In this cutting-edge book on L2 teacher education, experts Johnson, Verity, and Childs demonstrate how praxis-oriented pedagogy grounded in the principles of Vygotskian Sociocultural Theory (VSCT) can have a meaningful impact on L2 teachers’ development. Starting with a clear definition of praxis-oriented pedagogy, the authors lay out a theoretical foundation and document how appropriately designed praxis-oriented L2 teacher education pedagogy supports the development of novice teacher reasoning. Drawing from a longitudinal study of L2 novice teachers, chapters address the teachers’ understanding, learning, and cognitive development and how their capabilities grow in creating and implementing engaging language learning environments for their ESL students. At the core of the book lies a unique set of pedagogical concepts: linguistically compact, conceptually rich chunks of language that function as psychological tools for learning and teaching. By covering teachers’ changes in understanding, reasoning, and pedagogical activities, the book reveals the role that pedagogical concepts play in praxis-oriented pedagogy. Essential reading for language teacher educators, language teachers, and researchers, this book makes the VSCT principles that inform praxis-oriented pedagogy both clear and accessible.

Explicating clearly and concisely the full implication of a praxis-oriented language pedagogy, this book argues for an approach to language teaching grounded in a significant scientific theory of human learning—a stance that rejects the consumer approach to theory and the dichotomy between theory and practice that dominates SLA and language teaching. This approach is based on Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, according to which the two activities are inherently connected so that each is necessarily rooted in the other; practice is the research laboratory where the theory is tested. From the perspective of language education, this is what is meant by the ‘pedagogical imperative.’ Sociocultural Theory and the Pedagogical Imperative in L2 Education• Elaborates a new approach to dealing with the relationship between theory and practice—an approach grounded in praxis—the dialectical unity of theory and practice • Presents an analysis of empirical research illustrating praxis-based principles in real language classrooms • Brings together cognitive linguistics and sociocultural theory ─ the former provides the theoretical knowledge of language required of praxis and the latter furnishes the theoretical principles of learning and development also called for in a praxis approach • Offers recommendations for redesigning teacher education programs Its timely focus on the theory-practice gap in language education and its original approach to bridging it put this book at the cutting edge of thinking about Vygotskian sociocultural theory in applied linguistics and SLA.

This book presents a comprehensive overview of the epistemological underpinnings of a sociocultural perspective on human learning and addresses in detail what this perspective has to offer the field of second language teacher education.

The Routledge Handbook of English Language Teacher Education provides an accessible, authoritative, comprehensive and up-to-date resource of English language teacher education. With an overview of historical issues, theoretical frameworks and current debates, this handbook provides unique insights into a range of teacher education contexts, focusing on key issues relating to teacher and learner priorities, language and communication, current practices, reflective practice, and research. Key features include: a cross-section of current theories, practices and issues, providing readers with a resource which can be used in a variety of contexts; the use of data, transcripts and tasks to highlight and illustrate a range of practices, including examples of ‘best practice’; ‘snapshots’ of ELTE from a number of contexts taken from all around the world; and examples of current technological advances, contemporary thinking on reflective practice, and insights gained from recent research. This wide-ranging and international collection of chapters has been written by leading experts in the field. The Routledge Handbook of English Language Teacher Education is sure to be core reading for students, researchers and educators in applied linguistics, TESOL and language education.

Practical Grammar Teaching for the Second Language Classroom provides a well-rounded foundation for teaching second language (L2) grammar for pre-service, novice, and practicing teachers, as well as for teacher educators who seek to develop their professional knowledge and skills. Written in a highly readable style for an international audience, it presents classroom strategies, techniques, activities, and applications of current and effective innovations to English grammar instruction. The contributors to this volume are well-established and highly regarded experts in L2 pedagogy, and each contributor offers a thorough overview of the principled and research-based instruction currently prevalent in teaching L2 grammar worldwide. The book provides practical guidelines and strategies for focused language instruction, teaching grammar in writing classes, and applications of technology to grammar teaching and learning. This key text is essential for students in undergraduate and graduate MA-TESOL (Master of Arts for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) programs, pre-service and practicing ESL/EFL (English as a second language/English as a foreign language) teachers, teacher educators, and teaching faculty.

