Based on qualitative analysis of conversational interactions collected over the course of a Spanish language learner's academic year abroad, this article explores the development of interactional resources related to alignment activity in the learner's conversational participation. Alignment activity refers to the means interlocutors use…

In her paper, Burke questions whether top-down proficiency mandates will positively impact teacher practice. Her main argument is the following: The requirement that foreign language (FL) teachers demonstrate an advanced level of proficiency does not guarantee that they will be more effective K-12 FL teachers; on this point, the author agrees with…

This study investigates the relationship among Japanese high school teachers' beliefs, their practices, and socioeducational factors regarding communicative language teaching (CLT). A multimethods approach was used consisting of a survey, interviews, and class observations. A Teacher Beliefs Questionnaire was sent to 188 randomly selected Japanese…

The defining feature of immersion language learning is the omnipresent pressure to communicate in the second language (L2), even as incipient skills are being acquired. This study uses the focused essay technique to investigate ambivalence about communicating among adolescent French immersion students (12-14 years of age). Students described…

Analyses of second language (L2) classroom interaction often categorize joking and other humorous talk by students as disruptive, off-task behavior, thereby rendering it important only from a classroom management perspective. Studies of language play, however, have illustrated that such jocular talk not only allows students to construct a broader…

Motivated by cognitive-interactionist frameworks for task-based learning, this study explores whether task complexity affects the extent to which learners focus on form-meaning connections during task-based work in a classroom setting, and whether this relationship is modulated by 3 individual difference factors--linguistic self-confidence,…

This qualitative study followed two graduates from a master of arts in the teaching of languages program, who had taught for at least 3 years, into their domain of work in public school teaching. The study was carried out to better understand the day-to-day work, challenges, and social and interactive contexts in which language teachers engage. It…

This study examines the development of interactional competence (Hall, 1993, 1995) by English-speaking learners of Japanese as a foreign language (JFL) in a study abroad setting, as indexed by their use of the interactionally significant particle "ne." The analysis is based on a comparison of (a) 6 sets of conversations between JFL learners and…

The overall aim of this article is to argue that the functioning of every language system is based on a potential multilingual competence. The empirical basis for this is now broad enough to gain a comprehensive view on the overall competence of a multilingual individual. Moreover, increasing theoretical reflection has conferred an increasingly…

This article considers whether the use of specific communication strategies can improve learners' English proficiency in communicative tasks. Japanese college students (n= 62) participated in a 12-week course of English lessons using a communicative approach with strategy training. To investigate the influence of specific strategy use, their…

The point of departure for this article is the contrast between the theoretical landscape within view of language teaching professionals in 1991 and that of today. I argue that the pragmatic goal of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) developers and researchers to create and evaluate learning opportunities pushes them to consider a variety…

This article offers an empirically based contribution to the growing body of studies using Conversation Analysis (CA) as a tool for analyzing second/foreign language learning in and through interaction. Building on a sociointeractional view of learning as grounded in the structures of participation in social activities, we apply CA methods to…

Foreign language (FL) teachers and students may have very similar or disparate notions of effective teaching, and the intersection of the two sets of beliefs has ramifications for language learning and the effectiveness of instruction. Horwitz (1990), Kern (1995), and Schulz (1996) have argued that mismatches between FL students' and teachers'…

This study explores a child's emergent second language (L2) interactional competence during her first year in a Swedish immersion classroom. Within the theoretical framework of situated learning, it focuses on how she acquires expertise in a specific classroom practice: multiparty classroom talk. The data cover three periods (the early, middle,…

This longitudinal study focuses on how pedagogical content knowledge is initially represented and changes during the beginning teaching experiences of 9 teachers of French, German, and Spanish. The data consist of reflective journal entries, classroom observations, and focus group interviews collected during the first 2 years of foreign language…