Although there is a direct link between pupil motivation and successful learning of foreign languages (FL), there appears to be a real paucity of research regarding carousels of activities as a pedagogical intervention, although carousels may often be used in the teaching and learning of FL. Located within two Year 6 French classrooms in a primary…

One of the most recent developments in the field of L2 motivation is the construct of Directed Motivational Currents (DMCs). This novel motivational conceptualisation is characterised by its energising capacity to promote and sustain action in a multitude of contexts whenever an individual is determined to attain a goal/vision he or she regards as…

Recent research has established that it is academically advantageous for students to adopt an incremental view of their intelligence and that this is a key marker of a student's level of self-efficacy. The self-efficacy of students following Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) courses in UK secondary schools is known to be low. Interventions have been…

With English as an undisputed global lingua franca, there is long-standing concern in anglophone countries over the lack of interest in language learning. In the UK, significant changes in language education policy, a mentality of insularity and the global spread of English have all contributed to a drop in language learning uptake beyond the…

This study looks at the effectiveness of an intervention to improve student retention on a distance language course. Of the six beginners' language courses offered by the UK's Open University, the beginners' Welsh course has consistently had the lowest retention rates since it was first presented in 2008. In order to address this, a project was…

Cross-study comparison of the impact of strategy instruction (SI) is problematic because of differences in learning settings, the periods of time over which it is undertaken and the nature of the SI itself. Few studies indicate how the choice of skill areas and strategies has been tailored to meet the learners' age, stage and proficiency level,…