This book brings together current thinking on informal language learning and the findings of over 30 years of research on captions (same language subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing) to present a new model of language learning from captioned viewing and a future roadmap for research and practice in this field. Language learners may have normal hearing but they are ‘hard-of-listening’ and find it difficult to follow the rapid or unclear speech in many films and TV programmes. Vanderp...

This edited volume explores how digital games have the potential to engage learners both within and outside the classroom and to encourage interaction in the target language. This is the first dedicated collection of papers to bring together state-of-the-art research in game-based learning.

This book examines the crucial role that sound file selection plays in assessing listening ability and introduces the reader to the procedure of textmapping, which explores how to exploit a sound file. The book discusses the role of the task identifier, the task instructions and the example, and analyses the strengths and weaknesses of different test methods. Guidelines for developing listening items, and procedures that can be used in peer review and task revision are also provided. A ran...

This book explores the use of mobile devices for teaching and learning language and literacies, investigating the ways in which these technologies open up new educational possibilities. Pegrum builds up a rich picture of contemporary mobile learning and outlines of likely future developments.

Implementing and Researching Technological Innovation in Language Teaching takes a case study approach to investigate the integration of the interactive whiteboard (IWB) into the teaching of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in French schools. The study highlights the advantages of collaborative action research for stimulating and supporting language teachers in innovative experimentation, and seeks to enhance our understanding of the challenges and opportunities inherent in this process...

Study abroad is now both an international industry and an experience that can have a deep impact on students' attitudes and approaches to second language learning. Narratives of Second Language Identity in Study Abroad brings together three important research areas by exploring the impact of study abroad on second language identities through narrative research. It outlines a new model of second language identity that incorporates a range of language and personal competencies. The three mai...

This book is a comparative study of vague language based on naturally occurring data of L1 and L2 speakers in academic settings. It explores how L2 learners have diverse and culturally specific needs for vague language compared with L1s, and are generally vaguer.

This book analyses oral proficiency interviews, a mainstay of second language speaking proficiency assessment for several decades. Adopting a mixed-method perspective involving micro-analytic approaches, discourse analysis and quantitative methods such as multi-level modeling and event history analysis, the author focuses on interaction and discourse processes common in language assessment interviews. This innovative book will appeal to students and scholars of language assessment, convers...

This book updates the latest research in the field of 'English pronunciation', providing readers with a number of original contributions that represent trends in the field. Topics include sociophonetic or sound-symbolic aspects of pronunciation English pronunciation teaching and learning.

Advocating an argument-based approach, Blended Language Program Evaluation presents a framework for planning, conducting, and appraising evaluation of blended language learning across three institutional levels, and demonstrates its utility and application in four case studies carried out in diverse international contexts.

This collection focuses on Chinese learners with original data sets using innovative research methods. It investigates Chinese learners' learning and language skills, perceptions and particularly the processes of reciprocal intercultural adaptations in a wide international context of Australia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, New Zealand and the UK.

Social networking is now one of the ways in which anyone can set out to learn or improve their language skills. This collection brings together different sets of learning experiences and shows that success depends on the wider environment of the learner, the kind of activity the learner engages in and the type of learning priorities he or she has.