Sounds-Write is a systematic synthetic phonics approach that has been successfully used to teach students to read and spell for the last two decades. This volume brings together twelve case studies -- written by practitioners -- of implementation of the Sounds-Write programme in different settings and geographical contexts (Europe, US, Australia).…

In this case study, Angela Helsloot, Principal at Allambie Heights Public School, on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, uses data from standardised tests and benchmark reading assessments across the school to show the positive impact that Sounds-Write instruction has had in Kindergarten and Year 1. [For the complete volume, "Systematic Synthetic…

Since 2000, I have been coordinating a web based virtual exchange project, Project Ibunka. Ibunka means different cultures in Japanese. It aims to provide opportunities of authentic interaction among EFL/ESL learners all over the world. The project has been giving English language learners from various countries opportunities to use English for…

This chapter presents a Transnational Virtual Exchange (VE) Project (TEP) developed in partnership between a Spanish and a Hungarian university. During this semester-long project, students worked in mixed virtual teams exploring selected topics related to the economics of the European Union. This report provides the details of the planning,…

This chapter reports the challenges that both the students and the teachers experienced in a telecollaborative project between a Japanese university and an American university. In this semester-long project, the students in groups of three to five from both universities worked collectively mainly asynchronously and in occasional synchronous…

The emergence of Web 2.0 has created diverse opportunities for continuing professional development in the area of language teaching. This article begins by presenting how the pedagogical model implemented in an online postgraduate programme integrates the Personal Learning Environment and Personal Learning Network (PLE and PLN) concept and…

The technical institutions Institut Mines Télécom in Albi, France (IMT) and Trier University for Applied Sciences at the Environmental Campus of Birkenfeld, Germany (UCB) have been running Virtual Exchange (VE) projects since 2013. These projects allow the French and German students to use the vocabulary learned in class in a real context and to…

Recent developments in mobile technologies have increased the ways in which languages can be learnt, both within and beyond the classroom. Whereas the use of mobile technologies seems to challenge traditional knowledge and skills acquisition, research shows that foreign language study can be enriched through easy access to resources selected to…

The growing importance of global English has led to the rise of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) teaching, particularly in higher education. Despite the concurrently increasing demand for ESP teachers, pre-service teacher education programmes have largely neglected this important area. This study has been initiated to address the professional…

The first module of the online Master of Arts (MA) in Translation at the Open University, Introduction to Translation Theory and Practice, includes a language development strand which encourages students to diagnose their own language development needs and introduces them to tools, resources, strategies, and learning communities that will enable…

This study explores a language learner's screen while interacting from a desktop videoconferencing device as part of an intercultural telecollaboration exchange that connected teacher-trainees and French learners. Communicative tasks involving opinion exchanges require from language learners simultaneous speaking and listening comprehension…

This case study reports on an Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange (E+VE) course at the University of Bordeaux. VE enables students to develop communication skills in an English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) environment (Helm, 2016; Kohn & Hoffstaedter, 2017). The present study reports on student language and content learning experiences through E+VE, where…

This volume is an important output of the ASSESSnet, an EU-funded project that aimed at investigating assessment practices in Virtual Exchange (VE) projects in Foreign Language (FL) courses at tertiary level. It starts with the discussion of selected aspects of VE and assessment design, and a summary of ASSESSnet project results. The following…

This case study describes two iterations of a cross-disciplinary Virtual Exchange (VE) project developed between the Universities of Bordeaux (France) and León (Spain), involving students of Applied Physics and Measurement Engineering (APME), and Electrical Engineering. The students worked together on designing a real garden in Bordeaux within…

This case study presents the results of an interdisciplinary Virtual Exchange (VE) that was arranged between Finnish and Polish students in 2019. During their six-week collaboration, the students of language studies at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, worked in teams together with their Polish peers specialising in information and…