This volume provides an up-to-date and comprehensive coverage of second language learning. The focus throughout the book is primarily on language learning, but each chapter also discusses the implications for teaching and assessment, thus informing both understanding and practice. The book contains nine sections, which aim to organise and reflect different dimensions of the diverse and complex scope of learning English as a second or additional language. Four themes which permeate the chapters are: learning and learners; learning and language; learning and language development; learning and learning context. The 36 chapters are up-to-date and authoritative, written by experts in the field. The content is accessibly written, with questions for discussion and follow-up reading suggestions provided.

This collection of original articles provides an overview of key issues and approaches in contemporary language teaching.

Today, English Language Teaching (ELT), especially English as a Second Language (ESL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL), has been witnessing unprecedented changes in curriculum, teaching methodology, and the application of learning theories. This has created a demand for teachers who can teach English to learners of varied cultural, socio-economic and psychological backgrounds. This book discusses the modern trends, innovations, as well as the difficulties and challenges in teaching and learning ESL in a non-native context. The book, with contributions from many experts (each one specializing in a particular field) from countries such as UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand, India, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, China, and Japan, provides new methods, strategies and application-oriented solutions to overcome the problems in a practical way. The book deals with all topics pertinent to ESL and these are reinforced by a large number of examples and quotations from different sources. What distinguishes the text is its focus on modern innovations and use of technology in ELT/CLT (communicative language teaching). Teachers, teacher-trainees (B.Ed./M.A. Education/M.Ed.), and teacher-educators who are concerned with teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) should find this book immensely helpful.

This is the first book devoted to exploring issues of learning written Japanese, focusing on the challenges the writing system poses for the second language learner. It weaves together previous research on Japanese second language acquisition and kanji learning with original studies on self-regulation and kanji learning strategies. It provides the most comprehensive overview of the Japanese writing system and kanji learning to date; helps further our understanding of second language writing acquisition and offers new directions for research in the wider fields of language learning strategies, motivation and self-regulation. Each chapter concludes with a brief discussion of the implications of the content of the chapter for the Japanese language learner, instructor and researcher. It will appeal to researchers of the teaching and learning of Japanese as a foreign/second language, the Japanese writing system and second language acquisition, as well as to instructors and learners of Japanese who are struggling with the teaching and learning of kanji.

Second Language Educational Experiences for Adult Learners provides an up-to-date review of the theory and practice of adult second language education. The primary objective is to introduce core ideas that should inform the design, development, and delivery of language learning experiences that take the typical forms of materials, courses, teaching, and assessment. Divided into three sections, the book first addresses what we know about adult second language acquisition and how individuals may acquire languages differently from each other. In the second section, key educational design elements—from pedagogical methods to curriculum to assessment—are then introduced from the perspective of research-based understandings about effective practices. Rounding out the volume is an overview of critical issues for language educational innovation, including supporting teachers, localizing materials and instruction, evaluating and improving education, and working with technology. Each chapter concludes with a set of recommended “design principles” that should guide readers toward high-quality, valuable, and empirically supported language educational experiences. This volume will be of interest to researchers and students investigating instructed language learning, designers creating useful language learning materials, and language teaching innovators seeking to improve outcomes in diverse instructional settings around the world.

The 25 chapters contained in this book were all written by scholars working in the field of applied linguistics and English language teaching in various East Asian contexts. East Asia is large and diverse in terms of socio-economic, linguistic, and ethnic parameters. Statistics alone cannot give a clear understanding of what goes on in rural and urban universities and what challenges English language teachers and learners face in those contexts. To understand this wide gamut of issues in English language teaching in East Asia is thus a very large undertaking. The book addresses some of these issues, arranging its 25 chapters into five sections: namely, Assessing Language Performance; Teaching English Writing; Learner Autonomy; Corpus and Discourse Research; and Learning English in East Asian Contexts. Many of the chapters in this volume concern familiar topics such as linking assessment to teaching, learning and curriculum; conducting assessment validation research; examining meta-cognitive strategies; investigating teaching and learning English for academic purposes; and profiling prevailing word lists for language learners. Other chapters are on novel or lesser known topics such as non-verbal delivery in speaking assessment; the use of visualization as a reading strategy; learner strategies in a Facebook corpus; effects of discourse signaling cues and rate of speech; and an ontogenetic analysis of college English textbooks. Collectively, these chapters showcase English language learning, teaching, and assessing in a range of contexts using a variety of methods and techniques to deal with issues relevant to East Asian teachers, learners and researchers.

