Willingness to communicate (WTC) is an important individual learner difference that can help account for varying rates of language-learning success across individuals. As learner talk is considered to be a key pedagogical activity, instructors and researchers often strive to identify and manipulate key variables that will increase and arouse a…

Materials use is a critical yet poorly understood dynamic of language classrooms. This study examines 'materials-in-action,' meaning how materials shape classroom interaction and activity, in a beginning-level French-as-a-foreign-language classroom. The conceptual framework, 'pedagogical ergonomics,' similarly centers on materials-in-action, and…

This article argues for a reconceptualization of the concept of "corrective feedback" for the investigation of correction practices in everyday second language (L2) interaction ("in the wild"). Expanding the dataset for L2 research as suggested by Firth and Wagner (1997) to include interactions from the wild has consequences…

This qualitative study examines moments in the multilingual classroom when materials become prominent in whole-class interactions. Despite the critical impact that materials can have on classroom discourse and learning/teaching, research on "actual usage" of materials in second language (L2) classroom interactions has been scarce…

South Korean job seekers face pressure to produce high scores on standardized English tests, which leads to the prominence of test-oriented pedagogy. Though recent scholarship illustrates how materials reflect the values of society and how these are negotiated in classrooms it has mainly analyzed preexisting published books, leaving the potential…

This article examines the relationship between language curriculum and learners' subjectivity through a poststructuralist perspective. I use performativity theory to highlight the constituting power of language and integrate it with critical race theory to understand the relationships among curriculum, classroom interaction, and subjectivity…

This case study compares the discourse behaviors of 2 Chinese teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL), one rated high and one rated low by their respective students. The teachers were each audio-recorded for a total of 100 minutes during the 'text session' of an Intensive Reading course. Drawing on Yang's (2010) model of EFL classroom…

This article analyzes whole-class discussions between a teacher and her students in a Latin American Colonial literature course at the college level. The study is theoretical-exploratory in nature in that it (a) articulates theoretical assumptions inherent in an ecological perspective on second language learning and teaching and (b) attempts to…

The policy of strict separation of languages for academic instruction dominates dual language bilingual education programming. This article explores the dynamic bilingual practices of two experienced bilingual teachers in a two-way dual language public school in Texas and contributes to current research problematizing language separation. Data…

This study compares descriptive quantitative and qualitative data from 2 beginning, university-level second-language (L2) Spanish classes to demonstrate the benefits of teacher-led discourse organized as collaborative, whole-class tasks. In class, the teacher solicited target L2 forms through conversational questions to individuals with recasted…

This qualitative study followed two graduates from a master of arts in the teaching of languages program, who had taught for at least 3 years, into their domain of work in public school teaching. The study was carried out to better understand the day-to-day work, challenges, and social and interactive contexts in which language teachers engage. It…

Based on qualitative research conducted in 3 university English as a foreign language classrooms in Chile and 3 community college English as a second language classrooms in California, this article examines the approaches used in teaching culture in these classrooms, the differences in how particular cultures (usually national cultures) were…

Correction and repair as components of an instructional practice that facilitates learning have figured prominently in research on classroom-based second and foreign language learning. Recent studies incorporating a conversation analytic (CA) perspective on second language acquisition (SLA) have also focused on repair and correction. From a CA…

This study focused on the effect of a cooperative strategy training program on the patterns of interaction that arose as small groups of students participated in an oral discussion task. The underlying assumption was that students could be taught to engage with each other and with the task in a way that would foster the creation and exploitation…

This article provides an empirically based perspective on the contribution of conversation analysis (CA) and sociocultural theory to our understanding of learners' second language (L2) practices within what we call a strong socio-interactionist perspective. It explores the interactive (re)configuration of tasks in French second language…