Books in the Foreign Language Teaching in Europe series

The handbook deals with non-formal language learning in Online Tandems. It gives information on how to start, assist and evaluate the learning process and stresses the importance of a tandem trainer or tutor. It documents research on learner strategies, code-switching, feedback and negotiation of meaning using transcripts of the tandem interaction.

The volume offers a fresh perspective on 21st century language instruction. It discusses approaches to teaching, contexts of instruction, testing and assessment, curriculum development and using technology in the classroom, and focuses on developing speaking and writing skills, intercultural communicative competence, and cultural knowledge.

This volume pools the insights and experiences of a group of international researchers on different aspects of autonomy and related issues. Although autonomy is acknowledged as one of the main goals of education, in higher education the need for accountability and standardisation of learning outcomes constrain its development.

This book seeks to foster the successful incorporation of digital competence in Bologna-adapted language degrees. It pools the insights of international practitioners who report on classroom- and research-based experiences which have integrated ICT for specific and generic competence development within the Higher Education language context.

This book focuses on pedagogy for autonomy in language teaching within a vision of education as transformation and empowerment. It proposes a framework for learner and teacher autonomy based on three structuring elements: the context, the learner, and the teacher.

This volume provides the reader with critical insights into language education policies. It focuses, among others, on migration and minority languages, indigenous languages, and content and language integrated learning instruction, underlining the strengths and weaknesses of these policies.

Can learner autonomy as a pedagogical approach improve the quality of foreign language learning? How can this approach be constructed so that it empowers foreign language learners to increase their learning independence and create the conditions for continuing progress? This book seeks to contribute to a longstanding and yet ongoing debate around questions such as these. It has been written by teacher trainers from several different European countries for foreign language teacher trainers and for teachers in training. The authors are committed to building a theoretical framework for the development of learner autonomy as well as working out its practical implications for foreign language teaching. The first three chapters of the book aim to help trainers and teachers understand the theory which is relevant to learner autonomy and the principles which support it. The last three chapters present practical ways of fostering learner autonomy in order to facilitate intercultural competence as well as develop listening, reading, speaking and writing skills in a foreign language.

The study investigates interactions between 29 tandem partners from a German and a North American university, who met twice a week in a text-based online environment that allowed them to communicate with each other in real time via a computer keyboard. The analysis focuses on learners¿ codeswitching, negotiation of meaning, error correction, and the use of specific spellings and punctuation. The data suggest that most partners complied with the principle of reciprocity and that the non-threatening atmosphere of the MOO encouraged them to test their hypotheses about their L2. Moreover, the analysis revealed a noticeable increase in learners¿ awareness of the target language. All students frequently engaged in negotiation of meaning, but there was a conspicuous absence of corrective feedback.

Languages curricula across the world are increasingly requiring teachers to acknowledge that all foreign language classes consist of individuals, and that all individuals bring with them their own ways of learning, their own strengths and weaknesses, their own previous experiences, and their own attitudes and expectations. In order to improve standards of language learning, the challenge for the language teacher is to manage these individual differences in the classroom, and to enable every individual to achieve his or her full potential and to succeed as a language learner. This book brings together a number of authors from Spain and the UK in order to offer support to those teachers, teacher trainers, students and advisors who are committed to ensuring that all language learners have the opportunity to learn in ways which are appropriate to them as individuals. It explores the nature of individual differences and the implications for developing language skills, and then offers ideas for managing learning in the classroom. A strong theme of the book is the need to encourage learners to take responsibility for their own learning, and to enable them to develop the skills to be able to do this effectively.

José Mª Tejedor-Cabrera es Profesor Titular de Filología Inglesa de la Universidad de Sevilla. Su investigación se centra en la literatura, e imparte docencia en el Máster Universitario en Traducción e Interculturalidad, que co-coordina. Ha coordinado la actividad Tándem de la Facultad de Filología durante 8 años.Javier Martos Ramos es Profesor Titular del Departamento de Filología Alemana de la Universidad de Sevilla. Imparte docencia de lingüística y didáctica alemanas en Grado y Máster. Sus campos de investigación incluyen el estudio de procesos de aprendizaje autónomo de L2, la lingüística interaccional, contrastiva y textual.Leonarda Trapassi es Profesora Titular de Filología Italiana en la Universidad de Sevilla. Es docente de lengua y literatura italianas, y traducción. Su investigación abarca la literatura y cultura italianas contemporáneas. Actualmente es responsable de política lingüística en la Facultad de Filología.