The Concise Companion to Language Assessment provides a state-of-the-art overview of the crucial areas of language assessment, teaching, and learning. Edited by one of the foremost scholars in the field, The Concise Companion combines newly commissioned articles on innovations in assessment with a selection of chapters from The Companion to Language Assessment, the landmark four-volume reference work first published in 2013. Presented in eight themes, The Concise Companion addresses a broad range of language assessment methods, issues, and contexts. Forty-five chapters cover assessment conceptualization, development, research, and policy, as well as recent changes in language assessment technology, learning-oriented assessment, teacher-based assessment, teacher assessment literacy, plurilingual assessment, assessment for immigration, and more. Exploring the past, present, and future possibilities of the dynamic field, The Concise Companion to Language Assessment: Contains dedicated chapters on listening, speaking, reading writing, vocabulary, pronunciation, intercultural competence, and other language skills Describes fundamental assessment design and scoring guidelines, as well as advanced concepts in scenario-based assessment and automated performance scoring Provides insights on different assessment environments, such as classrooms, universities, employment, immigration, and healthcare Covers various qualitative and quantitative research methods, including introspective methods, classical reliability, and structural equation modeling Discusses the impacts of colonialism and discrimination on the history of language assessment Explores the use of AI in writing evaluation, plagiarism and cheating detection, and other assessment contexts Sure to become a standard text for the next generation of applied linguistics students, The Concise Companion to Language Assessment is an invaluable textbook for undergraduate and graduate courses in applied linguistics, language assessment, TESOL, second language acquisition, and language policy.

From leading scholar and applied linguist Paul Nation, this book describes and explains the 20 most effective and efficient language teaching techniques and why they work. Backed by decades of research and expertise, Nation examines the principles of learning connected to these techniques, as well as the factors affecting their choice and usage. These techniques are organized around the four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. For each skill, there is an opportunity for learning through meaning-focused use, an opportunity for learning through deliberate study, and a window for fluency development through working with easy material. Each technique is described and analyzed to demonstrate its learning goals and the principles of learning in use. In demonstrating key techniques and methods for language learning, this book is particularly useful for pre-service teachers and students in applied linguistics, TESOL, and language teaching. Each chapter also has a substantial list of research topics for projects or theses.

Taking a Vygotskian sociocultural stance, this book demonstrates the meaningful role that L2 teacher educators and L2 teacher education play in the professional development of L2 teachers through systematic, intentional, goal-directed, theorized L2 teacher education pedagogy. The message is resoundingly clear: Teacher education matters! It empirically documents the ways in which engagement in the practices of L2 teacher education shape how teachers come to think about and enact their teaching within the sociocultural contexts of their learning-to-teach experiences. Providing an insider’s look at L2 teacher education pedagogy, it offers a close up look at teacher educators who are skilled at moving L2 teachers toward more theoretically and pedagogically sound instructional practices and greater levels of professional expertise. First, the theoretical foundation and educational rationale for exploring what happens inside the practices of L2 teacher education are established. These theoretical concepts are then used to conduct microgenetic analyses of the moment-to-moment, asynchronous, and at-a-distance dialogic interactions that take place in five distinct but sometimes overlapping practices that the authors have designed, repeatedly implemented, and subsequently collected data on in their own L2 teacher education programs. Responsive mediation is positioned as the nexus of mindful L2 teacher education and proposed as a psychological tool for teacher educators to both examine and inform the ways in which they design, enact, and assess the consequences of their own L2 teacher education pedagogy.

This resource supports TESOL preservice and in-service teachers and curriculum designers in teaching pronunciation more effectively. Laurie Bauer examines the patterns of pronunciation found in English, comments on common errors made by learners, provides advice on what must be taught and what can be allowed to pass, and offers commentary on which parts of the curriculum are necessary for beginners and which are of value only to advanced students. Part I introduces the phonetic background; Part II covers phonetics in more detail (consonants, vowels, prosody, phonotactics and syllables); Part III covers phonology (sound changes influenced by adjacent sounds, morphophonemics, stress rules and free variation); and Part IV covers spelling (English spelling, spelling consonants and vowels, and spelling particularly difficult words). The helpful content can be tailored to one’s teaching needs and will support an educator’s efforts to teach pronunciation seriously, whether it is a matter of pronouncing particular vowels accurately or knowing how to interpret the spelling system to get at the appropriate pronunciation.

Embracing a sociocultural perspective on human cognition and employing an array of methodological tools for data collection and analysis, this volume documents the complexities of second language teachers’ professional development in diverse L2 teacher education programs around the world, including Asia, South America, Europe, and North America, and traces that development both over time and within the broader cultural, historical and institutional settings and circumstances of teachers’ work. This systematic examination of teacher professional development illuminates in multiple ways the discursive practices that shape teachers’ knowing, thinking, and doing and provides a window into how alternative mediational means can create opportunities for teachers to move toward more theoretically and pedagogically sound instructional practices within the settings and circumstances of their work. The chapters represent both native and nonnative English speaking pre-service and in-service L2 teachers at all levels from K-12 through higher education, and examine significant challenges that are present in L2 teacher education programs.