Interaction In The Language Curriculum

Interaction in the Language Curriculum offers an innovative theory of language education integrating curriculum practice, research and teaching. It emphasises the interdependence of knowledge and values and stresses the central importance of learning as a social process. Leo van Lier argues that moral as well as intellectual and practical principles must underlie curriculum development and everyday teaching, captured in his triple focus on Awareness, Autonomy, and Authenticity. In addition to its rich grounding in language education practice, the book draws support for his position from diverse sources in sociology, philosophy and cognitive science, from the work of Bourdieu, Giddens, Wittgenstein, Peirce, Vygotsky, Bakhtin, and Dewey. In the current broadening context of language education this study makes an important contribution to research. It presents a coherent philosophical theory as well as considering practical issues in implementation of a new language curriculum. As such, it will be of great benefit to teachers, applied linguists and educationalists generally.

This book explores how using small groups in second language classrooms supports language learning. Chappell's experience as a language teacher equips him to present a clear, evidence-based argument for the powerful influence group work has upon the opportunities for learning, and how it should therefore be an integral part of language lessons.

This book applies social theory to curriculum design and sets out a program for language curriculum renewal for the 21st Century. It includes many examples of text-based curricula and describes a plan for curriculum renewal based on these texts as the unit of analysis for planning, for teaching and for assessment. Underpinned by Halliday’s semiotic theory of language, the book combines the theory of language as a resource for meaning-making with learning language as learning to mean. The curriculum design constructs curriculum around social practices and their texts rather than presenting language as grammatical and lexical objects. This work will provide teachers, teacher educators and curriculum planners with a curriculum model for teaching children and adults in different contexts from preschool to adult education as well as serving as a practical guide for students.

This book offers a comprehensive overview of the changes in foreign language teachers' cognition and practices during a four-year innovation project at a Chinese secondary school, and explores the factors that influenced the trajectory of those changes. It makes a substantial contribution to research on educational change by offering a longitudinal observation of the facts and voices in EFL settings in China; as such, the book offers a valuable resource for scholars, teacher educators, teachers, and others interested in initiating, managing and evaluating innovations in EFL classrooms.

Language addressed to children, or 'Baby Talk', became the subject of research interest thirty years ago. Since then, the linguistic environment of infants and toddlers has been widely studied. Input and Interaction in Language Acquisition is an up-to-date statement of the facts and controversies surrounding 'Baby Talk', its nature and likely effects. With contributions from leading linguists and psychologists, it explores language acquisition in different cultures and family contexts, in typical and atypical learners, and in second and foreign language learners. It is designed as a sequel to the now famous Talking to Children, edited by Catherine Snow and Charles Ferguson, and Professor Snow here provides an introduction, comparing issues of importance in the field today with the previous concerns of researchers.

Case studies are a powerful pedagogical tool for illuminating constructs and models in real-life contexts. Covering a wide range of teaching-learning contexts and offering in-depth analyses of ESL/ELT language curriculum design issues, this casebook is distinctive and unique in that each case draws on and is clearly linked to a single model presented in Nation and Macalister’s Language Curriculum Design (www.routledge.com/9780415806060), giving the book a high degree of coherence. A short commentary by the editors after each case highlights features of note and/or issues arising from it. This is a versatile text, designed to work as a companion to Language Curriculum Design (adding meaning and depth to the model presented there by relating it to a range of applications), as a stand-alone text, or as a resource for language teacher trainees, teacher educators, practicing teachers, program administrators, and materials writers in the field.