We focus here on the obstacles students face when learning to read in their second language, specifically in contexts where the second language is taught as a school subject or used as a medium of instruction (immersion). Qualitative studies in these areas have highlighted strategy deployment and approaches to constructing meaning as key variables…

Since the early 2000s, much emphasis has been placed on adopting the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) method in the Korean K-12 context, however, such efforts have been largely unsuccessful. In order to shed light on some of the reasons for such failures, this study examined the impact of short-term professional development (PD) on primary…

This chapter presents how I integrated Virtual Exchange (VE) programmes delivered by Soliya in two courses at an international undergraduate liberal arts and sciences college. In both cases the VE programme was fully integrated in the courses as a graded element. The students of beginner Italian participated in the four-week long Connect Express.…

This book examines the role of interlocutors and their individual differences (IDs) in second language (L2) development from four theoretical lenses: the cognitive-interactionist approach, sociocultural theory, the variationist approach, and complex dynamic systems theory. A theoretical overview to each approach is written by a preeminent scholar…

Communicative multimedia is becoming a significant tool of improving metalinguistic knowledge (Lai, 2015, 2016). This research applied three basic examples of song, movie (Hung & Higginsb, 2015, 2016; King, 2002, 2010; Sanne, 1994, 2006; Tillmana, 1997, 2006) and game pedagogies (Tsai, 2017) for discussing cognitive consequences of Taiwanese…

Learning language in the classroom often means interacting with peers in small groups. There is a growing body of empirical research highlighting the factors that have an impact on student interaction and an increasing focus on the social context. This article aims to broaden the focus of research by considering the influence of emergent…

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) has often been touted as an effective means of enhancing the language proficiency gains among its learners due to its focus on content over form and higher cognitive demand. However, cautions have been raised regarding the varying conditions and contexts that need to be taken into consideration in…

There is a common belief that one could quickly improve their second language proficiency once they reside in the country where the target language is spoken, because they have opportunities to use it constantly in an immersion environment. However, scholars have argued that it may be up to the individual student whether she could effectively…

Many explanations have been offered for the widely attested problems second language (L2) learners experience with the English article system. One influential proposal from formal linguistics is the Article Choice Parameter and associated Fluctuation Hypothesis, which states that learners of English fluctuate between correct and incorrect usage by…

Though initially proposed as a means of overcoming common barriers to higher education, MOOCs often exacerbate the very issues of accessibility and exclusivity that they were designed to avoid. Students from developing countries in particular face considerable obstacles that hinder or outright prevent their enrollment in and completion of MOOCs.…

This edited volume brings together 10 cutting-edge empirical studies on the realities of English language learning, teaching and testing in a wide range of global contexts where English is an additional language. It covers three themes: learners' development of interactional competence, the organization of teaching and testing practices, and…

This paper applies a critical lens to a Master's degree program in education in one University in Norway and its stated aim of promoting critical skills in students from the global south in particular. Two groups of students, one an international mix in Oslo, and the other, South Sudanese students studying in Hawassa, Ethiopia, were compared. The…

The term "newcomers" is commonly used to describe students who have recently arrived in U.S. schools. Depending on usage, newcomers may mean students in their first 6 months in U.S. schools, in their first 4 years, or anywhere in between. A majority arrive speaking little to no English, most are from socioeconomically disadvantaged…

Acquisition and improvement of literary translation competence is an important undertaking in teaching literary translation with the aim to enable the student to translate into the target language the content, expressive power, language style, and an equal function of the literary text. This essay pursues the aim of helping to create and improve…

The member states of the European Union have funded many initiatives supporting the teaching and learning of foreign languages. Content and language integrated learning is one of the experimental language programmes that have been introduced in Catalonia, in the north-east of Spain. The aims of this study are to analyse the results achieved by…