Points of transition in life are accepted as times which impact greatly on aspects of the individual's psyche, including motivation to learn. In spite of this, pupils' views are rarely heard in discussions of transition from primary to secondary school in general and in relation to modern languages in particular. This exploratory study…

Modern foreign languages (MFL) are now established on the timetable of English primary schools. This study accesses the views of the pupils on the experience of learning this relatively new subject and of making the transition to secondary school languages classes. By means of semi-structured interviews with the same sample of 18 pupils in Year 6…

The initial response to COVID-19 exposed widespread racism and Sinophobia across the world, which contributed to a rethinking of equality and diversity in Higher Education (HE) and beyond. Within Modern Languages, much attention has been placed on decolonising the curriculum. The death of George Floyd in 2020 further contributed to an increased…

Teaching modern foreign languages is not all about communicative skills. It is also about testing functional abilities. While we still pay lip service to the creed of communicative language teaching, we have adopted test formats and teaching styles that follow a hidden agenda: the production of human capital. The main objective of teaching is…

This case discusses an embedded-multiple case study design applied in my PhD research. Its particularity, besides the method, is that it was placed in an international context investigating the use of movement and games in Modern Foreign Language (MFL) learning/teaching in inclusive educational contexts. Therefore, it provides information on…

There has recently been much criticism, at government level, of the role of universities on the training of teachers in the UK. This paper investigates the effects of an initial teacher education programme (ITE) at a higher education institution (HEI) on trainee modern foreign language teachers. Seven modern foreign language trainees teachers were…

This paper explores Cultural and Creative Industry (CCI) teaching and curriculum development across disciplines, based on a case study of a newly established Cultural and Creative Industry (CCI) programme at the School of Modern Languages, Cardiff University, UK. It illustrates how different academic values and goals influence styles of teaching…

This paper reflects on issues arising from a research-informed learning and teaching project intended to enable student teachers of Modern Languages to experiment with the use of unscripted 'process drama' in their classroom practice. The idea that process drama could become part of the language teacher's repertoire has been in circulation for…

The paper reports on the findings of a PhD study exploring the implications of the separation between language and content in Modern Languages for students' development of intercultural competence and criticality across four universities -- two in the US and two in the UK. In particular, it exposes the diverse views students developed on the…

In language courses, oral skills are frequently a source of anxiety for students. Moreover, in some occasions, students are unfamiliar with the evaluation criteria used to assess their performances, increasing their level of stress when facing the oral exam. This article describes a series of activities based on the introduction of several…

In Pountain (2017), I argued that the indispensable foundation of an academic discipline of Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) must consist of (a) acquisition of and competence in the standard form of a foreign language, (b) awareness of its linguistic structure and varieties, and (c) critical study of cultural manifestations which depend on that…

A greater level of informal language learning is now taking place than at any time in human history. Much of that learning is linked to unprecedented levels of migration across the globe. This poses challenges to the identity of higher education language teachers, particularly in the UK, where numbers of modern language students have stagnated,…

Recent scholarship in professional development (PD) has advocated for solid conceptual frameworks and understanding of the complex process involved in how language educators may continue to develop and fulfil the current challenging teaching demands. However, specific relationships underlying departmental cultures and how language educators relate…

This study follows a group of modern foreign languages (MFL) teachers in the Netherlands during a nine-month professional development project around the theme of 'Content in MFL'. The project was initiated following proposals to refocus the MFL curriculum on the basis of integrated learning outcomes for both language proficiency and areas of…

Self-assessment for accreditation purposes requires follow-up of graduates and feedback with academic programs. As part of the improvement actions, this study was done to characterize graduates' methodologies in English language teaching. The data, gathered through questionnaires, showed that graduates privilege the communicative and eclectic…