In this plenary speech I examine multilingual interaction in a number of European regions in which minority languages are being revitalized. Education is a crucial variable, but the wider society is equally significant. The context of revitalization is no longer bilingual but increasingly multilingual. I draw on the results of a long-running…

Organized under the auspices of the "Language Learning" Roundtable Conference Grant (2012), this seminar aimed to provide an interactive forum for a group of second language acquisition (SLA) researchers with particular interests in cognitive linguistics and psycholinguistics to discuss key theoretical and methodological issues in the…

In this plenary address, I suggest that Complexity Theory has the potential to contribute a transdisciplinary theme to applied linguistics. Transdisciplinary themes supersede disciplines and spur new kinds of creative activity (Halliday 2001 [1990]). Investigating complex systems requires researchers to pay attention to system dynamics. Since…

Following the No Child Left Behind Act (2001), which mandates standards-based accountability for the academic progress of all students, much attention has been given to integrating language and content instruction for English learners (ELs) in K-12 classrooms in the US. Although TESOL and other state-approved language proficiency standards…

Needs for curriculum development in Scottish schools for both able linguists and less able students in the 16-19 age group are discussed. It is proposed that students of moderate ability who have dropped languages in favor of other subjects should be encouraged to return to language instruction for both general and specific educational and career…

Great Britain's Minister of State for Education discusses a draft statement of policy on foreign language. Two major messages of the statement concern the quality of foreign language teaching and the effects of such schooling on attitudes toward foreign language study and the need for more students to study foreign languages for longer periods.…

A speech addressed to British foreign language teachers concerning the state of foreign language instruction in Great Britain stressed the importance of maintaining high quality second language instruction at all educational levels for the purpose of securing the future of the United Kingdom in commercial, social, cultural, and political domains.…

An English-as-a-Foreign Language instructor's repertoire of effective classroom activities is extended not only through acquiring useful, new ideas, but through adapting these activities (new and old) for varied needs and purposes. This article focuses on the potential for adaptation of one popular, communicative activity: "Find someone who..."…

Reviews aspects of Halliday's Systemic-Functional Grammar, emphasizing language functions, modality vs modulation, process types, transitivity, information distribution, and cohesion. Implications for language teaching are discussed. (AM)