This study investigates the immediate and sustained effects of a pre-departure study abroad training on the oral production of L2 Chinese formulaic language across a range of social and transactional interactions. Eighteen upper-intermediate learners of Chinese were assigned to either an instructed or non-instructed group to determine the efficacy…

This paper presents results of a study investigating four teaching methods used to introduce Chinese characters to beginner learners of Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) in an Irish secondary school between September 2016 and October 2016. Approximately 98 learners aged 14-16 were divided into four groups and taught for two one-hour classes per…

While studies have shown benefits of plurilingual pedagogies on students' experiences learning languages, more research is needed to examine how these pedagogies can be enacted in foreign language programmes in digital environments. Moreover, prioritising oral engagement has been an urgent need among teachers who use synchronous platforms such as…

Dynamic shifts of language learners' willingness to communicate (WtC) have been investigated in a number of studies with a view to establishing the impact of various cognitive, affective, social and contextual factors. Looking into such influences in the context of a language classroom gives an opportunity to identify variables that might remain…

One of the key topics on any Modern Languages Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) course in the United Kingdom is the hotly debated issue of target language (TL) use. When and why do teachers use the TL in delivering lessons and when and why do they code switch into the learners' language? Does their practice change over time? Does it…

This study compared two groups of high school students in their learning of a third-year Mandarin level 3 class under two conditions: an intensive four-week (85.5 hours) summer program and a 22-week (88 hours) regular semester program. Students in both conditions had been classmates through four semesters of Mandarin instruction and had similar…

This comparative study, conducted in multicultural London, investigates the occurrence in interviews with a researcher and in constructed same-sex peer conversations of five linguistic features characteristic of London English in the speech of two groups of British-born adolescents: ethnic Bangladeshis and ethnic Chinese of Cantonese heritage. The…

The aim of this paper is to describe vocabulary use during semi-spontaneous oral production among instructed learners of French and Spanish at two different stages in the UK educational system: year 9 (near beginners) and year 13 (approximately low-intermediates). The paper mainly focuses on comparing lexical diversity (range or variety of…