This paper synthesises aspects of functional grammar and cognitive stylistics to posit a theoretical approach to the teaching of the grammar of narrative writing to upper primary and lower secondary students. It is argued the development of students' metalinguistic understanding is essential if they are to make informed language choices as they…

As an established educational institute, the University of Jordan promotes intercultural exchange through language support. This thesis addresses the question of heterogeneity of German language teaching at the University of Jordan and develops a didactic strategy for improving language acquisition at the A2 and B1 levels. The focus is on…

How does a picture teach a viewer to look at it, understand it, and make meaning? (The theoretical basis of this article and elements of its expression have been drawn from Peter Pericles Trifonas. (1998). "Cross-mediality and narrative textual form: A semiotic snalysis of the lexical and visual signs and codes of the picture bnook."…

Purpose: Narrative interventions are a class of language interventions that involve the use of telling or retelling stories. Narrative intervention can be an efficient and versatile means of promoting a large array of academically and socially important language targets that improve children's access to general education curriculum and enhance…

English language teachers who work with children in schools need knowledge about how English works to construct and present knowledge. This article discusses three aspects of that knowledge: understanding variation in the registers needed to engage in different classroom tasks, being able to identify language features used in the disciplinary…

The International Literacy Association is a global advocacy organization, and literacy is viewed as a human right worldwide. This department highlights research and research-to-practice at the international level to bring global best teaching practices to the forefront. Topics may include best practices for literacy instruction in Europe or other…

This article discusses a sociocultural usage-based perspective on the development of sociolinguistic competence. Previous research has focused on learners' acquisition and use of alternative ways of 'saying the same thing' (i.e. native-like variation) in relation to study abroad, contact with native speakers, and pedagogy. Missing from the…

With the ever-increasing number of available language technology products, there is also a need to evaluate them objectively. Unsubstantiated beliefs about what language technology can and cannot do inside or outside the language classroom often influence decisions about the choice of language technology to be used. The declarative/procedural…

The aim of this article is to describe some theoretical and methodological bases underpinning the design of the course Health Communication in Basque (HCB) at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). Based on some relevant theoretical tenets of the socioterminologic and communicative approaches to Terminology, the authors assume that…

In this paper, we discuss the benefits of using online translators in the foreign language classroom. Specifically, we discuss how faulty online translator output can be used to create activities that help raise metalinguistic awareness of second language grammar and of the differences between grammatical constructions in the first and second…

This article employs the term "communicative repertoire" in order to highlight that when one learns any new "language", one introduces new communicative resources into a unified communicative repertoire. As repertoires represent such singular "grammars" in individuals' minds, learned communicative resources can…

With particular reference to recent developments (including some in communication-technology), this first of two papers explores the nature of "language change"--its kinds, mechanisms and effects--and some attitudes towards it. It then suggests a case for teaching and learning about language change (bearing in mind, particularly,…

Following on from my state-of-the-art article on "Language Awareness and language learning" (Svalberg 2007), in this paper I will discuss specific research tasks which are centrally concerned with different aspects of language awareness (LA): "explicit knowledge about language, and conscious perception and sensitivity in language learning,…

This article intends to show how situation comedies may be used in the English language classroom to develop awareness-raising activities aimed at soliciting an understanding of essentially pragmatic and cultural aspects of everyday language. After a brief overview of studies on pragmatic teachability (Rose and Kasper 2001, 2002) and learnability…

Adopting a functional perspective that views grammar as a rich resource for making contextualized meanings in a culture- and language-specific way, the article reconsiders the role of explicit grammar instruction in developing communicative abilities of second language learners. It draws on two distinct but complementary research frameworks,…