Current Issues in Second/Foreign Language Teaching and Teacher Development: Research and Practice represents a collection of selected papers from the 17th World Congress of the International Association of Applied Linguistics (AILA), which was held in August 2014 in Brisbane, Australia. The volume comprises 18 chapters presenting current research projects and discussing issues related to second language acquisition, teaching and teacher education in a variety of contexts from around the world. This collection of research papers will be of use to both new and seasoned researchers in the field of applied linguistics. Teacher educators, language teachers and language policy makers will find this volume equally useful as the papers address current issues in language education.

Language teaching approaches, methods and procedures are constantly undergoing reassessment. New ideas keep emerging as the growing complexity of the means of communication and the opportunities created by technology put language skills to new uses. In addition, the political, social and economic impact of globalisation, the new demands of the labour market that result from it, the pursuit of competitiveness, the challenges of intercultural communication and the diversification of culture have opened new perspectives on the central role that foreign languages have come to play in the development of contemporary societies. This book provides an insight into the latest developments in the field and discusses the new trends in foreign language teaching in four major areas, namely methods and approaches, teacher training, innovation in the classroom, and evaluation and assessment.

The field of Second Language Teacher Education (SLTE) is mainly concerned with the professional preparation of L2 teachers. In order to improve teaching in the multilingual and multicultural classroom of the 21st century, both pre- and in-service L2 teachers as well as L2 teacher educators must be prepared to meet the new challenges of education under the current circumstances, expanding their roles and responsibilities so as to face the new complex realities of language instruction. This volume explores a number of key dimensions of EFL teacher education. The sixteen chapters discuss a wide variety of issues related to second language pedagogy and SLTE. Topics discussed include the importance of SLA research; competency-based teacher education approach; classroom-based action research; SLTE models; the value and role of practicum experience abroad; the models of pronunciation teaching; multicultural awareness and competence; the influence of teachers’ cognitions, emotions and attitudes on their emerging and changing professional identities; the potential of classroom materials and technology; and CLIL and ESP teacher education. English as a foreign language teacher education: Current perspectives and challenges will be of interest to teachers-in-training, teachers, teacher educators and to those educational researchers interested in how L2 teaching is actually learned in professional preparation programmes. Juan de Dios Martínez Agudo is Associate Professor of EFL Teacher Education at the University of Extremadura, Spain. His current research interests include Second Language Acquisition and English Teaching Methodology. His most recent books are Oral Communication in the EFL Classroom (2008), Errors in the Second Language Classroom: Corrective Feedback (2010) and Teaching and Learning English through Bilingual Education (2012).

This landmark volume provides a broad-based, state-of-the-art overview of current knowledge and research into second language teaching and learning. Fifty-seven chapters are organized in eight thematic sections: *social contexts of second language learning; *research methodologies in second-language learning, acquisition, and teaching; *contributions of applied linguistics to the teaching and learning of second language skills; *second language processes and development; *teaching methods and curricula; *issues in second or foreign language testing and assessment; *identity, culture, and critical pedagogy in second language teaching and learning; and *important considerations in language planning and policies. The Handbook of Research in Second Language Teaching and Learning is intended for researchers, practitioners, graduate students, and faculty in teacher education and applied linguistics programs; teachers; teacher trainers; teacher trainees; curriculum and material developers; and all other professionals in the field of second language teaching and learning.

The education of second language teachers takes place across diverse contexts, levels, settings, and geographic regions. By bringing together research, theory, and best practices from a variety of contexts (ESL/EFL, foreign language, bilingual and immersion education), this book contributes to building meaningful professional dialogue among second-language teacher educators. Featuring an international roster of authors, the volume is comprised of 18 chapters organized in four thematic sections: the knowledge base of second language teacher education; second language teacher education contexts; collaborations in second language teacher education; and second language teacher education in practice. Second Language Teacher Education: International Perspectives is an essential professional resource for practicing and prospective second language teacher educators around the world.

