This book proposes an innovative treatment of minority language policies, by looking at them as policy options that can be methodically evaluated. The author applies the analytical concepts and technical tools of policy analysis to guide the reader through a step-by-step application of notions such as effectiveness and cost-effectiveness, with particular reference to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. The thrust of this book is deeply interdisciplinary, and links the evaluation exercise to sociolinguistic, political and legal considerations.
Pedagogical Reflections on Learning Languages in Instructed Settings is intended to provide the latest pedagogical reflections that derive from research in a variety of key areas within the discipline of language learning. Thus, this volume aims at helping practising language teachers to update their teaching methodology.The book has fifteen chapters that are grouped around five sections. The first section of the book includes three chapters, which outline past approaches to language learning and highlight advances in our understanding of how languages are likely to be learned and taught. These three chapters provide the theoretical grounding for the rest of the volume by discussing outstanding concepts in the language learning field, namely: those of eclecticism (Chapter 1), communication (Chapter 2), and learner autonomy (Chapter 3). The second section of the book contains three chapters, which explore new directions in the field that have recently caught the attention of language researchers and practitioners, namely: the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in language learning (Chapter 4) the use of language corpora (Chapter 5) and finally, the use of the portfolio as a new assessment tool responding to new pedagogical demands (Chapter 6). The third section of the book consists of three chapters, which discuss the role of learners' individual variables such as affect (Chapter 7), learning styles (Chapter 8), and learning strategies (Chapter 9), crucial for understanding the nature of language learning. The fourth section of the book has five chapters and provides insights into understanding the nature of the four language skills, that is to say, listening (Chapter 10), speaking (Chapter 11), reading (Chapter 12) and writing (Chapter 13). This section also addresses the issue of assessment with the aim of increasing awareness on the duality teaching/assessing and its pedagogical dimension (Chapter 14). The book concludes with the fifth section, which includes a single chapter, that pulls all aforementioned topics together and highlights connections to a student-centred approach, which involves a reformulation of language teachers' teaching practices (Chapter 15).
The European Conference on e-Learning was established 17 years ago. It has been held in France, Portugal, England, The Netherlands, Greece and Denmark to mention only a few of the countries who have hosted it. ECEL is generally attended by participants from more than 40 countries and attracts an interesting combination of academic scholars, practitioners and individuals who are engaged in various aspects of e-Learning. Among other journals, the Electronic Journal of e-Learning publishes a special edition of the best papers presented at this conference.
This textbook includes all 13 chapters of Français interactif. It accompanies www.laits.utexas.edu/fi, the web-based French program developed and in use at the University of Texas since 2004, and its companion site, Tex's French Grammar (2000) www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/ Français interactif is an open acess site, a free and open multimedia resources, which requires neither password nor fees. Français interactif has been funded and created by Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services at the University of Texas, and is currently supported by COERLL, the Center for Open Educational Resources and Language Learning UT-Austin, and the U.S. Department of Education Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE Grant P116B070251) as an example of the open access initiative.
This book examines the acquisition of requests in English by a seven- year-old Japanese girl during her 17-month residence in Australia. The study focuses on the linguistic repertoire available to the child as she attempts to make requests and vary these to suit different goals and addressees. This book helps unravel features of pragmatic development in the child's interlanguage, a subject about which we yet know very little.
This Framework has been widely adopted in setting curriculum standards, designing courses, developing materials and in assessment and certification. This compendium of case studies is written by authors who have a considerable and varied experience of using the Framework in their professional context. The aim is to help readers develop their understanding of the Framework and its possible uses in different sectors of education.
