Languaging Experiences

This book is dedicated to the notion of languaging, which has recently gained recognition across many disciplines. From philosophy to linguistics, the foundations of the concept rest on the assumption that language is a way of knowing, making personal sense of the world, becoming conscious of oneself, and a means of creating one's identity. The very notion of languaging is still a fresh and unexplored concept in applied linguistics and deserves careful scrutiny. For this reason, the volume is ...

This volume brings together studies from learning contexts that provide intensive exposure to the target language: naturalistic immersion (immigration and study abroad), intensive instruction, and informal intensive environments in foreign language settings. Its chapters yield much needed evidence on the role of context of acquisition and highlight the unique role of intensive exposure in second language learning.

This book is a timely comparison of the divergent worlds of policy implementation and policy ambition, the messy, often contradictory here-and-now reality of languages in schools and the sharp-edged, shiny, future-oriented representation of languages in policy. Two deep rooted tendencies in Australian political and social life, multiculturalism and Asian regionalism, are represented as key phases in the country’s experimentation with language education planning. Presenting data from a five year ethnographic study combined with a 40 year span of policy analysis, this volume is a rare book length treatment of the chasm between imagined policy and its experienced delivery, and will provide insights that policymakers around the world can draw on.

Second Language Educational Experiences for Adult Learners provides an up-to-date review of the theory and practice of adult second language education. The primary objective is to introduce core ideas that should inform the design, development, and delivery of language learning experiences that take the typical forms of materials, courses, teaching, and assessment. Divided into three sections, the book first addresses what we know about adult second language acquisition and how individuals may acquire languages differently from each other. In the second section, key educational design elements—from pedagogical methods to curriculum to assessment—are then introduced from the perspective of research-based understandings about effective practices. Rounding out the volume is an overview of critical issues for language educational innovation, including supporting teachers, localizing materials and instruction, evaluating and improving education, and working with technology. Each chapter concludes with a set of recommended “design principles” that should guide readers toward high-quality, valuable, and empirically supported language educational experiences. This volume will be of interest to researchers and students investigating instructed language learning, designers creating useful language learning materials, and language teaching innovators seeking to improve outcomes in diverse instructional settings around the world.

This book brings together the voices of teacher educators working in different national and educational settings. It Covers themes such as change in teacher education practices, the influences of context on practice, and of interculturality, to provide rich insights into the processes and effects of second language teacher education.

This book tells the stories of 15 world language (WL) teachers in the United States at elementary and secondary levels through rich descriptions of their lived worlds and experiences. In-depth interviews, extensive observations, learner interviews, and document and environment analysis illustrate in detail how teacher beliefs relate to their practices and are mediated and moderated by their learners, institutional demands, equity and access to WL education and other factors. The chapters provide a deep and robust explanation of individual teachers’ teaching lives and a cross-contextual comparison of their experiences, shining a light on the realities and demands of modern US schools. Grounded in the research literature on language teacher beliefs and cognition, this book takes the stance that all teaching is situated and contextual, and that addressing teachers' methods, practices and knowledges in ways that are divorced from their setting and environment has serious limitations. It offers fascinating insights for researchers, language educators and pre- and in-service teachers, with reflection questions at the end of each chapter to guide readers in drawing connections with their own practice, interests and contexts.

This edited book presents an detailed analysis of the experience of deaf people as a bilingual-bicultural minority group in America. An overview of mainstream research on bilingualism and biculturalism is followed by specific research and conceptual analyses which examine the impact of cultural and language diversity on the experiences of deaf people. The book ends with poignant personal reflections from deaf community members. The contributors include prominent deaf and hearing experts in bilingualism, ASL and Deaf culture, and deaf education.

Addresses one debate in language development, namely the relationship between children's language development and their language experience.