Given that societies across the globe are increasingly multicultural and multilingual, the notion of communicative competence grounded in constricting definitions of national cultures and languages reflects neither our instructional realities nor the sociolinguistic reality of the languages and cultures we teach. To foster students' development of…

With the wide adoption of the blended approach by language practitioners, blended language learning (BLL) has developed into a new area in applied linguistics. Much research has been conducted on pedagogical innovation, technological tools, users' perceptions and the creation of the BLL environment. Concerning the establishment of a BLL…

In line with the rapid advancement in educational technology, and the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in particular, the teaching and learning of the English language has undergone a significant transformation. This paper aims to explore students' perceptions of integrating AI into the English as a foreign language (EFL) learning…

In this report, we present certain teaching activities employed at the University of Calabria and at the I.T.C. C. Mortati high school. The former were conducted within the English for Basic Academic Skills courses, the latter in the Spanish as a Foreign Language classes for students in the last two years of high school. The grammar and linguistic…

More than ever, faculty need to ensure that undergraduate curricula not only provide students with tools to gain linguistic proficiency but also teach them to analyze both written and visual information to attain historical literacy. Developing both intercultural proficiency and insights into various historical memorialization processes ensures…

This paper reports the findings of an action research that was carried out to measure the effectiveness of integrating a social networking website "Edmodo" in students' writing performance in an EFL classroom at Arab Open University (Oman Branch). The participants were 25 students studying English in the Foundation Programme. Along with…

Many learners are now quite digitally skilled. However, this does not entail that they know how to learn through digital technologies. Therefore, establishing an interactive virtual learning platform that connects everyone together in a classroom environment and helping learners become familiar with such media might serve a set of purposes in any…

Language is an indispensable part of culture, and it is also a major carrier and medium of culture communication and transmission. Learning a foreign language means not only learning basic language knowledge, training and improving the ability of listening, speaking, reading, writing and translating, but enriching the cross-cultural awareness,…

Japanese is a popular choice amongst higher education students on IWLPs (Institution-Wide Language Programmes), but the language presents challenges for many learners. Students on university elective programmes begin their courses with enthusiasm but often become discouraged and drop out at the post-beginner stage. Thus Japanese elective…

Social media like Facebook has been used for teaching and learning for quite some time. Since it allows for better participation in the learning activities, a fundamental English course at a private university integrated Facebook as a learning platform making it possible for students to do self-study, exchange ideas, give comments, and submit the…

Plurilingualism has been targeted as an objective of the European Commission and its deployment is naturally thought to originate in the education sector. A recent study of the Commission (2012) has pointed to the poor results of French schooling with regard to foreign language instruction, but few quantitative studies have looked specifically at…

Chinese characters have been an obstacle preventing the development of Chinese proficiency for learners of Chinese whose native language does not have characters. A substantial literature review identified linguistic, pedagogical, and political factors as causes such difficulties. Tone changes represent different meanings of a word. Compound…

This article analyzes the findings of a pilot project conducted in 2008-2009 as a partnership between University Studies, Portland State University's interdisciplinary general education program, and the University's Russian Flagship Language Partner Program. The project proposes a new approach of integrating non-English speakers' language skills,…

The "teaching spectacle" approach (where the teacher is the major and only character involved in teaching and learning) often observed in university-level English as a second language classes in Indonesia must be abandoned in favor of a "learning festival" approach, which encourages complete involvement of both teachers and…

A project to develop English reading texts for Japanese college students is described. Goals were to develop materials that will: (1) give students information about the United States, (2) interest students in reading English, (3) help students improve their reading skills, and (4) expose students to a variety of literary forms. Fifty important…