In recent years language learning has been increasingly viewed by some SLA researchers as an essentially social-psychological process in which the role of a wider sociocultural context should not be marginalized. This volume offers a valuable contribution to this growing body of research by providing theoretical considerations and empirical research data on themes such as the development of intercultural communicative competence, the role of English as a lingua franca in intercultural communication, and the place of cultural factors in SLA theorizing, research, second/foreign language teaching and teacher training. The volume also contains contributions which share the linguistic interest in the culture-related concepts and constructs such as time, modesty, politeness, and respect, discussing the culture-dependent differences in conceptualization and their reflection in particular language forms and linguistic devices.

This book identifies the many facets of culture that influence second language learners and teachers. The paperback edition identifies the many facets of culture that influence second language learners and teachers. It addresses the impact of culture on learning to interact, speak, construct meaning, and write in a second language, while staying within the sociocultural paradigms specific to a particular language and its speakers. By providing a comprehensive introduction to research from other disciplines on the interaction between language and culture, this volume offers an important contribution to the field of second language acquisition.

The teaching of culture and interculturality is today viewed as an integral part of foreign language education. This book presents insights from recent research on the role of culture in second/foreign and heritage language education. It contains 14 chapters including an introductory chapter that discusses diachronically the evolving notion of culture and how the sociocultural view of culture as a complex and dynamic concept informs language teaching and language learning research. The chapters following the introduction are organised in four parts focusing on: 1) the teacher's role in integrated language and culture learning; 2) the interrelationship between culture, identity, and language learning and use; 3) the effect of culture on learner characteristics which impact language learning processes and outcomes; and 4) curriculum development aimed at fostering language and culture learning. The chapters in Parts 1 to 3 present contributions from current research - either in the form of the authors' original studies or comprehensive reviews of relevant essential research - which bears important implications for curricular practice in foreign language and language teacher education. This close link between research, theory and practice is also maintained in the two chapters in Part 4, which present developmental projects based on well-grounded theoretical frameworks.

The papers in this volume offer a sampling of contemporary efforts to update the portrayal of study abroad in the applied linguistics literature through attention to its social and cultural aspects. The volume illustrates diversification of theory and method, refinement of approaches to social interactive language use, and expansion in the range of populations and languages under scrutiny. Part I offers a topical orientation, outlining the rationale for the project. Part II presents six qualitative case studies adopting sociocultural, activity theoretical, postructuralist, or discourse analytic methodologies. The four chapters in Part III illustrate a variety of approaches and foci in research on the pragmatic capabilities of study abroad participants in relation to second language identities. The volume will be of interest to a broad audience of applied linguistics researchers, language educators, and professionals engaged in the design, oversight, and assessment of study abroad programs.

This volume brings together the current theoretical interest in reconceptualizing second and foreign language learning from a sociocultural perspective on language and learning, with practical concerns about second and foreign language pedagogy. It presents a set of studies whose focus is on the empirical description of particular practices constructed in classroom interaction that promote the learning of a second or foreign language. The authors examine in detail the processes by which the learning of additional languages is accomplished in the interaction of a variety of classrooms and in a variety of languages. Not only will the findings from the studies reported in this volume help to lay a foundation for the development of a more expansive, sociocultural model of second and foreign language learning, but on a more practical level they will help language educators in creating a set of principles for identifying and sustaining classroom interactional practices that foster additional language development. The volume is distinguished in three ways: * Following a Vygotskyan perspective on development, the studies assume that language learning is a fundamentally pragmatic enterprise, intrinsically linked to language use. This breaks from a more traditional understanding of second and foreign language learning, which has viewed learning and use as two distinct phenomena. The importance of classroom interaction to additional language development is foregrounded. * The investigations reported in this book are distinguished by their methodological approach. Because language learning is assumed to be a situated, context-sensitive, and dynamic process, the studies do not rely on traditional experimental methods for collecting and analyzing data, but rather, they involve primarily the use of ethnographic and discourse analytic methods. * The studies focus on interactional practices that promote second and foreign language learning. Although a great deal of research has examined first language learning in classrooms from a sociocultural perspective, little has looked at second and foreign language classrooms from such a perspective. Thus there is a strong need for this volume of studies addressing this area of research. Researchers, teacher educators, and graduate students across the fields of second and foreign language learning, applied linguistics, and language education will find this book informative and relevant. Because of the programmatic implications arising from the studies, it will also appeal to teacher educators and teachers of second and foreign languages from the elementary to the university levels.

This volume focuses on priorities for research in language pedagogy. The aim is to give an up-to-date overview of current thinking about important research issues such as the viability of large scale comparisons, the quantitative/qualitative research controversy, new trends in language testing and evaluation, and the role of different learning environments. In their discussions of these issues researchers from the US and from different countries in Europe show to what extent the priorities differ on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

This volume offers diverse perspectives on language and culture teaching explored against the background of a fast-paced globalized world of increased mobility and opportunity. While teachers are pressed to reinvent and adapt the existing teaching practices, researchers are invited to conduct studies with a view of implementing the findings in the classroom practice. This collection presents discussions of different aspects of foreign language instruction, language skills and learning strategies, and foreign languages in professional contexts, as well as the role of intercultural competence in language teaching and teacher education. Offering insights into a variety of foreign language and culture teaching contexts throughout Europe, this volume will be of interest to researchers and practitioners in applied linguistics and language and culture teaching methodology, including both experienced and novice language teachers, in the Balkan region and beyond.

"This book takes cultural knowledge in language learning not only as a necessary aspect of communicative competence, but as an educational objective in its own right. If the aim of foreign language education is to foster cross-cultural awareness and self-realization, language pedagogy needs to come to grips with a range of fundamental issues: what do we mean by cultural context? Can discourse practices be taught like rules of grammar? What role does literature play in the development of second language literacy? How can learners acquire both an insider's and an outsider's understanding of the foreign culture as expressed through its language? By exploring these and other issues, the book can help language teachers reflect on their profession and place it within its larger societal and educational context. In turn, they can help learners become not only skilful users of the language, but also active architects of a new cross-cultural world order.".

Spolsky here examines the conditions under which languages are learned, and how learning related to teaching. His theory, set out in the form of a preference model, emphasizes the need to be precise and clear on the nature of the goals and outcomes of learning, and to recognize the complexity of the concept of "knowing a second language."