Recent literature that examines the implementation of task-based language teaching (TBLT) in classroom settings has reported various challenges related to educational cultures, classroom management, teacher cognition and learner perceptions. To facilitate the smooth transition of TBLT from laboratory settings to classroom contexts, measures need…

This interpretive case study is framed within recent sociocultural conceptualisations of learning. It draws on research on teacher-led classroom discussions, and investigates the conversational intricacies through which "dialogicity" is accomplished in adaptive ways in one content and language integrated learning (CLIL) science…

Content and language integrated learning (CLIL) is burgeoning all over Europe and this is particularly so in Spain. During the last 10 years, content language instruction through a foreign language (FL) (mainly English) has become a key area of curricular innovation. One of the main reasons put forward by the advocates of this approach is that…

The relationship between language pedagogy and the content and language integrated learning (CLIL) classroom is a key issue for research into CLIL. In the Netherlands, as in other European contexts, non-native speakers of a target language with a non-language teaching background teach CLIL content lessons. Whilst CLIL teachers teaching their…

This article reports on in-depth interviews conducted with 12 teachers of modern languages in relation to how they dealt with the challenge of transition from primary to secondary school, with special reference to modern foreign languages. Findings suggest that only one of the 12 secondary schools was well placed to facilitate a smooth transition,…

Task-based language teaching (TBLT) is an innovative learner-centred and experiential approach to modern foreign language (MFL) teaching and learning that is not without controversy in the secondary MFL classroom. This article considers one secondary-level initial teacher education programme in New Zealand in which, following school curriculum…

The importance of teachers' beliefs in understanding the effectiveness of language teaching and learning is well documented. This research investigates the exact relationship between a set of beliefs and classroom practice through an example of one experienced secondary school EFL teacher in the People's Republic of China, using…

L2 education research has shown immense interest in learners and their views of L2 learning. Nevertheless, the different directions of learner-focused research have been inadequate in highlighting learners' learning experiences in relation to their social backgrounds, particularly in the developing world. Drawing on the first author's PhD…

This article discusses "My UniSpace", an innovative project which involves undergraduate students in a British university mentoring online pupils aged 14-18 who are studying languages. The project was funded by Routes into Languages, an initiative aimed at increasing take-up in modern languages. "My UniSpace" offers pupils (mentees) the…

This article discusses "Score in French," an innovative football-related languages project designed by the University of Southampton to motivate boys in French at Key Stage 3 (ages 11-14). The article starts by explaining the rationale for the choice of football as the topic for a project aimed at motivating boys. It considers the main reasons why…

Young modern language (ML) learners' heightened, yet temporary, phonological sensitivity suggests an aptitude for spoken communication with peer native target language (TL) speakers. Opportunities for this can be achieved through videoconferencing (VC). As researcher and specialist teacher at a primary school in England, I undertook a study of VC…

Language learner strategies (LLS) have long been viewed as a variable of individual differences, or as cognitive skills. This study, focusing as it does on the data taken from a series of focus groups with 47 senior secondary students in mainland China, seeks a new interpretation of strategy development and use from a sociocultural perspective.…

"Decoding"--converting the written symbols (or graphemes) of an alphabetical writing system into the sounds (or phonemes) they represent, using knowledge of the language's symbol/sound correspondences--has been argued to be an important but neglected skill in the teaching of second language (L2) French in English secondary schools. Several…

This paper explores the impact of a specially designed programme of communicative strategies on English second language (ESL) development in a scaffolded case study that set out to promote teacher-guided, constructive learner talk in the outcomes-based education arts and culture classroom. The programme was implemented in a multilingual secondary…

"Decoding"--converting the written symbols (or graphemes) of an alphabetical writing system into the sounds (or phonemes) they represent, using knowledge of the language's symbol/sound correspondences--has been argued to be an important but neglected skill in the teaching of second language (L2) French in English secondary schools. Previous…