This book presents the latest research on the role of strategy use and development in second and foreign language teaching and learning. It will equip scholars and practitioners with the knowledge to help them better appreciate how language learning strategies contribute to and are linked with language learning processes.

This book presents the latest research on the role of strategy use and development in second and foreign language teaching and learning. It comprises a wide selection of studies which cover topics such as strategic training of young EFL learners, promoting critical thinking through video gaming, language learning strategies for languages other than English, and the contribution of language learning strategies to the development of the four language learning skills. It will equip scholars and practitioners with the knowledge to help them better appreciate how language learning strategies contribute to and are linked with language learning processes. The contributing authors share research from their various contexts, which range from primary to tertiary education, and discuss the need for fine-tuned strategy categorization, conscious self-regulation and proposed strategy instruction.

This innovative book focuses on the relationships among self-regulated language learning strategies, students' individual characteristics, and the diverse contexts in which learning occurs. It presents state-of-the-art, lively, readable chapters by well-known experts and new, promising scholars, who analyze learning strategy theory, research, assessment, and use. Written by a team of international contributors from Austria, Canada, Greece, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, Turkey, the UK and the USA, this volume provides theoretical insights on how strategic learning interacts with complex environments. It explores strategy choice and the fluidity and flexibility of learning strategies. Research-based but practical themes in the book include strategy-related teacher preparation; differentiated strategy instruction to meet the needs of diverse learners of different ages, cultures, and learning styles; and creative, visualization-based development of strategy awareness. Examining methodologies for strategy research and assessment, the volume explores narrative, decision-tree, scenario-based, and questionnaire-based research, as well as mixed-methods research and new assessment tools for young learners' strategies. It presents research on strategies used for foreign/second language pronunciation, pragmatics, listening, reading, speaking, writing, and test-taking. By providing a wide range of examples of strategies in research and action in a number of countries, cultures, and educational settings, and by offering incisive section overviews and a detailed synthesis at the end, this book enables readers to develop a holistic understanding of language learning strategies. With additional online strategy materials available for downloading, Language Learning Strategies and Individual Learner Characteristics is invaluable to all those interested in helping language students learn more effectively.

Task-based language teaching is now a well-established pedagogic approach but problematic issues remain, such as whether it is appropriate for all learners and in all instructional contexts. This book draws on the author’s experience of working with teachers, together with his knowledge of relevant research and theory, to examine the key issues. It proposes flexible ways in which tasks can be designed and implemented in the language classroom to address the problems that teachers often face with task-based language teaching. It will appeal to researchers and teachers who are interested in task-based language teaching and the practical and theoretical issues involved. It will also be of interest to students and researchers working in the areas of applied linguistics, TESOL and second language acquisition.

Measuring Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition provides an examination of the background to testing vocabulary knowledge in a second language and in particular considers the effect that word frequency and lexical coverage have on learning and communication in a foreign language. It examines the tools we have for assessing the various facets of vocabulary knowledge such as aural and written word recognition, the link with word meaning, and vocabulary depth. These are illustrated and the scores they produce are demonstrated to provide normative data. Vocabulary acquisition from course books and in the classroom in examined, as is vocabulary uptake from informal tasks. This book ties scores on tests of vocabulary breadth to performance on standard foreign language examinations and on hierarchies of communicative performance such as the CEFR.

Due to its theoretical and educational significance within the language learning process, the study of L2 motivation has been an important area of second language acquisition research for several decades. Over the last few years L2 motivation research has taken an exciting new turn by focusing increasingly on the language learner’s situated identity and various self-perceptions. As a result, the concept of L2 motivation is currently in the process of being radically reconceptualised and re-theorised in the context of contemporary notions of self and identity. With contributions by leading European, North American and Asian scholars, this volume brings together the first comprehensive anthology of key conceptual and empirical papers that mark this important paradigmatic shift.

Now in its second edition, Teaching and Researching Language Learning Strategies: Self-Regulation in Context charts the field systematically and coherently for the benefit of language learning practitioners, students, and researchers. This volume carries on the author's tradition of linking theoretical insights with readability and practical utility and offers an enhanced Strategic Self-Regulation Model. It is enriched by many new features, such as the first-ever major content analysis of published learning strategy definitions, leading to a long-awaited, encompassing strategy definition that, to a significant degree, brings order out of chaos in the strategy field. Rebecca L. Oxford provides an intensive discussion of self-regulation, agency, and related factors as the "soul of learning strategies." She ushers the strategy field into the twenty-first century with the first in-depth treatment of strategies and complexity theory. A major section is devoted to applications of learning strategies in all language skill areas and in grammar and vocabulary. The last chapter presents innovations for strategy instruction, such as ways to deepen and differentiate strategy instruction to meet individual needs; a useful, scenario-based emotion regulation questionnaire; insights on new research methods; and results of two strategy instruction meta-analyses. This revised edition includes in-depth questions, tasks, and projects for readers in every chapter. This is the ideal textbook for upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses in TESOL, ELT, education, linguistics, and psychology.

The Second Handbook of English Language Teaching provides a comprehensive examination of policy, practice, research and theory related to English language teaching in international contexts. Over 70 chapters focus on the research foundation for best practices, frameworks for policy decisions, and areas of consensus and controversy in second-language acquisition and pedagogy. In countries around the globe, English has become the second language taught most frequently and intensively. In many countries, particularly in Asia, government policies have made English a part of the curriculum from primary school on. Demand for English teaching by parents and adult learners is fueled by the desire to increase economic competitiveness, globalization of the workforce, immigration, and a move toward lifelong learning. Immigration has led to an increased demand for English-language teaching even in countries where English is the dominant language.

This is the first book devoted to exploring issues of learning written Japanese, focusing on the challenges the writing system poses for the second language learner. It weaves together previous research on Japanese second language acquisition and kanji learning with original studies on self-regulation and kanji learning strategies. It provides the most comprehensive overview of the Japanese writing system and kanji learning to date; helps further our understanding of second language writing acquisition and offers new directions for research in the wider fields of language learning strategies, motivation and self-regulation. Each chapter concludes with a brief discussion of the implications of the content of the chapter for the Japanese language learner, instructor and researcher. It will appeal to researchers of the teaching and learning of Japanese as a foreign/second language, the Japanese writing system and second language acquisition, as well as to instructors and learners of Japanese who are struggling with the teaching and learning of kanji.