Preparation and provision for transition between primary and secondary school get mixed reviews across all subjects. The literature suggests that modern languages is an area deserving particular attention. There are examples of good practice in transition, but the general picture is, at best, patchy. Researchers [e.g. Blondin, C., M. Candelier, P.…

The relationship between language pedagogy and the content and language integrated learning (CLIL) classroom is a key issue for research into CLIL. In the Netherlands, as in other European contexts, non-native speakers of a target language with a non-language teaching background teach CLIL content lessons. Whilst CLIL teachers teaching their…

Telecollaboration, or "online intercultural exchange" (OIE), refers to the application of online communication tools to bring together classes of language learners in geographically distant locations with the aim to develop their foreign language skills and intercultural competence through collaborative tasks and project work. Many…

This study presents an insight into content and language integrated learning (CLIL) practices in the Australian state of Queensland. The article comprises four main sections. The first section outlines the context of CLIL in Australia and Queensland; there follows a brief review of the literature on stakeholders in CLIL programmes, such as…

This paper explores the professional development of 11 newly qualified foreign language teachers. It draws on a qualitative longitudinal study conducted at the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland between 2002 and 2009. The paper concentrates on the personal side of teacher development by analysing participants' discourses concerning language…

Teachers' subject knowledge is recognized as an essential component of effective teaching. In the foreign language context, teachers' subject knowledge includes language proficiency. In New Zealand high schools, foreign languages (e.g. Chinese, French, German, Japanese and Spanish) have recently been offered to learners earlier in their schooling,…

The "MustLearnIT" European-funded research project with partners in Greece, Poland, Cyprus, Finland and the UK aimed to investigate ways of teaching and learning modern foreign languages (MFL) to early learners in small/remote primary schools where there were no specialist MFL teachers. This was to be carried out through new technologies…

In a paper published in "The Language Learning Journal" in 2005, Eric Hawkins describes his vision of language education as an apprenticeship comprising two stages. In stage one (ages 5-14), the purpose is "educational" and the focus is on language awareness; in stage two (14-19), the purpose is "instrumental" and…

In the following article the author presents a methodological framework for the teaching of intercomprehension. Competence in intercomprehension is seen as a realisation of the general human faculty for using and understanding language, which includes the ability to comprehend texts and utterances in "unfamiliar" languages. This competence can be…