This Handbook, with 45 chapters written by the world’s leading scholars in second language acquisition (SLA) and language testing, dives into the important interface between SLA and language testing: shared ground where researchers seek to measure second language performance to better understand how people learn their second languages. The Handbook also reviews how to best measure and evaluate the second language (L2) learners’ personal characteristics, backgrounds, and learning contexts to better understand their L2 learning trajectories. Taking a transdisciplinary approach to research, the book builds upon recent theorizing and measurement principles from the fields of applied linguistics, cognitive science, psychology, psycholinguistics, psychometrics, educational measurement, and social psychology. The Handbook is divided into six key sections: (1) Assessment concepts for SLA researchers, (2) Building instruments for SLA research, (3) Measuring individual differences, (4) Measuring language development, (5) Testing specific populations, and (6) Measurement principles for SLA researchers.

Viewing current developments in materials development through the eyes of developers, users and researchers from all over the world, this book applies principles to practice. It provides a comprehensive coverage of the main aspects and issues in the field as well as critical overviews of recent developments in materials development, and acts as a stimulus for innovation. Now revised and updated to take account of developments over the last decade, this 3rd edition features: - 8 new chapters, covering materials use, blended learning, multimodality, intercultural competence, communicative competence, the practical realisation of theoretical principles in the development of digital materials, the teaching of right to left languages and the commodification of grammar. - Fully updated chapters with contemporary examples and considering teaching second and foreign languages other than English. - New pedagogical resources, with the addition of tasks and further readings for each chapter. - New online resources, 2 new chapters on producing videos on teacher development courses and materials development on teacher training courses and 2 updated chapters on development courses for teachers and simulations in teacher development, alongside a range of additional tasks and further reading suggestions.

Materials and Methods in ELT is an essential resource for teachers or for those engaged in taking professional courses relating to all aspects of English language teaching. Now available in its 3rd edition, this popular teachers’ guide offers a comprehensive and useful introduction to the principles and practice of teaching English as a foreign/second language. It examines the ideas behind current methodology and teaching materials, in addition to offering a practical guide to approaching materials and methods, evaluation and adaptation, technology for materials and methods, and teaching in under-resourced classrooms. These principles are then related to the individual language skills of reading, listening, speaking, and writing. The authors examine the different methodologies available to teachers for organizing and running an ELT classroom; discussing group and pair work, individualization, classroom observation, and the teachers’ role in the contemporary ELT context. Updated throughout, the 3rd edition features a new section on technology for materials and methods, as well as a new chapter on IT in English language teaching, and inclusion of new samples from current teaching materials.

An Introduction to Foreign Language Learning and Teaching provides an engaging, student-friendly guide to the field of foreign language learning and teaching. Aimed at students with no background in the area and taking a task-based approach, this book: introduces the theoretical and practical aspects of both learning and teaching; provides discussion and workshop activities throughout each chapter of the book, along with further reading and reflection tasks; deals with classroom- and task-based teaching, and covers lesson planning and testing, making the book suitable for use on practical training courses; analyses different learning styles and suggests strategies to improve language acquisition; includes examples from foreign language learning in Russian, French, and German, as well as English; is accompanied by a brand new companion website at www.routledge.com/cw/johnson, which contains additional material, exercises, and weblinks. Written by an experienced teacher and author, An Introduction to Foreign Language Learning and Teaching is essential reading for students beginning their study in the area, as well as teachers in training and those already working in the field.