This article investigates the premise that literary texts use language in aesthetic, imaginative and engaging ways that have considerable potential to extend the learning of bilingual pupils. It draws on research findings from a qualitative study that examined the value of developing pedagogic practices for emergent bilingual learners at the…

Commencing study through a foreign language in senior secondary school brings huge challenges because of the cognitive-linguistic demands of academic subjects. This paper argues for the need to blend sociocultural and systemic functional linguistic (SFL) perspectives to address this enormous task. Firstly, readers' attention is drawn to the less…

This article looks at the possibilities of content-based instruction in mainstream English secondary schools. It considers the continuum from a language to content focus in classrooms where teachers collaborate. English as an additional language (EAL) and subject curriculum teachers work together to support young people while they simultaneously…

This article discusses challenges involved in contrastive discourse analysis that emerged while carrying out a follow-up study into a Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) program in Spain. Reversing the focus on English of much contrastive rhetoric work, the study investigates the effect of second-language-English on…

While some recent pioneering work (e.g., Eslami-Rasekh, 2005; Eslami & Eslami-Rasekh, 2008; Yates & Wigglesworth, 2005) has begun to investigate the effects of instructional pragmatics in teacher education, little has been explored in depth as to the way in which teacher cognition develops in the classroom discourse of language teacher…

Spain took in more immigrants than any other European country in 2005, a fact which has had a clear impact on the education system. This paper examines the language attitudes held by 125 local or autochtonous (42.4%) and immigrant (57.6%) students in the Basque Country. The results showed that both groups of students held rather negative attitudes…

When considering the extent to which plurilingualism nowadays shapes "every facet of human life" (Aronin & Singleton, 2008, p. 8), especially within European member states, one understands the reason why individual plurilingualism has become a benchmark in education, raising concerns in improving the quality of communication among…

This article is concerned with knowledge about language in the English classroom in Scotland, with a particular emphasis on national educational policy. The article provides a discussion of the main national guidelines on English Language teaching in the primary and early secondary years, as well as some observations on the place of knowledge…

This article presents compelling reasons from teachers why they teach grammar. Amy Benjamin from Hendrick Hudson High School says, she teaches grammar for two reasons. The first is that grammar instruction gives students metalanguage, "language about language." The second reason is that students are interested in language--its changes and…

Drawing on the second phase of a 2-year study of students' linguistic and compositional processes, this article describes students' reflections on their online revision processes, those revisions made during the process of translating thoughts into written text. The data collected were from classroom observation and post hoc interviews with 34…

This case study deals with language awareness (LA) oriented instruction in the Irish language classroom, based on qualitative-type research conducted in a class of 21 English-medium secondary students studying Irish as a subject. Having outlined the general background to the teaching of Irish in secondary schools, the first section of the paper…

This article focuses on some of the key issues that need to be addressed by 2010 if MLPS in England is going to work. The aims of MLPS need defining as educational, not instrumental; the KS1/2 experience has to be enjoyable and rewarding: an apprenticeship in learning how to learn a language, providing the tools for later learning and raising…

The paper focuses on the development of teacher thinking, specifically L2 teachers' subject-matter cognitions, i.e. their Teacher Language Awareness (TLA) (see e.g. Andrews 2001, 2003). The study examines the evolving TLA, as it relates to grammar, of three teachers, each a graduate with more than 10 years' experience of teaching English in Hong…

The article starts from the premise that approaches to the teaching of English can only be assessed in the particular settings where they may be used. Cultures of learning, teachers' and students' beliefs and prevailing material conditions will all have a bearing on how a particular approach is received. In the case study reported on here, four…

The assumption that the "purpose" of school foreign language teaching is to serve "instrumental" ends may largely underlie the present adolescent dropout. In this article the author proposes a two-stage foreign language apprenticeship. A two-stage apprenticeship would include a carefully planned diagnostic element, preparing…