Böcker i Second Language Learning and Teaching-serien

The present volume brings together papers devoted to the role of learner and teacher autonomy in the process of second and foreign language learning, which have been contributed by scholars from Poland and abroad.

This book highlights the importance of individual learner differences in learning English as a foreign language and reports the findings of a study which investigated the impact of two personality traits, which are, openness to experience and ambiguity tolerance, on target language attainment among Polish secondary school students. The book provides an exhaustive overview of the theoretical issues and existing research related to personality, emphasizing the two traits under investigation, openness, and ambiguity tolerance, which are the focus of the empirical study reported later in the book. The empirical investigation explored relationships between openness to experience and ambiguity tolerance, as well as their impact on attainment in learning English as a foreign language. Moreover, it also aimed to shed light on the link between these traits and students¿ assessments (i.e., self-assessment and school grades). The findings of the study provide a basis for proposing specific profiles of foreign language learners with different levels of openness and ambiguity tolerance.

This book demonstrates how foreign language self-esteem (FLSE) affects foreign language (L2) learning and teaching, and how it fluctuates with growing proficiency.

This book offers several insights into cross-cultural and multilingual learning, drawing upon recent research within two main areas: Language Studies and Multilingual Language Learning/Teaching.

This book offers a valuable contribution to the discussion on the complexities of L2 learning processes that pose a challenge to learners. This work also addresses social interactions and cultural background, shedding new light on their role in the context in L2 learning processes.

This book examines acknowledged practices and demonstrates to teachers how to make the most out of their assessment practices. It also explores different assessment methods for skills such as reading, writing, listening and speaking. Forecasting the future of assessment and where concepts like alternative assessment and dynamic assessment are heading, it also shows how relatively new teaching methods such as communicative methodologies and problem-based learning are reflected in assessment.This book represents a forum where contributors have presented their research and innovative ideas and practices on the important topic of assessment and opened a fresh debate on it. It offers an excellent reference guide for EFL teachers, practitioners, researchers and testing and assessment specialists. Each chapter examines central issues inassessment and their connection with teaching and learning in EFL contexts.

This book investigates the three pivotal points oftext for foreign language acquisition: reception, construction and deconstruction. InPart One, the focus is on various aspects of text reception, such as developingliteracy, text interest, and perceptions of the academic register or theassessment of spoken language in educational contexts.

This book introduces readers to the principles of a fairlynew branch of psychology - positive psychology - and demonstrates how they canbe applied in the context of second language acquisition in a naturalenvironment and in instructed foreign language (FL) learning.

This book presents evaluation cases from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) context, investigating the various facets of evaluation in different parts of the MENA region and beyond. In 19 chapters, it explores cases from Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Sudan, Syria, the UAE, Turkey, Iran and Morocco.The book highlights the impact of evaluation on a range of stakeholders, arguing that it has repercussions at the individual, societal, economic, cultural and political levels, that it also has an ethical dimension, and that it is tailored to people's needs, helping them to remain abreast of the effectiveness and efficiency of programs.Further, the book explores controversial issues concerning different evaluation themes, such as teacher and staff evaluation, assessment practices, text genre analysis evaluation, assessment of productive skills, textbook and ICT evaluation, evaluation of ELT certificates and programs, quality assurance, ESP needs analysis, assessment literacy, and dynamic assessment. It addresses key challenges, such as who the "right people" to implement evaluation are, and the appropriate use of evaluation results to avoid any misuse or harm to any stakeholder. In closing, the book calls for further research venues on the relevance of evaluation, testing and assessment in the MENA context and beyond.

This book presents an overview of revisiting the assessment of language abilities. It also showcases how the measurement of such constructs can result in negative or positive washback and how outcomes might be conducive to repercussions that decide on the future of many stakeholders. The 23 chapters were selected among tens of chapters received from different contexts that addressed the issue of revisiting the assessment of language abilities, such as Tunisia, Ukraine, Algeria, Russia, KSA, Sudan, Egypt, Canada, Kurdistan, UK, USA, Iran, Turkey, etc. These contexts have highlighted the necessity to revisit the different constructs which should be assessed with a clear and straightforward foundation on students' learning objectives and their actual language ability. To do so, most of the chapters present hands-on use of relevant statistical tests that might serve in revisiting the construct definition both theoretically and operationally. Perhaps the sole and intricate question that the authors of these contributions ask is what it means to revisit the assessment of the construct of individualized language ability and how. In addition, the book accentuates the momentousness and significance of reflecting on test fairness and validation as the mainspring and backbone for democratization of assessment. This book appeals to a broad readership, such as English Language Teaching (ELT) practitioners, language teachers, students, testing organizations, policy-makers, test designers, writers of test specifications, testing experts, researchers, program evaluators, especially in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) as well as other international contexts.

