Foreign Language Pedagogy

This article dwells on the opposing alignments that can be found in the literature on the Linguistic Interdependence (LIH) and Linguistic Threshold (LTH) hypotheses, in the field of second language acquisition and foreign language education. First, the prevailing, orthodox rendition of these two concepts is examined briefly, together with its theoretical and practical consequences. After this, the most distinctive characteristic of Jim Cummins’s alternative framework is described, i.e., its emphasis on the pedagogical dimension and on its impact on cross-language transfer. According to this view, the quality and nature of the exposure to L2 (not time-exposure or student L2 level) would be the most significant factor vis-à-vis the degree of language transfer generated. This pedagogical dimension is explained in terms of three different levels of analysis, and two concrete studies are described, as experimental evidence. In the last section, a Pedagogical Threshold Hypothesis is finally presented as a logical development of the ideas exposed.

The article discusses an application, within the sphere of foreign language pedagogy, of one of the psychological mechanisms omnipresent in language – construal (Langacker 2008: 4-5, Tomasello 2003: 13). In the fi rst part, the article takes up two major issues: a more detailed characterization of the construal aspects in question: profi le
and base, as well as the problems often encountered in pedagogical grammar while referring to the uses of one of the English tenses – Present Perfect: the number of uses, the manner of defi ning them, and the level of schematicity at which the description should take place. The second part of the article is devoted to an analysis of the uses of Present Perfect by means of the presented Cognitive Grammar tools. In the conclusions this analysis is reviewed from the perspective of the above-mentioned problems and some pedagogical implications fl owing from the model proposed by the author are discussed.

There has been a consensus among scholars that the very foundations of cognitive linguistics (CL) make it well suited for shedding light on second language acquisition (SLA). The usage-based principle lies at the heart of the connection between CL and SLA. In order to explain the impact of CL on SLA research and language pedagogy, this chapter first discusses the key tenets of CL and their implications for SLA, and then moves to the usage-based theory of language acquisition, followed by a review of CL inspired approach to L2 instruction, and finally  concludes with suggestions for future research.

Complete book, free, but under copyright and not to be sold. 200 idioms from DBG (Caesar's De Bello Gallico) are presented along with the original Latin context and the translation of that passage. This book can be used at all levels of Latin instruction as an inexpensive additional textbook or as a device for testing and expanding one's understanding of the language. It serves as an excellent refresher for former Latin students. Published at Academia.edu, February 8, 2021. It has also been incorporated as an appendix to Caesar Phrasebook, available at https://www.amazon.com/Caesar-Phrasebook-Claude-Pavur-ebook/dp/B00GT0ZOO2/ . The Kindle format puts each contextualized idiom on its own page, with the translation immediately available with a button press or page swipe.

Over the decades of language study and teaching linguists and scholars have come up with communicative competence (CC) theory. Currently, intercultural competence, a complementary subcategory of CC has been prioritized by a myriad of studies. Striving to replicate the previous findings of Sercu et al (2005), and observing the effects of intercultural awareness among Iranian EFL teachers on language pedagogy, the following steps were taken: a. Checking the teachers' intercultural awareness via a questionnaire by Sercu (ibid), b. Holding an intercultural workshop teaching 12 rules of it advocated by Byram (2000) and observing the manipulation of intercultural techniques, finally, c. pretesting and post testing the experimental and the control group. It is found that raising intercultural awareness amid Iranian EFL teachers had paramount effect on the learners' intercultural competence.

Cite as: Matsuo C. (2015). A dialogic critique of Michael Byram’s Intercultural
Communicative Competence Model: Proposal for a dialogic pedagogy. In N. Tomimori (Ed.), Comprehensive study on language education methods and cross-linguistic proficiency evaluation methods for Asian languages: Final report 2014. (Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) (pp. 3-22). Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.

