Foreign language teaching is social interaction, subject to the influences and forces of the societies in which it takes place. This text argues that geo-political changes have an effect on language teachers in their beliefs about their work and in the everyday methods they use in their classrooms. Based on empirical research in Denmark and England, the book explores the effects of major contemporary changes as they are perceived and understood by language teachers.
Learn to speak French like a native with this essential guide Now you can teach yourself how to speak, write, and read French in just 15 easy-to-follow lessons. Perfect for students, travelers, and Francophiles, this new and revised edition of French: A Self-Teaching Guide helps you master the language at your own pace by taking the mystery out of grammar, common usage, and pronunciation with updated lessons and plenty of self-tests. Focusing on the most frequently used words in the language, this fascinating volume shows you how to enrich your French vocabulary by over 2,000 words--without having to resort to monotonous memorization exercises.More than just a language guide, French: A Self-Teaching Guide provides intriguing information on French culture, local customs, and current trends. It also features a special computer section, which includes a drawing of computer parts accompanied by their names--in French and English. Packed with review tests to measure progress, special drills to reinforce new material, and exercises to help you practice your newfound skills, this is the ideal companion for anyone who has ever wanted to learn French--or brush up on their skills--the easy way.
This book investigates whether and to what extent foreign language textbooks can contribute to promoting adolescent pupils' acquisition of intercultural communicative competence. It gives a full scientific account of a research project carried out amongst Flemish learners of German. The focus of the research was on the relationships between the culture teaching approaches adopted in textbooks and the pupils' learning of culture. Although the sub-title refers to a particular group of pupils learning a particular language, the study has more general bearing and constitutes a substantial contribution to the literature, and in particular empirical research, on the development of intercultural competence in and through foreign language education.The composition of the volume reflects the affective, cognitive and contact dimensions of the culture learning process. It also gives space to the theoretical platform on which the research was built, and to the research methodology adopted. Chapter 1 sets out to contextualise and define the research topic. It clarifies the study's position within the field of culture-and-language learning-and-teaching theory, practice and research. It also situates the investigation into the specific context of teaching and learning foreign languages-and-cultures in Flanders. In chapter 2 the theoretical framework informing the study is developed. Chapter 3 provides an overview of the techniques of data collection and analysis employed, of the kinds of data collected, and of the chronology of data collection. Chapters 4, 5 and 6 provide an interpretative description and analysis of the investigation's key concepts. Chapters 4 and 5 focus on the pupils' culture learning processes and analyse relationships between attitude, contact and perception data. In chapter 6 the culture teaching approaches adopted in the investigated textbook series are described and evaluated with regard to their potential for promoting the pupils' learning of culture. Chapter 7, finally, provides a summary overview of the study's main findings and presents the main conclusions that can be drawn from the evidence presented in earlier chapters. It estimates the value of the study's research methodology and theoretical framework. It also reflects on how the research findings can find application and implementation.
