This paper explores the position of 'linguistic expert', and how being positioned as an expert affects the linguistic and ethnic identity construction of a group of Polish-English bilingual adolescents living in the UK. Findings indicate that while the participants are often positioned as linguistic experts in English and/or Polish, this may not…

While Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is recognised as an effective approach worldwide, its implementation in foreign language (FL) classrooms remains difficult. Earlier studies have identified factors impeding CLT implementation, such as a lack of communicative lesson materials or teachers' more traditional views on language learning. In…

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…

In accordance with the multilingual turn in SLA (May, S. 2014. Introducing the 'multilingual turn'. In "The Multilingual Turn: Implications for SLA, TESOL and Bilingual Education," ed. S. May, 1-6. New York, NY: Routledge), researchers are now directing more attention to the motivational dynamics associated with learning multiple…

With the UK entering its fourth decade of this crisis with no end in sight, it is timely to ask how current policy directions for language learning beyond the compulsory phase (currently age 14 in all 4 UK nations) align with learners' psychological needs in relation to language learning. After a review of these psychological needs within…

The current study examines the role of instruction in developing L2 learners' ability to comprehend two types of implicatures: indirect refusals and indirect opinions. According to Taguchi (2005), these implicatures differ in the degrees of conventionality involved in producing them, hence requiring different degrees of processing effort on the…

Language teachers come from diverse and multilingual backgrounds. This also generally characterises preparation programmes that have been developed to prepare elementary and secondary school language teachers for increasingly globalised, pluralistic, interconnected classrooms. Despite variations, there is value in attempting to identify common…

The communicative language teaching approach that informs many school modern foreign language programmes has been realised in different ways as theorists and practitioners have sought to identify the most effective combinations of instruction and use [Mitchell, R. 2000. Applied linguistics and evidence-based classroom practice: the case of foreign…

Drama activities can have a variety of benefits for foreign language learners of all ages. Staging an entire play, however, is not often possible as part of traditional foreign language education due to curricular, programmatic and departmental constraints. This article summarises an extracurricular German theatre project carried out at a small…

This study investigates the role of typed synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) on learners' foreign language anxiety and output quantity. Sixty-one beginner French learners participated in the study. In the first session (group 1: SCMC, group 2: face-to-face [FTF]), participants learned new vocabulary and the present tense forms of…

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…

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) has become increasingly popular all over Europe. As the target language is invariably English, many see CLIL as a way of helping learners develop an optimal command of English as a foreign language (EFL). The focus of many research studies has been on gains in language proficiency but the aims of…

Recently a novel instrument -- the Core Academic Language Instrument (CALS-I) -- aimed at testing a constellation of school-relevant English language skills was developed and validated for use in the United States (Uccelli, Barr, Dobbs, Galloway, Meneses and Sánchez, 2015. Core Academic Language Skills: An expanded operational construct and a…

The article discusses the results of a study of L1 proofreading competence conducted among young adult native speakers of Polish who acquired English through formal education at school and university in Poland. Students with various levels of proficiency in English were asked to make acceptability judgements for Polish structures presented to them…