Abstract
This paper extends a previous critique (Matsuo, 2012a) of Michael Byram’s Intercultural Communicative Competence, or ICC, model (1997; 2009) through a more elaborated and
sustained use of Mikhail Bakhtin’s dialogic theory of human life and language. The principal aim is to use the critique to propose a foreign language education pedagogical framework
based on dialogue, where the principle and use of dialogue organically and ethically builds
active and deep communicative capacities and intercultural competence. I am proposing that
dialogic pedagogy replace Communicative Language Teaching, or CLT, in Japan, because
CLT’s structural linguistic basis means it cannot be taught communicatively and therefore
develops only passive understanding of English in Japanese learners. Throughout this paper,
my priority is to try to do what Bakhtin urged, which is to bring theory into communion with
lived experience. Thus, as I lay out the theoretical and practical framework, I strive to keep in
the forefront a teacher’s experience of practical reasoning in a classroom of fellow
autonomous speaking subjects. In this paper, I am thinking as a teacher: I use dialogic theory
because Bakhtin’s writings provide a hermeneutics (Pellizzi, 2011) and create an exigence for
intensely merging thought and theory into the performed, ethical, participative act of teaching
(Matsuo, 2012b).

ABSTRACT
This study has examined the pedagogical role of WhatsApp as one of mobile-assisted language learning applications in developing motivational levels of Yemeni EFL learners to develop reading and writing skills. Twenty EFL undergraduate students of Aden University joined a WhatsApp English-medium chat group where they chatted, shared and commented on news articles in English for two months. Participants also took a pre-test and a post-test and responded to a questionnaire at the end of the study. Findings revealed that WhatsApp was a very effective application in developing students‟ motivation to improve their reading and writing skills. It helped them develop vocabulary, grammar, reading comprehension and writing. The study also revealed that WhatsApp was positively perceived by students as a pedagogical tool for their learning of English. The study concluded that WhatsApp English-medium groups provide students with opportunities for practising a natural language, especially in written communication, outside the classroom and motivate them to learn mutually. The study, therefore, recommends EFL teachers to utilize WhatsApp as a pedagogical technique and to encourage their students to create and join WhatsApp English-medium groups for natural interactions and contextualized language use that cannot be easily provided in traditional classrooms.

"Libro  "El pasado en el presente. Desplazamientos, cine y literatura" de Paula Rodríguez Marino fue editado por Prometeo entre sus novedades del año 2013.

Está conformado por  tres partes: "Nación, alteridad y tránsitos", "Posiciones en conflicto" y " La memoria airada" que reúnen  escritos sobre algunos exilios argentinos, memoria y representaciones cinematográficas de las consecuencias del Terrorismo de Estado.

Prólogo de Alejandra Szir

Gracias a  Leticia Alonso Castro y Nicolás Belinco.

http://www.prometeolibros.com.ar/MainSite/Libro/pasado-en-el-presente-el-desplazamientos-cine-llteratura//IdLibro450177"

Her Şey Bir Merhaba ile Başlar, https://www.coerll.utexas.edu/coerll/projects/merhaba, is a media-rich Open Educational Resource developed by Dr. Jeannette Okur at the University of Texas at Austin. It was funded and created by the UT Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services and is currently supported by the Center for Open Educational Resources and Language Learning (COERLL) http://coerll.utexas.edu and the U.S. Department of Education (Title VI grant #P229A180003).

The textbook and public H5P-Wordpress site comprise an openly licensed curriculum focused on developing Intercultural Communicative Competence. The four units invite learners to engage with culturally rich print, audio and video texts and use the target language to investigate, explain and reflect on the relationship between contemporary Turks’ socio-cultural practices, products and perspectives. Each unit addresses a different aspect of society: family, love and marriage, the environment, and art and politics, and contains the following components:

- contextualized grammar lessons,
- videos of Turks speaking about their lives and their country,
- activities that hone language skills while raising awareness about contemporary Turkish society,
- interactive, auto-correct exercises that facilitate learners’ acquisition of vocabulary and syntax structures.

The Her Şey Bir Merhaba ile Başlar textbook is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. It is now downloadable for free in PDF or adaptable Google Docs format and is also available for purchase as a print-on-demand book from Lulu.com and Amazon.com. The accompanying interactive H5P-Wordpress site will be launching later in Summer 2021.

