The aim of the research project was to consider whether theoretical underpinnings of the concept of differentiation would help a group of modern languages student teachers develop their understanding and practice of differentiation in the classroom. This was a small-scale inquiry with qualitative data collected from three sources: student…

The language teaching landscape in Ireland has changed considerably over the last 30 years as a result of substantial and sustained inward migration into the country during this period. These social and demographic developments have added to the country's already bilingual context and created a much more varied multilingual landscape than had…

Much SDT research in the language learning domain focuses on the learning of English as a second or foreign language, in many cases by undergraduate students. By contrast, our work focuses on adolescent learners (aged between 11 and 16) of what are termed Modern Foreign Languages--languages other than English--in schools in England. In this…

Linguistics is conspicuously absent from language teaching in UK schools. A-level cultural topics cover a range of themes such as cyber-society, cultural heritage and multiculturalism, but the approach taken to these topics is not informed by linguistics. In previous work, we have argued that this is an unfortunate omission not only because…

The turning point for 'languages for all' is widely associated with the end of compulsory language learning up to age 16 in England (2004). Uptake has since dropped dramatically at both GCSE and A-Level where these examinations are used, i.e. in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (henceforth NI). There is also significant evidence that languages…

The face of Modern Foreign Language education (MFL) in Scotland is changing. A major policy shift in Scottish education in 2012 set out the aspiration that all students up to the end of third level education in Scottish schools would have the opportunity to learn not one but two languages, in addition to their mother tongue. Over the last 20…

A TeachMeet (TM) is a form of free Continuing Professional Development (CPD) that originated in 2006 in Scotland, and has since been known under many guises; guerrilla CPD, unconference, and bottom-up CPD. From the very first TM, which took place on the peripheries of an educational conference, there have been certain characteristics that define…

This article considers students in Grades 3 and 4 and their parents' views regarding learning English as a modern foreign language (MFL) in the primary school, through questionnaires in the Muscat region and AL Dahira region, and interviews with students. This study found that Omani people are interested in language learning. Parents were willing…

Low participation in language learning in secondary education is a topic which continues to exercise education policy-makers in England and other anglophone contexts. One instance of an attempt to increase take-up can be found in the introduction of the EBacc, a performance measure which requires the majority of young people to study a language as…

In this paper, we use the lens of embodied language cognition and intersemiosis to argue for the importance of developing creative approaches to language work in classroom settings and we cite as an example some activities from a workshop that was developed for modern foreign languages (MFL) trainee teachers in London…

In Sweden, curricula and syllabi for education are politically determined after public consultations. Thus, these educational documents are discursive trade-offs reflecting research, traditions in the educational system, and political ideologies. This study maps the discourses in the syllabus for Sami as L1 mother tongue for preschool class-Year…

The aim of this activity report is to provide an initial appraisal of the current makeup of the professional group of modern foreign language teachers in UK Higher Education. The report is in two parts: a literature review that identifies the main defining qualities of modern foreign languages teachers, and an evaluation of the professional and…

Guided by the Second Language Motivational Self System (L2MSS) framework, this study examined to what extent the L2MSS components of ideal self, ought-to self, and learning experience described the motivation of learners who chose to enroll in college elective courses of modern languages other than English (LOTEs) in the monolingual social setting…

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…

This paper reports findings from a longitudinal qualitative study that explored the ethnographic learning processes of 10 modern languages students who spent one full academic year abroad, having first completed successfully an "Introduction to Ethnography" course in the UK. It begins from the argument that although significant attempts…