Language Teacher Wellbeing Across The Career Span

This book explores language teacher wellbeing across the career span from an ecological perspective. It reports on empirical findings from an extensive investigation into language teacher wellbeing in various social, cultural and linguistic contexts. It is unique in casting light on the professional trajectory of language teachers and opening up discussions on the characteristics, psychological needs and strengths of language teachers at different points in their careers. It examines wellbeing in terms of the dynamic interplay between the challenges individuals encounter in their personal and professional lives, and the psychological, social and contextual resources that they draw on to buffer the impact of these challenges. The findings of the study will help readers to understand how language teachers can protect and nurture their wellbeing, not only to remain in the profession, but also to thrive in the long-term. The book will be a valuable resource for anyone interested in the lives, wellbeing and psychology of language teachers in diverse contexts and career phases.

This book is the first edited international volume focused on critical perspectives on plurilingualism in deaf education, which encompasses education in and out of schools and across the lifespan. The book provides a critical overview and snapshot of the use of sign languages in education for deaf children today and explores contemporary issues in education for deaf children such as bimodal bilingualism, translanguaging, teacher education, sign language interpreting and parent sign language learning. The research presented in this book marks a significant development in understanding deaf children's language use and provides insights into the flexibility and pragmatism of young deaf people and their families’ communicative practices. It incorporates the views of young deaf people and their parents regarding their language use that are rarely visible in the research to date.

This book demonstrates how resources taken from positive psychology can benefit both teachers and learners. Positive psychology is the empirical study of how people thrive and flourish. This book explores a range of topics, such as affectivity and positive emotions, engagement, enjoyment, empathy, positive institutions, a positive L2 self-system, as well as newly added Positive Language Education. Some papers in this collection introduce new topics such as the role of positive psychology in international higher education, a framework for understanding language teacher well-being from an ecological perspective, or positive institutional policies in language education contexts.

This book contributes to our growing understanding of the nature and development of language learner self-concept. It assesses the relevant literature in the disciplines of psychology and applied linguistics and describes in-depth, qualitative research examining the self-concepts of tertiary-level EFL learners. Although researchers in applied linguistics and SLA have recognized the importance of self-constructs, there remains little empirical work in the context of foreign language learning that focuses exclusively and at length on this central psychological construct. The content of this monograph draws on interdisciplinary sources, with input from psychology and applied linguistics. It will appeal to students and researchers interested in language-learner psychology as well as self-related constructs in general. The text provides insights into how learners view themselves, and how these self-beliefs can develop and affect the progress of an individual’s language learning.

Written primarily for language teachers and inspired by positive psychology, this book seeks to support and maintain teacher wellbeing through a variety of approaches.

In this accessible guide to bilingualism in the family and the classroom, Colin Baker delivers a realistic picture of the joys and difficulties of raising bilingual children. This revised edition includes more information on bilingualism in the digital age, and incorporates the latest research in areas such as neonatal language experience, multilingualism and language mixing.

This revised edition of Michael Byram’s classic 1997 book updates the text in light of both recent research and critiques and commentaries on the 1st edition. Beginning from the premise that foreign and second language teaching should prepare learners to use a language with fluency and accuracy, and also to speak with people who have different cultural identities, social values and behaviours, the book is an invaluable guide for teachers and curriculum developers, taking them from a definition of Intercultural Communicative Competence through planning for teaching to assessment. This edition refines the definitions of the five ‘savoirs’ of intercultural competence, and includes new sections on issues such as moral relativism and human rights, mediation, intercultural citizenship and teachers’ ethical responsibilities.

Teacher wellbeing, or a lack of it, is a major concern for the teaching profession. Research shows that there is a recruitment and retention crisis with over a third of the school, FE and HE profession expecting to leave by 2020. This new text supports teachers to be aware of themselves and the pressures they face at work.