The article discusses an application, within the sphere of foreign language pedagogy, of one of the psychological mechanisms omnipresent in language – construal (Langacker 2008: 4-5, Tomasello 2003: 13). In the fi rst part, the article takes up two major issues: a more detailed characterization of the construal aspects in question: profi le and base, as well as the problems often encountered in pedagogical grammar while referring to the uses of one of the English tenses – Present Perfect: the number of uses, the manner of defi ning them, and the level of schematicity at which the description should take place. The second part of the article is devoted to an analysis of the uses of Present Perfect by means of the presented Cognitive Grammar tools. In the conclusions this analysis is reviewed from the perspective of the above-mentioned problems and some pedagogical implications fl owing from the model proposed by the author are discussed.

This paper presents two case studies of initial teacher education
(ITE) electives available to Bachelor of Education (BEd)
students in Mary Immaculate College, Limerick. Both case
studies strive to promote intercultural awareness in different ways, and this paper will explore how these electives integrated information and communication technology (ICT) into the presentation and assessment of the courses, as well as the implications for practice as advertised to the students.

Thoughts on writing language textbooks and on the publishing process for a junior scholar, as well as a description specifically of the work that results in The Cambridge Introduction to Sanskrit. This appeared in The Sanskrit Review 8 (13-18), a journal that focuses on Sanskrit teaching initiatives worldwide and is aimed at a non-specialist audience.

This paper explores a corpus-informed approach to teaching of the modal and semi-modal of necessity and obligation, must and have to, according to their variations found across the spoken and academic registers. The Corpus of Contemporary American English (Davies, 2008) was used for researching this variation in use in order to create more descriptive grammar lessons and practice for Dutch students in English as a Foreign Language classroom and individuals from various countries and language backgrounds in an English as a Second Language context allowing students to obtain a more native-like use of the aforementioned modal and semi-modal. The instructional plans contained herein are designed for use in EFL classrooms at the intermediate level as well as ESL students ranging from low intermediate level to low advanced.

We have grown accustomed to perceiving the arts and language as very different kinds of engagements: the arts are transgressive, future-oriented, global, and creative; while language-study is structured, rule-based, and oriented towards the past and the nation. Pushing against these binaries, this advanced Italian language course approaches language and design as analogous processes. Tracing how the coordinates of space and time are reconfigured in a series of four historically-positioned case studies, students are introduced to synchronic and diachronic dimensions of language and are led to experience some of the manifold ways that languages both embody convention and generate innovation.

Previous literature on higher education suggests the inclusion of pedagogy that is linguistically and culturally inclusive in settings with increasing multilingualism, which is the case in Canada. Yet, little is known as to how the implementation of such pedagogy can take place, particularly in language programs. This article reports a researcher-instructor collaboration that aimed at implementing plurilingual practices, such as translanguaging, plurilingual identity, comparons nos langues, and intercomprehension over 4 months in an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) program at a university in Toronto, Canada. Seven EAP instructors collaborated with a researcher to implement weekly plurilingual tasks: They conducted an environment analysis, examined the logistics of implementation, and collaboratively examined the tasks. The article presents the process of implementation of the plurilingual tasks and proposes a framework for collaboration with four key elements: administrative supp...

A qualitative analysis of 26 beginning L2 learners’ structured reflections written in a first-semester collegiate German course investigates connections students make between their learning of German and experiences beyond the course. Drawing on the World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages (NSFLEP, 2015) to inform the nature of connection-making reported in the students’ journals, the study shows that learners displayed personally meaningful connections that align well to Communities and Connections—goal areas that have received little attention in research and professional dialogues (ACTFL, 2011; Troyan, 2012). Additionally, students showed a deepened understanding of themselves in relationship to the course content. The article concludes with discussion concerning the role of reflection in supporting Standards-based pedagogies.

Mohammad Mohammadi Department of English Language and Literature, Urmia University Iran ABSTRACT Over the decades of language study and teaching linguists and scholars have come up with communicative competence (CC) theory. Currently, intercultural competence, a complementary subcategory of CC has been prioritized by a myriad of studies. Striving to replicate the previous findings of Sercu et al (2005), and observing the effects of intercultural awareness among Iranian EFL teachers on language pedagogy, the following steps were taken: a. Checking the teachers’ intercultural awareness via a questionnaire by Sercu (ibid), b. Holding an intercultural workshop teaching 12 rules of it advocated by Byram (2000) and observing the manipulation of intercultural techniques, finally, c. pretesting and post testing the experimental and the control group. It is found that raising intercultural awareness amid Iranian EFL teachers had paramount effect on the learners’ intercultural competence.

