This brief is part of a series that highlights key features of high-quality instruction for English learners and the role formative assessment plays in their success. Formative assessment supports teachers to enact these features by providing them with tools to gauge and react to student learning in real-time. These practices also support students…

Originating in adult education, the approach of task-based language teaching (TBLT) has been promoted in young language learner (YLL) education. However, its application often encounters challenges due to varying interpretations of what constitutes a "task." Previous research has repeatedly highlighted gaps in teachers' understanding of…

This brief is part of a series that highlights key features of high-quality instruction for English learners and the role formative assessment plays in their success. Formative assessment supports teachers to enact these features by providing them with tools to gauge and react to student learning in real-time. These practices also support students…

An increasing body of research has explored patterns of interaction and peer support among young learners. Although some studies suggest that young learners can engage in collaboration when interacting on tasks, other studies indicate the opposite. Moreover, despite the claims that peer collaboration is conducive to learning, studies have not paid…

This brief is part of a series that highlights key features of high-quality instruction for English learners and the role formative assessment plays in their success. Formative assessment supports teachers to enact these features by providing them with tools to gauge and react to student learning in real-time. These practices also support students…

Pronunciation is a crucial component of language acquisition, vital for achieving clarity and fluency in communication. This study, utilizing cycles of action research, aimed to evaluate the impact of songs on the pronunciation skills of Thai EFL learners. Additionally, this study explored the participants' perceptions of using songs in their…

This systematic review reports on research investigating the impact of multi-word unit (MWU) input on young learners' second language (L2) attainment in instructed settings. Recent findings suggest that L2 learners can generalise from MWU input, abstract patterns and employ such schemata productively via slot-filling, indicating that MWUs are key…

Artificial agents, such as voice-controlled conversational agents (VCAs) built into smart devices, are becoming more prevalent in daily and educational contexts, enhancing the possibility of using them as language partners. However, research has primarily focused on the cognitive or affective outcomes of using these agents, overlooking questions…

This study examined young learners' motivation and strategy use for Chinese-as-a-foreign-language (L2 Chinese) learning in New Zealand. A total of 1157 primary school students from 29 primary schools were recruited for the study. The results revealed that primary school young learners' overall motivation and strategy use for L2 Chinese learning…

Over the past six decades, the field of teaching modern foreign languages to young learners has come a long way, from the early surmises about the advantages of a young start to today's widespread integration of foreign languages into curricula in public and private schools. The chapters in this book bring together internationally renowned…

Over the past few years, the world's attention has been focused on gaming systems and their application in education through gamification, incorporating game features into learning tools. Against this backdrop, this study aims to investigate the motivation of EFL learners in a Gamified Formative Assessment (GFA). Theoretical insights from…

Pragmatic competence is an essential element of communicative competence, which makes it relevant for speakers of all ages, including young language learners (YLLs). Despite the recognized importance of pragmatics, research of textbooks for adult second language (L2) learners to date has found them lacking in their approach to this key aspect of…

Private tutoring (PT) has significantly expanded worldwide in recent decades. Despite its popularity and implications for the operation of formal education systems and cultural and social development, research on English private tutoring (EPT) is still in its infancy. Guided by Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory (1994), this mixed-methods study is…

This paper illustrates how spaces were created for children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds to emotionally engage in traditional Chinese literacy practices in a primary school in Sydney, Australia. The ethnographic data allow insight into how ordinary activities organised around character tracing and writing can…

The "boy turn" in research on gender and education has sought to understand how social practices and schooling contribute to the process of orientation to particular identities. This paper applies the theories of affect to explore the story of an underprivileged, low-achieving Samoan boy, as he engaged with learning Chinese in an…