Language Interaction In Teaching And Learning

This volume brings together empirical research that explores interaction in a wide range of educational settings. It includes work that takes a cognitive, brain-based approach to studying interaction, as well as studies that take a social, contextual perspective. Interaction is defined quite broadly, with many chapters focusing on oral interaction as is typical in the field, while other chapters report work that involves interaction between learners and technology. Several studies describe the linguistic and discourse features of interaction between learners and their interlocutors, but others demonstrate how interaction can serve other purposes, such as to inform placement decisions. The chapters in the book collectively illustrate the diversity of contemporary approaches to interaction research, investigating interactions with different interlocutors ( learner-learner, learner-teacher), in a variety of environments (classrooms, interactive testing environments, conversation groups) and through different modalities (oral and written, face-to-face and technology-mediated).

This book presents a view of human language as social interaction, illustrating its implications for language learning and second language teaching. // The volume advocates for researchers, practitioners, and administrators to rethink and reconceptualize an understanding of language beyond that of the written word to one encompassing social and interactional activity built on co-construction, collaboration, and negotiation. The book emphasizes the ways in which this view of language can shed light on the language learning process as one which draws on discrete linguistic units and constructions in conjunction with a range of temporal, sequential, and embodied resources across a variety of social contexts. In turn, these insights prompt further reflection and discussion on their implications for advancing second language teaching practice. // This book will be key reading for scholars interested in second language teaching research, as well as active second language teachers and language program administrators.

This book takes as its starting point the assumption that interpersonal communication is a crucial aspect of successful language learning. Following an examination of different communicative models, the authors focus on traditional face-to-face (F2F) interactions, before going on to compare these with the forms of computer-mediated communication (CMC) enabled by recent developments in educational technology. They also address the question of individual differences, particularly learners' preferred participation styles, and explore how F2F and CMC formats might impact learners differently. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of computer-mediated communication (CMC), computer-assisted language learning (CALL), technology-enhanced language learning (TELL), language acquisition and language education more broadly.

This book addresses two critical calls pertaining to language education. Firstly, for attention to be paid to the transdisciplinary nature and complexity of learner identity and interaction in the classroom and secondly, for the need to attend to conceptualizations of and approaches to manifestations of (in)equity in the sociohistorical contexts in which they occur. Collectively, the chapters envision classrooms and educational institutions as sites both shaping and shaped by larger (trans)communal negotiations of being and belonging, in which individuals affirm and/or problematize essentialized and idealized nativeness and community membership. The volume, comprised of chapters contributed by a diverse array of researcher-practitioners living, working and/or studying around the globe, is intended to inform, empower and inspire stakeholders in language education to explore, potentially reimagine, and ultimately critically and practically transform, the communities in which they live, work and/or study.

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.

This volume represents the first collection of empirical studies focusing on peer interaction for L2 learning. These studies aim to unveil the impact of mediating variables such as task type, mode of interaction, and social relationships on learners’ interactional behaviors and language development in this unique and pedagogically powerful learning context. To examine these issues, contributors employed quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods designs as well as cognitive, social, and sociocognitive theoretical frameworks. The majority of the studies are classroom based and were conducted in a rich array of settings covering five continents and encompassing a wide range of learner L1s and target languages. These settings include second and foreign language classrooms from primary to university level, content-based programs, online contexts, and after-school programs. To span the divide between research and practice, each study includes a section suggesting pedagogical implications.

In any classroom, it is through language interaction that students are able to acquire knowledge, develop skills, and understand communication. Classroom Interaction for Language Teachers takes a look at the complex relationship between language, interaction, and learning to help teachers have a fuller understanding of interaction and, in doing so, promote a fuller understanding of their effectiveness as teachers. This easy-to-follow guide uses authentic classroom transcripts and provides practical strategies to help both teachers and learners develop the interactional competence to create more engaged, dynamic classrooms and more active, attentive learners.

Interaction in the Language Curriculum offers an innovative theory of language education integrating curriculum practice, research and teaching. It emphasises the interdependence of knowledge and values and stresses the central importance of learning as a social process. Leo van Lier argues that moral as well as intellectual and practical principles must underlie curriculum development and everyday teaching, captured in his triple focus on Awareness, Autonomy, and Authenticity. In addition to its rich grounding in language education practice, the book draws support for his position from diverse sources in sociology, philosophy and cognitive science, from the work of Bourdieu, Giddens, Wittgenstein, Peirce, Vygotsky, Bakhtin, and Dewey. In the current broadening context of language education this study makes an important contribution to research. It presents a coherent philosophical theory as well as considering practical issues in implementation of a new language curriculum. As such, it will be of great benefit to teachers, applied linguists and educationalists generally.