The diverse theoretical and empirical chapters examine a range of familiar and lesser-known constructs, highlighting the importance of taking into account both learner and teacher psychologies, and recognising the complexity, dynamism and situatedness of psychological constructs, as well as the value of employing diverse research methodologies.

The book's theoretical chapters address such concepts as bilingualism, the process of L2 writing, and identity in L2 writing. The book's empirical section discusses the students' views on writing in L1 and in L2, the students' writing processes in both languages, and the students' identities in L1 and L2 writing.

This book is a collection of essays on neglected aspects of the Great War.

This book presents theoretical considerations and the results of empirical research on pronunciation learning strategies (PLS) deployed by pre-service trainee teachers majoring in English as a foreign language who experienced different levels of language anxiety (LA).

The volume constitutes a state-of-the-art account of issues related to teaching, learning and testing speaking in a second language.

In Part One, emphasis is placed on challenges that second language education has to face, both those more general, dealing with language policy issues, and those more specific, concerned with instructional options in the language classroom.

This book reveals the hitherto critically disregarded ludic elements in popular American comedy films, building on and expanding the theories developed by Johan Huizinga in his classic study Homo Ludens (1938) and Roger Caillois in Les jeux et les hommes (1958).

This collection gathers contributions from scholars from Poland and abroad addressing different facets of research into the processes of foreign-language and second-language learning and teaching as they transpire in a typical language classroom.

PartTwo brings together papers related to teacher awareness of second language instruction that focus on conversational styles, fostering interculturalpragmatics, teacher job satisfaction, the development of instructionalmaterials and challenges of teacher training in different contexts.

The magic transformation of "your" money into "their" money is paralleled in contemporary media and culture by the centrality of transformation of one product to another as a media industry practice, as well as the transformation of bodies as a major theme both in the ensuing media products and in people's identity practices in daily life.

This book is a collection of essays on neglected aspects of the Great War.

This book presents a selection of empirical papers dealing with second and multiple language acquisition, in which qualitative research methodology is employed. Although the main focus is on qualitative methods, some of the papers demonstrate the complementarity of quantitative and qualitative approaches in studying language acquisition.

This edited collection explores the conjunction of multiculturalism and the self in literature and culture studies, and brings together essays by prominent researchers interested in literature and culture whose critical perspectives inform discussions of specific examples of multicultural contexts in which individuals and communities strive to maintain their identities. The book is divided into two major parts, the first of which comprises literary representations of multiculturalism and discussions of its impasses and impacts in fictional circumstances. In turn, the second part primarily focuses on culture at large and real-life consequences. Taken together, the two complementary parts offer an illuminating and well-rounded overview of representations of multiculturalism in literature and contemporary culture from a variety of critical perspectives.

The book offers a new approach to the study of Alice Munro's fiction. Part Three consists of an essay on didactic aspects of Munro's fiction and of several interviews with teachers of Canadian literature who have included stories by Munro in their syllabi.

The book comprises a selection of 14 papers concerning the general theme of cultural conceptualizations in communication and translation, as well as in various applications of language.Ten papers in first part Translation and Culture cover the topics of a cognitive approach to conceptualizations of Source Language ¿ versus Target Language ¿ texts in translation, derived from general language, media texts, and literature.The second part Applied Cultural Models comprises four papers discussing cultural conceptualizations of language in the educational context, particularly of Foreign Language Teaching, in online communication and communication in deaf communities.

This book investigates and analyzes the way in which factors such as communication apprehension, self-perceived communicative competence and group dynamics influence the communicative behavior of a foreign-language learner.

Six papers in Part 3, which refers to questions of Identity and Cultural Stereotypes, both in general language and in literature, discuss identity in native and migration contexts and take up motifs of journey and migration, as well as social and cultural stereotypes and prejudice in transforming contexts.

This book provides an overview of pronunciation teaching and learning practices in secondary schools, providing insights into secondary school learners' needs, expectations and motivation regarding the importance of learning English and particularly English pronunciation.

The book analyses a variety of topics and current issues in linguistics and literary studies, focusing especially on such aspects as memory, identity and cognition. It then investigates a variety of practices of language users, language learners and translators, such as the use of borrowings from hip-hop and slang.

In response, many professional associations also provide a wide range of professional development activities for their teacher members. The book will be of interest to language teachers, graduate students, teacher educators and researchers, educational leaders and policymakers, as well as teacher associations.