The question going into this action research was, "How can a language teacher encourage more positive attitudes toward language learning while building a learning community?" After incorporating "I Can" statements into the curriculum, more than 100 third grade students were surveyed. The survey asked what they thought they could do in Spanish.…

In our global economy, it is important to understand all factors influencing successful language learning. A survey of more than 6,000 university students in Canada, Japan, and France revealed differences in language learning beliefs, attitudes, and motivations in the three countries. Learners in Canada and France exhibited primarily instrumental…

Teachers of adults learning English often compete with many demands on learners' attention. Concerns about family, jobs, money, and transportation; fatigue; and negative past experiences with education are some of the factors that might inhibit an adult learner's full engagement in class. In a study of learner engagement in adult literacy…

The ethnographic research reported in this article documents how a group of non-Korean families, whose children are participating in a Korean bilingual school in Northeast China, construct their motivations and strategies of learning Korean language. The main motivation of expectancy of further education opportunities and success in future career…

This study empirically investigated the impact of an online learning community project on university students' motivation in learning Chinese as a foreign language (CFL). A newly-proposed L2 motivation theory--the L2 motivational self system (Dornyei 2005; 2009)--was used as the theoretical framework for this study. The three aspects of motivation…

The School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies at the University of Nottingham hosted the fifth annual conference in the "Innovative Language Teaching at University" series. Under the heading "Enhancing participation and collaboration" the conference, organised by Cecilia Goria, Oranna Speicher and Sascha Stollhans, took…

Each day, foreign language teachers are faced with issues that render the control of the K-12 classroom challenging, at best, and virtually impossible at worst. Even preservice foreign language teachers, those going through a teacher education program towards K-12 licensure, understand that no content can be taught or learned if there is mayhem in…

This paper examines the use of mobile technologies such as iPods and tablets in promoting the development of oral competencies and literacy skills in early French immersion classrooms in Canada. The paper is based on a two-year collaborative action research project involving 16 teachers in two schools. Data collection involved digital ethnographic…

The problem that this dissertation investigated is the insufficient representation of teachers' voices in the discussion of motivational characteristics of second language learners in middle and high schools especially with consideration of instructional information and communication technologies. The purpose was to determine the nature of…

This study examined the second language (L2) development of adult learners of Spanish at three levels of proficiency during and after a semester of instruction. A fundamental goal was to identify cognitive and psychosocial individual differences (IDs) that can explain between-learner variation over time in order to expand our understanding of the…

Postgraduates' English acquisition is an intriguing but complex process. A lot of factors have contributed to the outcome of a learner's acquisition, among them, motivation and strategy are playing a crucial role. Motivation is the driving force to encourage the learner to learn, while strategy being the techniques or devices for a learner to use…

The Malaysian government is rigorously drawing up strategies to increase the already existing 60,000 foreign students currently studying in the country (The Star, 2009). With the influx of more foreign students and with English as the medium of instruction in local higher education, it is felt that a study to investigate international students'…

Because it has been established that there is a local variety of English that has blossomed in the Philippines, there are crucial debates specifically on what pedagogical standard must be used in teaching English in Philippine schools. In spite of the growing number of researches on Philippine English (PE) and the publication of its own…

This narrative interview study of a Spanish learner documents and explains apparent contradictions in a student's story when reporting on why she continues to take Spanish even when she does not like it or perform well in foreign language courses. A dialectical approach to human activity based on sociocultural theory is used to make sense of her…

The purpose of this exploratory study was to identify factors impacting second language oral proficiency of native English speaking secondary students in public schools in Texas that had chosen to complete at least two years of traditional classroom Spanish instruction. Further, the study sought to determine the effectiveness of the traditional…