Our image-rich, media-dominated culture prompts critical thinking about how we educate young children. In response, this volume provides a rich and provocative synthesis of theory, research, and practice that pushes beyond monomodal constructs of teaching and learning. It is a book about bringing “sense” to 21st century early childhood education, with “sense” as related to modalities (sight, hearing), and “sense” in terms of making meaning. It reveals how multimodal perspectives emphasize the creative, transformative process of learning by broadening the modes for understanding and by encouraging critical analysis, problem solving, and decision-making. The volume’s explicit focus on children’s visual texts (“art”) facilitates understanding of multimodal approaches to language, literacy, and learning. Authentic examples feature diverse contexts, including classrooms, homes, museums, and intergenerational spaces, and illustrate children’s “sense-making” of life experiences such as birth, identity, environmental phenomena, immigration, social justice, and homelessness. This timely book provokes readers to examine understandings of language, literacy, and learning through a multimodal lens; provides a starting point for constructing broader, multimodal views of what it might mean to “make meaning;” and underscores the production and interpretation of visual texts as meaning making processes that are especially critical to early childhood education in the 21st century.

The essential teaching theory and practice text for primary English. Covering the essential skills of planning, monitoring and assessment and class management, it relates these specifically to primary English. The 5th edition of this popular text includes new features making specific links to Every Child Matters and outlining how ICT can be embedded into the teaching of primary English. This text is an essential guide for primary trainees on the theory and practice required for effective and creative English teaching. Features are included to help the reader make essential links between theory and practice.

This invaluable coursebook is designed for all trainees working towards Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). Covering the essential skills of planning, monitoring and assessment and class management, it relates these specifically to primary English. The text is structured around the current curriculum and incorporates the Primary National Strategy. Content is linked to the 2007 QTS Standards. This fourth edition includes links with the Early Years Foundation Stage and updated research summaries. The Assessing English chapter has been updated to include Assessment of Pupil Progress. Examples of cross-curricular links with primary modern foreign languages are also new to this edition.

The present volume brings together papers devoted to the role of learner and teacher autonomy in the process of second and foreign language learning, which have been contributed by scholars from Poland and abroad. The book has been divided into three parts in accordance with the topics that the individual contributions touch upon. The first part includes papers dealing with different ways in which learner autonomy can be fostered and evaluated. The papers contained in Part Two are connected with the role of language learning strategies in the development of learner independence. Finally, Chapter Three focuses on developing teacher autonomy, which, in the opinion of many specialists, is indispensable if learner autonomy is to be promoted. Thanks to its wide-ranging focus, this edited collection will be of interest not only to second language learning specialists interested in the role of learner autonomy, but also to undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate students working on their BA, MA and PhD theses, as well as practitioners wishing to promote learner independence in their classrooms.

Over the last decade task-based approaches to language learning and teaching (TBLT) have become a global focus of increased levels of research. Governments around the world have turned to TBLT as a potential solution for curricula that lack authentic and meaningful engagement with language learning and are failing to motivate students as a result. This book focuses on Asia, where this shift has been particularly in evidence. TBLT has often been implemented in top-down approaches to curriculum development, which presents a huge range of challenges at the cultural as well as the pedagogic level. Contemporary Task Based Language Teaching in Asia looks at the drivers, stakeholders and obstacles across the region. Some countries have adapted TBLT to deal with the local constraints, others have found it hard to apply and many are still in the process of investigating its implementation in their specific contexts. This collection is important to all involved in language development, from curriculum reform to materials development. It assists from programme evaluation to the setting of assessment standards. The chapters cover all aspects of language education across Asia, from primary to tertiary, private and public education, as well as innovations at local, regional and national levels.

This landmark volume provides a broad-based, comprehensive, state-of-the-art overview of current knowledge and research into second language teaching and learning. All authors are leading authorities in their areas of expertise. The chapters, all completely new for Volume 2, are organized in eight thematic sections: Social Contexts in Research on Second Language Teaching and Learning Second Language Research Methods Second Language Research and Applied Linguistics Research in Second Language Processes and Development Methods and Instruction in Second Language Teaching Second Language Assessment Ideology, Identity, Culture, and Critical Pedagogy in Second Language Teaching and Learning Language Planning and Policy. Changes in Volume 2: captures new and ongoing developments, research, and trends in the field surveys prominent areas of research that were not covered in Volume 1 includes new authors from Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America to broaden the Handbook’s international scope. Volume 2 is an essential resource for researchers, faculty, teachers, and students in MA-TESL and applied linguistics programs, as well as curriculum and material developers.

Effective lesson planning is a crucial skill for all primary school teachers and is key to fostering engaging and focused learning. So how can new teachers ensure that their plans are motivating and impactful so that their students can make good progress? This book serves as a comprehensive roadmap for planning dynamic and effective English lessons and clearly explains key principles and concepts that underpin effective teaching in all aspects of the primary English curriculum. Covering a wide range of topics, this book discusses how to plan compelling lessons on teaching phonics, comprehension, grammar, spoken language and more, as well as adaptive teaching for an inclusive classroom. It identifies the key decisions new teachers, who are planning their own lessons for the first time, must consider to execute well-structured lessons and suggests how these can be tailored to meet the needs of all learners. Whether you′re on a university-based path (PGCE, BEd, BA with QTS) or exploring school-based routes (School Direct, SCITT, Teach First), or an Early Career Teacher, this book is essential reading to transforming lesson planning from a challenge into a creative and effective teaching tool. Kirstie Hewett is a senior lecturer in primary English at the University of Chichester.