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Offering a timely snapshot of current theory and research in the field of psychology in foreign language learning, this book is accessible to both specialists and non-specialists. Each chapter focuses on a different psychological construct and provides an overview of current thinking in the area drawing on insights from educational psychology.
This book explores the contributions that cognitive linguistics and psychology, including neuropsychology, have made to the understanding of the way that second languages are processed and learnt. It examines areas of phonology, word recognition and semantics, examining 'bottom-up' decoding processes as compared with 'top-down' processes as they affect memory. It also discusses second language learning from the acquisition/learning and nativist/connectionist perspectives. These ideas are then related to the methods that are used to teach second languages, primarily English, in formal classroom situations. This examination involves both 'mainstream' communicative approaches, and more traditional methods widely used to teach EFL throughout the world. The book is intended to act both as a textbook for students who are studying second language teaching and as an exploration of issues for the interested teacher who would like to further extend their understanding of the cognitive processes underlying their teaching.Mick Randall is currently Senior Lecturer in TESOL and Head of the Institute of Education at the British University in Dubai. He has taught courses in second language learning and teaching, applied linguistics and psychology in a number of different contexts. He has a special interest in the cognitive processing of language and in the psycholinguistics of word recognition, spelling and reading.
This book explores potential new directions in the growing field of language learning psychology. The individual chapters cover theoretical and conceptual developments and innovative methodological designs, while also exploring practical implications. Language learning psychology is a vibrant field of research that typically involves constructs from social and educational psychology, which it considers in terms of their relevance for the domain of language learning. The diverse theoretical and empirical chapters examine a range of familiar and lesser-known constructs, highlighting the importance of taking into account both learner and teacher psychologies, and recognising the complexity, dynamism and situatedness of psychological constructs, as well as the value of employing diverse research methodologies. It is hoped that these ‘new directions’ concerning populations, constructs and theoretical and methodological frameworks will pave the way for innovative future developments in this vibrant field.
Research results over the past decades have consistently demonstrated that a key reason why many second language learners fail--while some learners do better with less effort--lies in various learner attributes such as personality traits, motivation, or language aptitude. In psychology, these attributes have traditionally been called "individual differences." The scope of individual learner differences is broad--ranging from creativity to learner styles and anxiety--yet there is no current, comprehensive, and unified volume that provides an overview of the considerable amount of research conducted on various language learner differences, until now. Each chapter in this new volume focuses on a different individual difference variable. Besides a review of the relevant second language literature, Zoltán Dörnyei presents a concise overview of the psychological research involving each topic. A key concern for the author has been to define the various learner factors as measurable constructs and therefore the discussion includes a summary of the most famous tests and questionnaires in each domain. A wide range of readers will benefit from this book--students in linguistics, applied linguistics, modern languages, and psychology programs; second language teachers participating in in-service training courses; and researchers in second language acquisition and psychology.
This volume enlists more than two dozen experts in the fields of linguistics, psycholinguistics, neurology, and cognitive psychology in providing a realistic picture of the psychological and linguistic foundations of language. Contributors examine t
This book explores key areas of educational and social psychology and considers their relevance to language learning and teaching, using activities and questions for reflection. The topics discussed in the book include: • learners’ and teachers’ beliefs about how a language should be learned and taught • learning and working in groups • relationships with others • the role of the self in teaching and learning • motivation to start and persist with tasks • the role of emotions in learning. The authors provide useful insights for the understanding of language learning and discuss the important implications for language teaching pedagogy. Extra resources are available on the website: www.oup.com/elt/teacher/exploringpsychology Marion Williams was formerly Reader in Applied Linguistics at the University of Exeter and is a past president of IATEFL. Sarah Mercer is Professor of Foreign Language Teaching at the University of Graz, Austria. Stephen Ryan is Professor in the School of Economics at Senshu University, Tokyo.
Offering a timely snapshot of current theory and research in the field of psychology in foreign language learning, this book is accessible to both specialists and non-specialists. Each chapter focuses on a different psychological construct and provides an overview of current thinking in the area drawing on insights from educational psychology.
This edited volume brings together large-scale research as well as case studies from a range of geographical contexts and represents a variety of educational settings involving second language learners and users. Its aim is to explore the interrelated issues of psychology and technology use in second language learning settings as well as in more autonomous environments. As language learning professionals continue to devote more time and attention to making various technological tools an integral part of the classroom, it is just as important to understand the influences that these tools have on the psychological state of the learners who use them. In consideration of this objective, the volume examines factors such as learner attitudes and motivation, emotion and behaviour, and the cognitive processes that are at play in the minds of the language users. This volume will be of interest not only to language teachers but also to researchers working in second language acquisition (SLA), applied linguistics, and educational psychology.
This state-of-the-art volume is the first to capture a hybrid discipline that studies the role and linguistic implications of the human mind in language learning and teaching. This Handbook considers individual as well as collective factors in language learners and teachers from an array of new empirical constructs and theoretical perspectives, including implications for practice and “myths, debates, and disagreements” in the field, and points to future directions for research. This collection of stellar contributions is an essential resource for researchers, advanced students, and teachers working in applied linguistics, second language acquisition, psychology, and education.
To date, the majority of work in language learning psychology has focused on the learner. In contrast, relatively little attention has been paid to teacher psychology. This volume seeks to redress the imbalance by bringing together various strands of research into the psychology of language teachers. It consists of 19 contributions on well-established areas of teacher psychology, as well as areas that have only recently begun to be explored. This original collection, which covers a multitude of theoretical and methodological perspectives, makes a significant contribution to the emerging field of language teacher psychology as a domain of inquiry within language education.
