This article explores the methodological approaches offered in grammar exercises in a selection of French as a foreign language textbooks produced for the Scandinavian market. It investigates the extent to which developments within the research fields of second language acquisition and language pedagogy are reflected in current textbooks and thus…

Testing-effect literature has shown the benefits of retrieval practice to enhance retention and attenuate forgetting. However, research in memory reconsolidation has demonstrated that a memory trace can be rendered labile by retrieval and requires restabilisation to persist. This study investigated the effects of the initial test interval and…

The vocabulary content of the French MFL curriculum in England has received criticism (Häcker, M. 2008. Eleven pets and 20 ways to express one's opinion: the vocabulary learners of German acquire at English secondary schools. "The Language Learning Journal" 36, no. 2: 215-26; Tschichold, C. 2012. French vocabulary in Encore…

In foreign language (FL) teaching and learning, a substantial amount of content is provided in grammar exercises supplied by textbooks. The main focus of this study concerns the selection of grammar exercise types in FL textbook series. In our analysis, we focus on Dutch, Finnish and global textbooks for beginners aged approximately 13-15 years…

The number of Spanish students in Australia is increasing. This growth coincides with a period of revival in the teaching and learning of pronunciation in the foreign language classroom. However, unlike their peers in the UK and especially in the US, no specific materials are available for Australian students. In order to assist them, the first…

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 explores the approaches and strategies used by secondary school learners of different languages in England completing Asset Languages reading tasks at levels A1 and A2 of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). Assessments across languages at the same level of proficiency were designed to a common specification and at…

The rise of English as an international language (EIL) has challenged the focus on native-speaker culture in second language teaching and learning. Exposing learners to a single culture is no longer considered sufficient as intercultural language teaching and understanding gains momentum. The aim of this study was to investigate the representation…

British learners acquire very little vocabulary in their foreign languages, compared to pupils elsewhere in Europe, particularly learners of English as a foreign language. Could the materials used for teaching help explain this difference? An analysis of the vocabulary loading of a textbook for French as a foreign language commonly used in…

The task of teaching non-territorial languages such as Yiddish at the university level is a complex undertaking. The teaching of Yiddish has its own particular difficulties due to an ever-diminishing population of native speakers available to students, a lack of contemporary cultural materials, and an abundance of outdated teaching materials. A…

Research repeatedly reports very little vocabulary uptake by English as a foreign language (EFL) learners in public schools in Saudi Arabia. Factors such as the teaching methodology employed and learner motivation have been suggested to explain this but a further explanation, the vocabulary input these learners receive, remains uninvestigated. An…

This article investigates the vocabulary of textbooks and relates it to education policy, assessment methods and teaching methods. It considers the range of vocabulary covered by key stages 3 and 4 German foreign language textbooks for secondary schools from the beginning of the 1990s to 2006 and shows that there is an overall decrease in the…

Argues that the cultural content of a course derives from official language policies and national educational ideology, and that cultural studies in the classroom center on a balanced relationship between foreign and native cultures and include the management of attitudes towards foreignness and the construction of a new perception of learners'…

Discusses students' cultural reasons for studying a particular language, the use of sociolinguistic studies as a cultural backdrop to language studies in order to view language as a living cultural asset, and the use of the cultural area of language studies as one of the best media to challenge prejudice. (11 references) (CK)