This research study reports on the in-service English as a Foreign Language teachers' perceptions of and needs and expectations regarding EIL and EIL-informed pedagogy in Northern Cyprus, which is a multilingual and multicultural teaching-learning context. A mixed method research design was utilized by collecting data through a questionnaire and…

Foreign students studying in Indonesia are enhancing from year to year. As students who do not use their first language in communicating, both in learning and in social relationships, their ability to speak Indonesian requires to be tested. It is essential in order to ensure the continuity of the learning that will be passed. Consequently, the…

This paper discusses the commonly realised social speech act of refusal strategies in English among university students in the Southern part of Thailand, in explaining how they say 'no' to request and the effects of this speech act on the hearer's face. Using Discourse Completion Test (DCT) to collect oral data in naturally-occurring situations,…

This project explored the effects of purposeful play after shared storybook readings on kindergarten children's reading comprehension, creativity, and language abilities. The participants were 42 (26 boys, 16 girls) culturally diverse kindergarten students attending an urban, public school in the northeastern United States. Some children (13) were…

This volume brings together studies which represent current perspectives on second language learning and teaching in relation to language and culture in intercultural contexts. The authors reflect on and analyse a variety of topics such as the significance of recognizing and valuing heritage speakers in intercultural contexts, the role of…

Introduction: In recent years, the number of test-takers of international tests of English has grown at an exponential rate. Those whose first language is not English, i.e. non-native English speakers (NNES), constitute the predominant majority of these test-takers, largely based in non-Anglophone contexts. Thus, the state of whether the…

With the increase in linguistic and cultural diversity in South Korea, the landscape of English education in Korean classrooms has been changing. This has led to an increased need to explore the language and literacy practices of the emergent multilingual youth in Korea where one (official) language (Korean) has been predominantly used as the…

In today's world, educational contexts are getting increasingly multicultural. Although EFL (English as a Foreign Language) classes in Turkey were mostly composed of Turkish students a decade ago, today students from any part of the world are brought together within the frame of various student exchange programs. In Turkish EFL contexts, students…

The aim of this paper is to offer a critical discussion of the role of native and foreign accents in L2 pronunciation teaching. Several studies concluded that classroom practices of grammar instruction are strongly influenced by teaching cultures. We will examine whether this is also the case for pronunciation teaching. While the CEFR…

This article illustrates the significance of intercultural competence in teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) to a multicultural group of students in a matriculation preparation programme in Israel. It is based on an action research using a case study approach to examine the role of cultural background in the acquisition of EFL. Drawing…

This article reports a study which examined the effects of an "Awakening to Languages" (AtL) programme on preschool children's language abilities. This programme aimed at exposing children to language and cultural diversity as well as promoting positive attitudes towards different languages and cultures amongst children. However,…

This study investigated Korean heritage speakers' Korean language proficiency (i.e. morphosyntax, collocation, and lexicon) in relation to their attitudes, motivation, and age at immigration (AI). Seventy-six adult Korean-Australians with Korean literacy participated. Overall, participants showed high levels of Korean proficiency in all three…

This article aims at evaluating and understanding the effects of an awakening to languages (AtL) programme, carried out with a group of 21 Portuguese children aged three to six, in the development of phonological awareness (PA). Using mixed-methods research, data was gathered from video recordings of seven AtL sessions and PA tests for an…

There are increasing numbers of non-native English speaking applicants to Canadian universities (AUCC 2008a, 2010), which are committed to promoting linguistic and cultural diversity (AUCC 2008b). One result of this trend is that university admissions officers, as gatekeepers, are faced with a growing and potentially confusing array of language…

This article proposes a distinction between "fairness" and "justice" in relation to language tests. Basing its discussion on the validity theory of Samuel Messick, it discusses the way in which these terms have been used in the existing literature, and their relationship to the concept of validity. Fairness, broadly speaking,…