Routledge E-Modules on Contemporary Language Teaching – serie

This module explores the content-driven approach to language teaching, or the teaching of nonlinguistic content such as geography, history, or science using the target language. It lays out effective techniques that help facilitate students’ comprehension of curricular content and also discusses how teacher collaboration and students’ L1s affect this approach to language teaching. With an instructional sequence comprising noticing, awareness, and practice activities as well as examples of content-and-language integrated units, the Content-Based Language Teaching module is the ideal main textbook for instructors seeking a clear and practical treatment of the topic for their courses, which can also be taught in conjunction with other modules in the series.

This module on technology in language learning provides novice and experienced second and foreign language (L2) teachers alike with an introduction to the field of computer-assisted language learning (CALL). The module first provides a historical overview of the field and then explores the most widely researched areas within CALL. The module examines findings of research into computer-mediated communication for L2 learning as well as L2 skill-area instruction in technology-enhanced settings. The unit then turns to a discussion of teacher and learner standards for using CALL, followed by a discussion of how one may find and evaluate CALL resources that are appropriate for specific instructional contexts. The module ends with an introduction to four of the newest and most exciting areas in CALL: gaming, fan fiction, digital storytelling, and mobile-assisted language learning.

This module on focusing on form in language instruction provides novice and experienced instructors with pedagogical techniques to help second language learners acquire formal elements of an L2. Taking the position that the development of a linguistic representation requires input, the pedagogical interventions presented in this module—textual enhancement, structured input, and dictogloss—all work with meaning-bearing input in some way. These techniques aim to increase the likelihood that learners focus on aspects of language that are useful or necessary for building mental representation. The module also discusses how explicit information may play a supporting role in helping learners process input.

This module on interactive tasks provides teachers with an overview of the nature of communication and explores the ways in which interactive tasks can promote communicative exchanges among students and teachers. The module provides guidelines for developing tasks, along with examples and options for their use in various types of language courses, including beginner-level language classes as well as more advanced language courses focusing culture, linguistics, literature, and film.

This module focuses on the pivotal role of vocabulary in language acquisition, communication, and instruction. It first reviews the nature of vocabulary knowledge, the mental lexicon, and different contexts of vocabulary learning. It then explains how we acquire vocabulary and refine vocabulary knowledge over time. The primary emphasis is on how language instructors can promote evidence-based vocabulary instruction in the classroom. To this effect, the module highlights telling research on the effects of specific tasks (e.g. sentence writing and copying target words) and different ways of presenting target words (e.g. having multiple talkers instead of a single talker producing the target words). It also outlines an effective approach to teaching vocabulary, one that emphasizes multiple presentations of target vocabulary, specificity in the relationship between task type and learning outcomes, and the gradual build-up of language-specific vocabulary knowledge over time. A sample lesson based on this approach is also provided.

Starting from the premise that language instruction should be informed by how humans learn language, this module on second language acquisition (SLA) aims to provide teachers at any level with a comprehensive and up-to-date introduction to the key findings about how second languages are learned in adulthood. This module explores a variety of topics, including the mechanisms in the mind responsible for language acquisition, the roles that input and output play in acquisition, and how language develops in the learner’s mind over time. Furthermore, the module explores the many factors believed to impact the outcome of SLA, such as the role of the native language, individual differences in aptitude and motivation, and age of acquisition.

In this module on communication, the reader explores the nature and consequences of a particular definition of communication: the expression and interpretation of meaning in a given context. Special attention is given to context (i.e., physical setting, participants, purpose of communication) and how these impact how we think about communication in language classrooms.

This module on the nature of language aims to provide the novice and even experienced teacher with a broad and accessible picture of language as a formal system. As such, it covers topics such as the nature of words, sounds, and syntax. The module places particular emphasis on the abstract and complex nature of language and how it does not resemble typical pedagogical rules and so-called "rules of thumb" often used with language learners.

This module explores the purposes of and methods for teaching second language writing. Engaging and accessible, Teaching Second Language Writing is organized into three sections that mainly focus on activities, approaches, and real-life writing tasks and genres that are the most applicable and useful for the language teaching classroom.