This article presents a brief overview of the state of university language education in the United States. Despite the impact of the world economic crisis on university language education in the United States, the profession has not yet been impacted to the extent many believe it has. Current scholarly debates allow for both a sober assessment of and an optimistic perspective on the field's trajectory in recent years. A brief summary is offered of recent enrollments in university courses in languages other than English, which shows that enrollments have indeed remained stable, though even these stable numbers point toward shortcomings in the place of language education in academia overall. The key points of the 2007 Modern Language Association Ad Hoc Committee Report, 'Foreign languages and higher education: New structures for a changed world', are then presented, along with some scholarly responses to it. The report, and especially the academic debate it sparked, point toward a period of transformation in university language education; an increased attention to crucial links between theory, curriculum, research, and pedagogical practice; and an encouraging mood of advocacy for language education that transcends the defensive response to program reductions and eliminations.

The gap between authenticity in language testing and use of language in real life situations has been high on the debate agenda for a number of decades. This study presents findings which support that agenda by focusing on how wide that gap really is today, following on the query by Ingram, in his 2003 report.
The research was carried out on 38 adults, all of whom have a minimum threshold level (B1) of English, however, the majority were above vantage (B2) level. 26 of the respondents were non-native English speakers, with 12 being native English speakers (both British and American). All respondents are currently living or working in English speaking environments, both in Hungary and abroad.
For the purpose of this study the City and Guilds International ESOL Language Examination at Vantage level was used as an example representative of language exams offered in Hungary. (Since writing this paper City and Guilds have now withdrawn the exam from the European market) A questionnaire was designed, based on the task types of the example exam and this was disseminated, online to the respondents.
Results of the feedback questionnaires were measured on a nominal scale by being mapped against the construct and task types of the aforementioned examination.  Those tasks scoring the highest, in terms of frequency of use, were considered to be the most authentic.
In conclusion, authenticity in task types, which elicit language to be used in everyday situations is on the rise today, narrowing the gap between the language elicited during language exams and that used in real life.
It is considered that further studies are required in order to measure whether authenticity is valued by Hungarian test takers and whether B2level (as set as the benchmark level by the Hungarian government for receiving Further and Higher education qualifications (Law CCIV/2011) language exams really do prepare test takers for living and working in English speaking environments.

This article presents a theoretically-based descriptive analysis of the universal quantifier cada in Brazilian Portuguese (BP) and a brief comparative analysis between cada in BP and Spanish. It advocates for the use of methodologies from descriptive and contrastive linguistics as a resource for second language (L2) teachers in the development of language teacher awareness and defends the importance of L2 grammar literacy for the delivery of effective L2 instructional practices.

ELT methods have been criticized for being limited and inadequate. Postmethod pedagogy has been offered as an alternate to these methods. The postmethod pedagogy emphasises localization of pedagogy and celebrates local culture, teachers and knowledge. Localizing pedagogy is easy for local teachers as knowledge and understanding of the local comes to them by instinct but may not be so for foreign teachers working in these local communities. However, it is also a fact that in the wake of globalization and internationalization, teachers are moving not only across geographical borders but also across cultural and social borders and to teach effectively, they need to localize their pedagogy. How do teachers localize their pedagogy in a foreign society? There is not much research on the phenomenon. The current qualitative research tries to bridge this gap. The research explored what aspects of the local are valued by expatriate teachers for particularizing their pedagogy; how this knowledge of the particular is translated into practice and to what extent it helps in socially and culturally empowering their students. The findings of the research are expected to help foreign teachers localize their pedagogy, and may also be helpful in designing orientation, integration and professional development courses for expatriate teachers.

https://escholarship.org/uc/uccllt_l2/callforpapers

Deadline for submitting abstracts: May 1, 2019
Deadline for submitting manuscripts: November 18, 2019

