The Good Language Learner
The Good Language Learner

Author: Neil Naiman

Publisher: Multilingual Matters

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 9781853593130

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This book is one of the most influential research studies on Second Language Learning ever undertaken. The Good Language Learner addresses key problems for teachers about the strategies that successful learners use, the attitudes they show to the language they are learning, the nature of their most successful experiences and similar issues. It is based on the direct experience of a wide range of learners. It enables us to recognise the combined roles of fluency activity and natural communication on the one hand, and accuracy activity with formal understanding of the language system and the mistakes that one is liable to make as a learner, on the other hand. Few works of empirical analysis in language teaching have had so much influence, and this edition should be an essential component of any teacher's library in local authority centres, schools, teacher education institutions, and the home library of language teachers.

China and English
China and English

Author: Joseph Lo Bianco

Publisher: Multilingual Matters

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 330

ISBN-13: 1847692281

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China has become the world's largest English learning society, and China's decisions in relation to English will directly affect its fortunes into the future. This unique volume explores the prospects of English in relation to the debates on identity and cultural values that mass English teaching in China have stimulated.

Interaction Process and Chinese EFL Learners’ Proficiency Development
Interaction Process and Chinese EFL Learners’ Proficiency Development

Author: Shanshan Gu

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2017-11-01

Total Pages: 161

ISBN-13: 9811068356

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This book provides readers a better understanding of the interaction-learning relationship in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context. It introduces theories on input, output, and learners’ internal mechanisms, and presents the pedagogical implications of how to adapt focus-on-form instruction in Chinese EFL classrooms. As such, it will be of particular interest to those readers who want to explore the relationship between interaction and language acquisition.

Positive Psychology in SLA
Positive Psychology in SLA

Author: Peter D. MacIntyre

Publisher: Multilingual Matters

Published: 2016-04-20

Total Pages: 392

ISBN-13: 1783095377

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Positive psychology is the scientific study of how human beings prosper and thrive. This is the first book in SLA dedicated to theories in positive psychology and their implications for language teaching, learning and communication. Chapters examine the characteristics of individuals, contexts and relationships that facilitate learning: positive emotional states such as love, enjoyment and flow, and character traits such as empathy, hardiness and perseverance. The contributors present several innovative teaching ideas to bring out these characteristics among learners. The collection thus blends new teaching techniques with cutting-edge theory and empirical research undertaken using qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods approaches. It will be of interest to SLA researchers, graduate students, trainee and experienced teachers who wish to learn more about language learning psychology, individual differences, learner characteristics and new classroom practices.

Age and the Acquisition of English as a Foreign Language
Age and the Acquisition of English as a Foreign Language

Author: María del Pilar García Mayo

Publisher: Multilingual Matters

Published: 2003-05-21

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 1788920384

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This book provides an overview of current research on the age factor in foreign language learning, addressing issues, which are critical for language planning. It presents new research on foreign language learning within bilingual communities in formal instruction settings focussing on syntax, phonology, writing, oral skills and learning strategies.

Understanding Second Language Acquisition
Understanding Second Language Acquisition

Author: Lourdes Ortega

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-02-04

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 144411705X

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Whether we grow up with one, two, or several languages during our early years of life, many of us will learn a second, foreign, or heritage language in later years. The field of Second language acquisition (SLA, for short) investigates the human capacity to learn additional languages in late childhood, adolescence, or adulthood, after the first language --in the case of monolinguals-- or languages --in the case of bilinguals-- have already been acquired. Understanding Second Language Acquisition offers a wide-encompassing survey of this burgeoning field, its accumulated findings and proposed theories, its developed research paradigms, and its pending questions for the future. The book zooms in and out of universal, individual, and social forces, in each case evaluating the research findings that have been generated across diverse naturalistic and formal contexts for second language acquisition. It assumes no background in SLA and provides helpful chapter-by-chapter summaries and suggestions for further reading. Ideal as a textbook for students of applied linguistics, foreign language education, TESOL, and education, it is also recommended for students of linguistics, developmental psycholinguistics, psychology, and cognitive science. Supporting resources for tutors are available free at www.routledge.com/ortega.

Measuring Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition
Measuring Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition

Author: James Milton

Publisher: Multilingual Matters

Published: 2009-10-06

Total Pages: 287

ISBN-13: 1847693784

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Measuring Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition provides an examination of the background to testing vocabulary knowledge in a second language and in particular considers the effect that word frequency and lexical coverage have on learning and communication in a foreign language. It examines the tools we have for assessing the various facets of vocabulary knowledge such as aural and written word recognition, the link with word meaning, and vocabulary depth. These are illustrated and the scores they produce are demonstrated to provide normative data. Vocabulary acquisition from course books and in the classroom in examined, as is vocabulary uptake from informal tasks. This book ties scores on tests of vocabulary breadth to performance on standard foreign language examinations and on hierarchies of communicative performance such as the CEFR.

East Asian Perspectives on Silence in English Language Education
East Asian Perspectives on Silence in English Language Education

Author: Jim King

Publisher: Multilingual Matters

Published: 2020-06-22

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 1788926781

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Silence is a key pedagogical issue in language education. Seen by some as a space for thinking and reflection during the learning process, for others silence represents a threat, inhibiting target language interaction which is so vital during second language acquisition. This book eschews stereotypes and generalisations about why so many learners from East Asia seem either reluctant or unable to speak in English by providing a state-of-the art account of current research into the complex and ambiguous issue of silence in language education. The innovative research included in this volume focuses on silence both as a barrier to successful learning and as a resource that may in some cases facilitate language acquisition. The book offers a fresh perspective on ways to facilitate classroom interaction while also embracing silence and it touches on key pedagogical concepts such as teacher cognition, the role of task features, classroom interactional approaches, pedagogical intervention and socialisation, willingness to communicate, as well as psychological and sociocultural factors. Each of the book’s chapters include self-reflection and discussion tasks, as well as annotated bibliographies for further reading.