2021),…

This "state of the art" review on the history of language teaching in Portugal provides an opportunity for a historiographical analysis, highlighting the relationships between languages, the links between languages and educational policy and implementation, and the cultural implications resulting from this. Researching language teaching…

That 'a picture can stimulate a thousand words' aptly summarises the role of the visual in the field of language learning and teaching. The power of the image to generate language output has been widely acknowledged in the field of second/foreign language acquisition. Posters, diagrams, symbols and pictures are often found in language classrooms;…

The motivation to learn a third language (L3) has received increasing attention in research, especially with regard to how it evolves dynamically during the learning process. Underpinned by the L2 Motivational Self System [Dörnyei, Z. 2005. "The Psychology of the Language Learner: Individual Differences in Second Language Acquisition."…