This Special Issue invites contributions that engage in theoretical, conceptual and/or classroom-based discussions and analyses that involve Critical Pedagogy in language teaching and learning, language teacher education and attempt to address the following questions:
o What concepts/constructs can be drawn from the Critical Pedagogy theoretical framework of 1980s, 1990s and beyond for second language pedagogies? What are the limitations of this framework and how can they be addressed?
o How can we move beyond a reductionistic appropriation of critical pedagogy theory as simply a “critical approach” to language teaching or “critical language awareness” to a meaningful and transformative theoretical framework for language teaching? How can Critical Pedagogy inform FL pedagogy? What would it mean to use a Critical Pedagogy theoretical framework to understand teaching and learning language?
o How might a language pedagogy of Praxis as the dialogical relationship between critical reflection and action look like? How can we develop language teacher education approaches that would foster praxis?
o What would it mean to ground our language pedagogies, especially those for oppressed and marginalized groups, on the premise that pedagogy is disruptive and its goal is not simply social change but also sociopolitical transformation?
o If culture is understood as a site of struggle and a sphere for language pedagogy, what are the implications for language teaching?
o How can issues of teacher and student agency be addressed in the context of language learning as production of specific knowledge, values, identities, and desires?
o How can we theorize language teaching in a way that connects pedagogical practices with larger structural analyses of the society?
o What kinds of knowledges are legitimized in the foreign language classroom? What are some of the underlying ideologies shaping those pedagogies? How might inequalities be produced and reproduced? How can the Western-centered focus be challenged and ultimately, changed?
o How are language and language teaching and learning redefined in the current sociopolitical context in the United States and around the world? How might current politics have pushed linguists and language educators to rethink critical pedagogy in their methodologies, approaches, agendas and pedagogies? What spaces have opened up for new pedagogies?
o How could new settings of critical pedagogy be explored in the context of “public pedagogy”? Can the foreign language classroom become a site for social change where teachers and students can examine and challenge societal and cultural norms and practices?

Online assessment tools have become a powerful tool in gauging students' abilities in listening, speaking, reading, and writing in foreign languages. These tools are useful in assessing more than skills that are being honed in online and hybrid courses. For traditional courses, student on-line assessment can be used as powerful tools to spark active participation in face-to-face discussion in foreign language culture class (and others). These tools also allow the students to see where their own efforts have progressed to BEFORE entering the classroom, which assist
students adjust study habits in order to improve performance in front of peers. Online assessment in traditional courses can also assist the transition from traditional to more media based competency for foreign language professors slow to adapt to newer teaching techniques and can help bridge the digital divide in FLL classrooms.

The challenge posed to foreign language (FL) education by globalization and by the multilingual multicultural speech communities it has spawned is showcased by the current crisis in the teaching of German at American colleges and universities. It is not clear why American learners of German should be learning German: for business purposes, for general education, for humanistic enrichment, or for cross-cultural communication? The debate currently going on in Germany around the concept of education or Bildung is a lens through which to understand the debates going on in American German departments and the general crisis of FL education in this country. Rather than prepare students to communicate with members of idealized homogeneous monolingual speech communities, we should frame FL education as an education in reflexivity on the indexical, subjective and historical dimensions of discourse at all levels of the curriculum.

This study takes a positive psychology approach to the integration of technology in the foreign language classroom. Specifically, it explores the benefits of using flow criteria (Czimmerman & Piniel, 2016; Egbert, 2003) to guide the design sequence of a technology-mediated project for a
French for business course (advanced level). In the course of six weeks, twenty students progressed through several collaborative and individual tasks culminating in the co-construction and presentation of a website designed to introduce a new company and product. The analysis of
their reflection essays, produced at the conclusion of the project, shows that clear objectives, interest, time to explore, sense of control, and being pushed out of their comfort zone to address various challenges they encountered led to a meaningful experience. Experiencing positive
emotions in relation to achievement and creativity was transformative leading them to build confidence, resilience, language skills and strategies, and plan for their future learning path. The findings suggest that fruitful integration of technology should not be judged solely on its effect
on linguistic development but also on its potential to generate positive emotions to support engagement in foreign language learning.