This book provides a comparative perspective on foreign language teacher training in France, Germany, Russia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. The training process of state secondary school foreign language teachers is considered from two perspectives for each country. The current training routes through which necessary teaching qualifications are obtained are described with respect to national policy for foreign language learning, the nature of providers, and training programme organization and contents, with details of any practice. These descriptive dimensions are accompanied by an evaluation of the degree to which the training fits the purpose of teaching foreign languages in state secondary schools. The descriptive and evaluative approaches to FL teacher training provide a novel overview of the current successes and challenges in the field, giving an understanding of terrains not easily accessible to the general English-language readership. The book highlights elements of good practice found across nations, and contributes to shedding light on the enduring mystery of why certain nations seem to be managing multilingualism better than others. As such, it provides a reference for interdisciplinary discussions between applied linguists, education researchers and practitioners, and policymakers.

This collection provides an overview of current issues, debates, and approaches in Second Language Teacher Education (SLTE) presented by internationally prominent researchers, educators, and emerging scholars. Chapters address such issues as distance education, non-native English-speaking educators, technology, assessment, standards, and the changing contexts of contemporary language teaching and teacher education.

This edited collection brings together papers by eminent scholars who attempt to demonstrate how challenges can most successfully be ameliorated with an eye to enhancing the effectiveness of the processes of language teaching and learning. In Part One, emphasis is placed on challenges that second language education has to face, both those more general, dealing with language policy issues, and those more specific, concerned with instructional options in the language classroom. Part Two focuses on challenges involved in researching the processes of teaching and learning in the second and foreign languages classroom, both with respect to research methodology and efforts to tap some variables impinging upon the effects of instruction. Finally, Part Three is devoted to challenges involved in second and foreign language teacher education, the quality of which to a large extent determines the outcomes of second language education in any educational context.

This volume contains a selection of the papers, seminars and workshops presented in the First International Conference on English Language Teaching and Learning (ICELTL1), held at the University of Santiago, Spain, in September 2008, as well as a number of valuable original contributions by other specialists who were involved in the conference. It aims to represent the views of teachers, scholars, researchers, teacher trainers and curriculum developers from all over the world, from the USA and Japan to Europe. It is addressed to ELT teachers, researchers and professionals who want to reflect upon and develop their knowledge and practice of current issues in English language teaching and learning. Current problems in many of the areas of ELT are given different solutions depending on the context in which respective contributors conduct their work. It is precisely this international perspective that makes this volume unique and illustrative of different realities with a similar objective in mind: the implementation and improvement of English language teaching. The various contributions have been organised in four main sections that correspond to the major focal topics of the conference: teacher training and development, classroom management and practice, new technologies and language teaching, and research on learner language.

This volume brings together the current theoretical interest in reconceptualizing second and foreign language learning from a sociocultural perspective on language and learning, with practical concerns about second and foreign language pedagogy. It presents a set of studies whose focus is on the empirical description of particular practices constructed in classroom interaction that promote the learning of a second or foreign language. The authors examine in detail the processes by which the learning of additional languages is accomplished in the interaction of a variety of classrooms and in a variety of languages. Not only will the findings from the studies reported in this volume help to lay a foundation for the development of a more expansive, sociocultural model of second and foreign language learning, but on a more practical level they will help language educators in creating a set of principles for identifying and sustaining classroom interactional practices that foster additional language development. The volume is distinguished in three ways: * Following a Vygotskyan perspective on development, the studies assume that language learning is a fundamentally pragmatic enterprise, intrinsically linked to language use. This breaks from a more traditional understanding of second and foreign language learning, which has viewed learning and use as two distinct phenomena. The importance of classroom interaction to additional language development is foregrounded. * The investigations reported in this book are distinguished by their methodological approach. Because language learning is assumed to be a situated, context-sensitive, and dynamic process, the studies do not rely on traditional experimental methods for collecting and analyzing data, but rather, they involve primarily the use of ethnographic and discourse analytic methods. * The studies focus on interactional practices that promote second and foreign language learning. Although a great deal of research has examined first language learning in classrooms from a sociocultural perspective, little has looked at second and foreign language classrooms from such a perspective. Thus there is a strong need for this volume of studies addressing this area of research. Researchers, teacher educators, and graduate students across the fields of second and foreign language learning, applied linguistics, and language education will find this book informative and relevant. Because of the programmatic implications arising from the studies, it will also appeal to teacher educators and teachers of second and foreign languages from the elementary to the university levels.