Martin East - Böcker

This book is available Open Access.This book introduces readers to the concept of task-based language teaching (TBLT), a learner-centred and experiential approach to language teaching and learning. Based on the premise that language learners can enhance their second language acquisition (SLA) through engagement in communicative tasks that compel them to use language for themselves, TBLT stands in contrast to more traditional approaches. Accessible and comprehensive, this book provides a foundational overview of the principles and practice of TBLT and demystifies what TBLT looks like in the classroom.Complete with questions for reflection, pedagogical extensions for application in real classrooms and further reading suggestions in every chapter, this valuable and informative text is vital for anyone interested in TBLT, whether as students, researchers or teachers.

This book is available Open Access.This book introduces readers to the concept of task-based language teaching (TBLT), a learner-centred and experiential approach to language teaching and learning. Based on the premise that language learners can enhance their second language acquisition (SLA) through engagement in communicative tasks that compel them to use language for themselves, TBLT stands in contrast to more traditional approaches. Accessible and comprehensive, this book provides a foundational overview of the principles and practice of TBLT and demystifies what TBLT looks like in the classroom.Complete with questions for reflection, pedagogical extensions for application in real classrooms and further reading suggestions in every chapter, this valuable and informative text is vital for anyone interested in TBLT, whether as students, researchers or teachers.

This Element examines how pedagogical innovation in language classrooms can be mediated through language teacher education (LTE) by subjecting the author's own practices as a teacher educator to scrutiny. Starting from the premise that implementing innovation can be a challenging enterprise, effective LTE is framed as being built on helping practitioners to recognise and confront often deeply-rooted beliefs and adjust subsequent practices through critical reflection on what an innovation may look like both theoretically and practically. A critically reflective lens is then applied to the author's own work as a teacher educator over several years through a research approach known as self-study of teacher education practices or S-STEP. The approach highlights changes to the author's beliefs and practices as lessons emerged from beginning teachers' engagement with innovative ideas. These are presented with the aim of better understanding how teachers' beliefs and practices with regard to innovation can be enhanced effectively.

This edited book focuses on the state of language learning in Anglophone countries and brings together international research from a wide range of educational settings.

This edited book focuses on the state of language learning in Anglophone countries and brings together international research from a wide range of educational settings.

This volume offers a comprehensive overview of Chinese language teaching in New Zealand, in light of the declining interest in foreign language learning in Anglophone countries. While existing scholarly works have discussed Chinese language education in other Anglophone countries, this book is the first to provide an in-depth examination of the landscape of Chinese language teaching in contemporary, multicultural New Zealand, featuring insights from leading experts. The book consists of 21 chapters written by 29 contributors, including research students, experienced teachers, and leading scholars in every educational sector, from preschool to university and from mainstream education to community schools.As the first volume to focus on this subject, the book provides both historical perspectives and multilevel analyses of critical milestones, based on the latest data, policy changes, and politico-economic conditions shaping the future direction of Chineselanguage education in New Zealand. Its purpose is to offer insights and an overview of the New Zealand case that can help policymakers, programme leaders, researchers, teachers, and learners in the Anglophone world and beyond, to better respond to the rapidly changing and challenging environments they face.In addition to the Foreword by Patricia Duff and the Epilogue, the book is a valuable resource for anyone interested in Chinese language education in New Zealand, and serves as a catalyst for further discussion and research on this topic.Chapters “Teaching Chinese in the Anglophone World: An Overview of the New Zealand Case”, “Chinese as a Heritage Language in New Zealand: A Historical Overview” and “The Teaching of Mandarin Chinese in New Zealand’s Schools: Where Have We Come From? Where Are We Now? Where Are We Going?” are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

First launched in 2005, the biennial International Conferences on Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) have become an established event for a broad range of participants, and a key feature of the conferences has been the invited plenary (keynote) addresses. This edited volume brings together a selection of plenaries given at conferences between 2015 and 2023, and exemplifies the contributions being made by prominent and internationally recognised TBLT scholars on a variety of issues pertinent to TBLT theory and practice. The volume is framed around how the horizon of TBLT has broadened over the past decade, and how the plenaries presented during this past decade have helped to take our knowledge and understanding of TBLT further. This volume will be of interest to a wide range of stakeholders, including teachers, researchers and postgraduate students, who would like to gain an overview of key dimensions of the field in the last decade.

This book presents an in‐depth study of assessment innovation and its impact on teaching and learning. The context is New Zealand, and the focus is additional languages other than English and the recent introduction of a radical new assessment of students’ spoken proficiency, called interact. The book crosses the traditional theoretical and methodological boundaries associated with language testing research, which focuses on assessment performance, and presents an alternative approach where stakeholders become the centre of interest.  It advances our understanding of how assessment innovation impacts on two key groups - teachers and students in schools - based on data collected from a substantial two‐year research project. It presents an account of these stakeholders’ perceptions of the validity and usefulness of the new assessment in comparison with the more traditional test that it has replaced.Assessing Foreign Language Students' Spoken Proficiency makes an outstanding and original contribution to the field of second and foreign language teaching, providing a theory and research-based account of the development of a learner-centred approach to oral proficiency assessment.  It is an important resource for teachers and teacher educators as well as assessment and curriculum specialists worldwide.  It deserves to be widely read.

This book presents an in‐depth study of assessment innovation and its impact on teaching and learning. The context is New Zealand, and the focus is additional languages other than English and the recent introduction of a radical new assessment of students’ spoken proficiency, called interact. The book crosses the traditional theoretical and methodological boundaries associated with language testing research, which focuses on assessment performance, and presents an alternative approach where stakeholders become the centre of interest.  It advances our understanding of how assessment innovation impacts on two key groups - teachers and students in schools - based on data collected from a substantial two‐year research project. It presents an account of these stakeholders’ perceptions of the validity and usefulness of the new assessment in comparison with the more traditional test that it has replaced.Assessing Foreign Language Students' Spoken Proficiency makes an outstanding and original contribution to the field of second and foreign language teaching, providing a theory and research-based account of the development of a learner-centred approach to oral proficiency assessment.  It is an important resource for teachers and teacher educators as well as assessment and curriculum specialists worldwide.  It deserves to be widely read.

This open access book presents an account of five teacher educators who, over a two-year period, undertook a research project with five teachers of languages other than English in pre-secondary schools in New Zealand.