Advanced grammar instruction in collegiate foreign language (FL) departments typically consists of a foundational review of the grammatical canon, often relying on an advanced grammar textbook that both reviews and expands the traditional paradigms studied in lower-level instruction.  Holding firm to the belief that reviewing these paradigms yet again will finally result in the mastery long considered necessary for upper-level study, this approach nevertheless fails to take into account the (con)textual nature of language use that permeates all levels of language use and that inherently requires grammar to be inextricably linked to meaning, form to function.  This paper addresses this lack of textuality in upper-level grammar instruction by presenting how formal language development at the advanced level in one departmental context is treated from a genre-based perspective in that the specific language features inherent to particular genres considered appropriate for advanced language instruction provide the basis for developing students’ formal accuracy.  Specifically, this approach adheres to the belief that the development of advanced language abilities proceeds along a continuum that moves from the narrative, verbal-oriented language use emphasized at the lower levels to more argumentative, nominal-dominated forms of expression.  As a result, this narrative-argumentative continuum serves as the basis for selecting and sequencing genres across the curriculum.  This paper will focus on one upper-level course that was recently redesigned with this continuum in mind and that used the genres selected for the course as blueprints for the students to follow into more linguistically advanced forms of expression.  Handouts will include course syllabus, didacticized materials, and sample student work.

ABSTRACT This study presents the results of four experiments in the framework of processing instruction conducted with four language learner groups (Spanish, n = 43; German, n = 46; Russian, n = 44; and French, n = 48; discussed in that order). In each experiment, the processing problem was held constant (the First-Noun Principle) although the structure was unique to the language. The independent variables were explicit information prior to treatment and grammatical sensitivity as measured by the Modern Language Aptitude Test. Two dependent measures were included: (a) trials-to-criterion (how long it took participants to begin processing correctly) and (b) improvement over time (pretest/posttest). Results show that explicit information may be useful for the processing of some structures but not others; however, explicit information is not necessary. Results also show that grammatical sensitivity does not significantly correlate with any of the measures under any conditions except for the German group that received explicit information. Our conclusion is that when instructed SLA is viewed as processing, variables such as explicit information and grammatical sensitivity may not play the same role as when instructed SLA is viewed as rule learning.

This study has examined the pedagogical role of WhatsApp as one of mobile-assisted language learning applications in developing motivational levels of Yemeni EFL learners to develop reading and writing skills. Twenty EFL undergraduate students of Aden University joined a WhatsApp English-medium chat group where they chatted, shared and commented on news articles in English for two months. Participants also took a pre-test and a post-test and responded to a questionnaire at the end of the study. Findings revealed that WhatsApp was a very effective application in developing students‟ motivation to improve their reading and writing skills. It helped them develop vocabulary, grammar, reading comprehension and writing. The study also revealed that WhatsApp was positively perceived by students as a pedagogical tool for their learning of English. The study concluded that WhatsApp English-medium groups provide students with opportunities for practising a natural language, especially in writ...

This paper reports on changes observed in university students’ attitudes toward tablet computers as tools for teaching English as a foreign language. For the duration of one university semester, the researcher provided tablet computers to 38 students studying to become English teachers. Questionnaires were conducted to measure participants’ feelings about such devices as tools for teaching and learning a foreign language, gaining both quantitative and qualitative data for analysis. Results indicate that after using the tablet computers to give presentations and conduct model lessons for 15 weeks, the students could see the benefits of such tools as teaching aids. However, no statistically significant differences were measured in attitudes toward the tablets as a tool for learning foreign languages. It is suggested that the use of tablet computers is beneficial for training prospective teachers in order to reduce their anxiety regarding the use of these tools for educational purposes.

In this paper the author outlines a sample lesson that has been developed for second- or third-year German students using the short satirical vignette "Hurra, ich lebe in Deutschland" from the Turkish-German author Şinasi Dikmen's book of the same name. The lesson draws heavily from literary pragmatics, an area of applied linguistics which studies the relationships between literary language use and its users, and which can promote the awareness of language as culture needed in the more advanced levels of language study.