Although initial research involving Intelligent Personal Assistants (IPAs) for language learning have yielded promising results, no study has examined their use in the context of Autonomous Second Language Learning (ASLL). Thus, the main goal of this pilot study was to investigate the use of an IPA, specifically Alexa, for ASLL. Two Japanese…

This pilot study provides a preliminary account on students' attitudes toward using specialized corpora in English for specific purposes (ESP) classes. Learners (N=39) were introduced to the EcoLexicon corpus and trained to use its basic query tools. The rationale behind this activity was to introduce learners to contextualization patterns and…

The aim of this study is to compare how two different Virtual Exchanges (VE) contribute to language learning in a Japanese university context. Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) using VE has been a focus in this study. There are huge advantages of using technology in language teaching such as increasing language use opportunities, feedback, and…

This paper will report on a pilot Virtual Reality (VR) project which repurposes an existing scenario-based VR asset for health sciences. The original scenario aims to prepare health care students for home visits by allowing them to experience a semi-linear conversation with a virtual Non-Player Character (NPC). This provides a safe,…

English for Specific Purposes (ESP) is an area of language education that has been advancing during the last years due to increased social and professional mobility. Despite this, as shown in the related literature, the area of ESP Teacher Education (TE) is deprived of attention by researchers; as a result, many ESP educators in different…

Recent developments in mobile technologies have increased the ways in which languages can be learnt, both within and beyond the classroom. Whereas the use of mobile technologies seems to challenge traditional knowledge and skills acquisition, research shows that foreign language study can be enriched through easy access to resources selected to…

This chapter describes a small-scale pilot study in which participants in the experimental group learned how to write Japanese kanji characters within an immersive Virtual Reality (VR) graffiti simulator (the Kingspray Graffiti Simulator on the Oculus Rift VR system). In comparing the experimental group to the non-VR control group in the context…

This pilot study delivers a preliminary report on students' attitudes toward Virtual Reality Assisted Language Learning (VRALL). Learners (N=22) participated in a VRALL lesson and then completed a post-experience survey. Virtual Reality (VR) technology allows for learning experiences that increasingly remove geographic limitations to foreign…

This chapter presents and discusses the results of a large-scale pilot study carried out in the context of a task-based, blended-learning Business English programme in the Foreign Languages and International Trade department of a French University . It seeks to explore the effects of pre-task planned Focus on Form (FonF) on accuracy in students'…

This paper describes how beginners of Icelandic as a foreign and second language responded to playing the first scene in Virtual Reykjavik, a video game-like environment where learners interact with virtual characters--Embodied Conversational Agents (ECAs). This game enables learners to practice speaking and listening skills, to learn about the…

In this chapter, I demonstrate how Bourdieu's (1991) notion of symbolic instruments, that is structured and structuring structures, can be applied to the Internet to demonstrate the mediation and construction of knowledge and validation of expertise. This qualitative pilot study explored the online language and interrelationship between expertise,…

Teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in Higher Education (HE) has a long-standing tradition in the language centres of the Cypriot academic world, much like in other European contexts. Even though Cypriot universities are advancing in educational technology, students enter bearing coursebook-led and teacher-centred learning experiences…

This article presents a prototype social Mobile Assisted Language Learning (henceforth, MALL) app based on Kukulska-Hulme's (2012) conceptual framework. This research allows the exploration of time, place and activity type as key factors in the design of MALL apps, and is the first step toward a systematic analysis of such a framework in this type…

This paper provides an overview of the successful pedagogical project TwitTIAMO, now in its third year, where micro blogging (Twitter) has been used in Italian language teaching and learning to improve students' communicative language skills, accuracy, fluency and pronunciation outside timetabled lessons. It also explores the background and…

The newly formed Linguistics and Modern Languages subject area at University of Huddersfield sought to revamp our curriculum to embed employability into our teaching so that students could understand the relevance of their subject to life outside and after university. To this end, we decided to adapt and specialise the generic placement module…