This article discusses how amusing mistakes can make for serious language instruction. The notion that close analysis of language errors can yield insight into how one thinks and learns seems fundamentally obvious. Yet until relatively recently, language errors were primarily treated as indicators of learner deficiency rather than opportunities to…

The 2010 Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (CSCTFL) focused on exploring various ways to lead students to become part of an internationally competent workforce. Foreign language educators shared their experiences in investigating various modes of assessment, the use of technology, and techniques to motivate students to…

This case study focuses on two learners who took part in an intensive online German course offered to intermediate level students in the Department of Languages of the Open University. The course piloted the use of a Moodle-based virtual learning environment and a range of new online tools which lend themselves to different types of language…

This research studies the first attempts by applied linguistics doctoral students in Hong Kong to publish their work in a refereed journal in English. Interviews were conducted with students to learn about their experience in the publication process. The interview data indicate that the applied linguistics doctoral students adopted specific…

The focus of this article is on relations between classroom interaction, curricular knowledge and student engagement in diverse classrooms. It is based on a study with ethnographic perspective in which two primary school classes in Sweden were followed for three years. The analysis draws on Halliday's Systemic Functional Linguistics. The results…

Situated within the framework of the systemic-functional linguistics (Halliday, 1994) and language-based theory of learning (Halliday, 1993), this article examines a shift toward a more objectified and "scientific" representation of reality in texts written by foreign language (FL) learners at various levels of acquisition. It argues that…

This paper provides an analysis of language shift from African languages to English (and Afrikaans) in South Africa, using home language data from the South African population census (1996 and 2001). Although census data have been criticised for its "essentialist" construction of language, they nevertheless provide sociolinguists with a…

Latinas in the United States are at a disproportionate risk for STDs and sexual risk behaviors. Among Latinas, acculturation has been found to be one of the most important predictors of these behaviors. Therefore, this study examined the longitudinal association between Latina adolescents' level of acculturation and multiple sexual risk outcomes,…

The use of specialized language in the field of education is defended. (JD)

From the point of view on postcolonial theories, this paper explores English language's influence on normal Chinese and Hong Kong Chinese, and concludes the advantage and disadvantage of this phenomenon.

The usage and disappearance of the Central Ibero-Romance future subjunctive have been extensively researched through Old Spanish texts. Studies on the future subjunctive as it evolved in the farther Western Ibero-Romance languages, represented by Galician and Portuguese, have been scarce, if not incomplete. This dissertation partially fills the…

Anecdotal evidence abounds in Hong Kong to the effect that students entering tertiary education are predisposed to a "rote" learning approach. With the internalisation of higher education in many countries, there is still insufficient understanding of how Chinese students approach their learning. Except few studies were conducted…

Much of the research on students' understanding of the greenhouse effect and global warming reports poor results. Students are claimed to hold misconceptions and naive beliefs, and the impact of teaching on their conceptions is also low. In the present study, these results are called into question, and it is argued that they may to a large extent…

Objectives: By completing the "Rewind and Replay" activity, participants will: (1) identify heterosexist language in common classroom interactions, (2) discuss underlying heterosexist assumptions embedded in common teacher statements, (3) brainstorm inclusive terms and expressions for use in place of heterosexist language, and (4) verbally…

The objective of this study was to evaluate the first language (L1) vocabulary knowledge in a large-scale sample (n = 70) of second-generation Russian-Jewish immigrants in Israel. The interest in this research population follows from the unique demographic, sociocultural, linguistic, and psychological distinctiveness of RJ immigration in Israel.…