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This text goes back to basics by investigating fundamental assumptions about the way English should be defined and taught as a foreign language. It looks at different attitudes to English teaching, and critically examines proposals for course content.
There are several issues in English teaching on which applied linguists take very different positions: e.g. linguistic imperialism, the validity of critical discourse analysis, the pedagogic relevance of corpus descriptions of language, the theoretical bases of second language acquisition research, the nature of applied linguistics itself. This book presents exchanges between scholars arguing different positions, and directs attention to the key points at issue.
This book has two related purposes. The first is to demonstrate the extent and importance of language play in human life; the second is to draw out the implications for applied linguistics and language teaching. Language play should not be thought of as a trivial or peripheral activity, but as central to human thought and culture, to learning, creativity, and intellectual enquiry. It fulfils a major function of language, underpinning the human capacity to adapt: as individuals, as societies, and as a species.
The Routledge Encyclopedia of Language Teaching and Learning is an authoritative reference dealing with all aspects of this increasingly important field of study. Offering a comprehensive range of articles on contemporary language teaching and its history, it has been produced specifically for language teaching professionals and as a reference work for academic studies at postgraduate level. In this new edition, every single entry has been reviewed and updated with reference to new developments and publications. Coverage has been expanded to reflect new technological, global and academic developments, with particular attention to areas such as online and distance learning, teacher and learner cognition, testing, assessment and evaluation, global English and teacher education. Themes and disciplines covered include: Methods and materials, including new technologies and materials development Contexts and concepts, such as mediation, risk-taking in language learning and intercomprehension Influential figures from the early days of language teaching to the contemporary Related disciplines, such as psychology, anthropology and corpus linguistics It covers the teaching of specific languages, including Japanese, Chinese, Arabic and African languages, as well as English, French, German and Spanish. There are thirty five overview articles dealing with issues such as communicative language teaching, early language learning, teacher education and syllabus and curriculum design. A further 160 entries focus on topics such as bilingualism, language laboratories and study abroad. Numerous shorter items examine language and cultural institutions, professional associations and acronyms. Multiple cross-references enable the user to browse from one entry to another, and there are suggestions for further reading. Written by an international team of specialists, the Routledge Encyclopedia of Language Teaching and Learning is an invaluable resource and reference manual for anyone with a professional or academic interest in the subject.
This book offers a succinct theoretical introduction to the basic concepts in language testing in a way that is easy to understand. In the Japanese context, this book is highly recommended for university faculty members involved in obtaining assessment literacy, teachers who want to validate their exploratory teaching and testing, or applied linguistics students new to the language testing field. The book is divided into four main sections. The first provides an overview of the principles of language testing. The next contains short extracts from the testing literature with questions which stimulate further thinking. Section 3 is a list of references with brief annotations and Section 4 a glossary of referenced testing terms.
This book introduces a new field of educational research called teacher learning, as it applies to the teaching of languages. Up until recently, the study of second language teacher education has focused mainly on the knowledge base and specific skills needed for effective teaching. This book invites us to look at teacher education from a fresh point of view, through an exploration of the thinking and learning processes of individuals as they learn to teach. Seventeen original articles, based on studies done in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, provide examples of pioneering research into the ways that individuals learn to teach languages, and the roles that previous experience, social context, and professional training play in the process. The collection thus helps establish a research base for this newly developing field.
Authenticity is one of the most rampant buzzwords in ELT (English Language Teaching). Many have weighed in on what authenticity should mean and on how it may be achieved. The book at hand is an extensive analysis of authenticity as a term and as a concept within the academic field of ELT. The research data comprises virtually all definitions and conceptualizations of authenticity in the international ELT literature. However, only a limited number of texts contributes to what can be called an explicit negotiation of authenticity. A discourse analytical approach is taken to disentangle the hubbub of commentaries and to eventually extrapolate from it six distinct concepts which are attached to the term 'authenticity'. Michel Foucault's seminal theories are invoked, affording additional insights into discourse dynamics and power structures among individuals and institutions in ELT.
This collection of 16 reflective accounts and data-driven studies explores the interrelationship of religious identity and English Language Teaching (ELT). The chapters broaden a topic which has traditionally focused on Christianity by including Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and non-religious perspectives. They address the ways in which faith and ELT intersect in the realms of teacher identity, pedagogy and the context and content of ELT, and explore a diverse range of geographical contexts, making use of a number of different research methodologies. The book will be of particular interest to researchers in TESOL and EFL, as well as teachers and teacher trainers.
The contributions to this volume explore several focal issues related to the global spread of English and their implications for English language teaching, providing both theoretical and empirical perspectives on recent research and implications in educational terms. The volume is divided into three thematic sections, namely "Developments in ELF research and pedagogic implications", "Raising teachers' awareness of ELF", and "ELF and ELT practices". The book provides up-to-date perspectives on the issues, implications and repercussions that findings in ELF research can have for ELT practices. The contributors are all scholars and researchers who have long been engaged in ELF-related research, and who have undertaken operational and practical work in the field, and, as such, offer novel perspectives on the effects of EFL research on the teaching and learning of English. The volume also presents the findings of innovative projects in teacher education, involving pre- and in-service teachers, providing exemplificative good practices of possible new routes into pluralistic, ELF-aware and ELF-oriented didactic perspectives.
