Recent research on stakeholders' emotions in English-medium instruction (EMI) higher education settings has demonstrated the importance of engaging students with their emotions about the impact of EMI on their lives. This article presents a pedagogical intervention bridging emotions, creativity, and translingual pedagogy with EMI students in…

This "state of the art" review on the history of language teaching in Portugal provides an opportunity for a historiographical analysis, highlighting the relationships between languages, the links between languages and educational policy and implementation, and the cultural implications resulting from this. Researching language teaching…

Recent policy reforms in Scotland mean that all primary teachers are expected to teach a foreign language (FL) to children from age 5, introducing a second language around age 9. This small-scale research study aimed to ascertain 38 primary teachers' perceptions of their confidence to teach an FL to primary learners and what they felt would be…

This paper considers the languages on offer in secondary schools in England and the possibility of enacting curriculum change with a view to reducing the dominance of French, Spanish and, to a lesser extent, German as a possible way to increase take-up of modern foreign languages post-14. Questionnaires were completed by 666 students aged 14-15,…

The statutory inclusion of modern foreign languages (MFL) into the Key Stage 2 curriculum in England in 2014 aimed to raise the language skills of younger learners in preparation for their secondary education. This change to the curriculum has occurred at a time in which the linguistic diversity within primary schools across the country has been…

This article provides an introduction, based on the most recent research available, to the history of language learning and teaching (HoLLT) in Britain. After an overview of the state of research, I consider which languages have been learnt, why and how that has changed; the role of teachers and tests in determining what was taught; changes in how…

This article considers the provision of modern foreign languages (MFL) in England since the 1970s in the context of wider curricular change and also taking into account Europe-wide developments in MFL. It charts the changes implemented over almost three decades to England's National Curriculum for MFL at secondary level (from ages 11 to 16) and…

In the high-stakes accountability English educational system, decisions made by government and agencies about curriculum, pedagogy and assessment drive school planning and actions. This paper analyses the drivers for the recent change to French German and Spanish GCSEs and highlights particular areas of the new specification which may damage the…

The Netherlands are quite unique in that the Dutch have always learned various foreign languages. Until 1940, French was the most important foreign language. Between roughly 1870 and 1970, Dutch learners in grammar schools and higher secondary schools were even obliged to learn three foreign languages: French, German and English. Since 1970,…

This paper examines the rise and rise of a range of individual, institutional, national and regional mobility projects in the global higher education sector, and explores the implications of these dynamics for the economisation, and thus instrumentalisation, of English as a global language, as a medium of instruction and a competitive advantage.…

This study comes in response to recent changes in UK policy, whereby Ancient Greek and Latin have been included alongside modern languages as part of the curriculum at Key Stage 2. It aims to understand how Ancient Greek is surviving and thriving in three different types of schools. After a short overview of the history of Greek teaching in the…

This article reports on in-depth interviews conducted with 12 teachers of modern languages in relation to how they dealt with the challenge of transition from primary to secondary school, with special reference to modern foreign languages. Findings suggest that only one of the 12 secondary schools was well placed to facilitate a smooth transition,…

Task-based language teaching (TBLT) is an innovative learner-centred and experiential approach to modern foreign language (MFL) teaching and learning that is not without controversy in the secondary MFL classroom. This article considers one secondary-level initial teacher education programme in New Zealand in which, following school curriculum…

This article examines the various educational paradigms used in the design of a European studies undergraduate programme in Hong Kong to enhance the acquisition of intercultural competences (IC) among students. The intercultural approach is supported by intensive foreign language (FL) learning and is motivated by a compulsory full year academic…

This study investigated the impact of the interactive whiteboard on Egyptian medical students' achievement in essay writing in English as a second language (ESL). First, the writing micro-skills judged essential to help these students improve their essay writing were identified, using a questionnaire which investigated experts' views. This gave…