Presented at the 16th World Congress of Applied Linguistics (AILA), Beijing Foreign Studies University, China, 24 August 2011.

The goal of the symposium was to show that a Dynamic systems/Complexity theory (DST) perspective will provide important insights into the L2 developmental process. Kees de Bot (University of Groningen) introduced the symposium by outlining the basic characteristics of a dynamic system: all factors or variables involved in language development are interconnected, interact with each other over time, and affect each other differently over time on different time scales. Initial conditions such as the learner's L1, motivation or level of proficiency are crucial and systems self-organize over time. Development is not linear and learners are not all the same, so variability and variation are the norm.

This paper discusses four studies from a recently completed Ph.D. thesis (van Zeeland, 2014a) on L2 listening and vocabulary knowledge. Two studies focused on the recognition of spoken vocabulary knowledge in isolation and in context, as well as the assessment of it, and two studies explored lexical inferencing and incidental vocabulary acquisition from listening. This paper summarises the main findings and discusses implications for future research. Together, the studies emphasise the need for more research attention to spoken vocabulary knowledge, especially in continuous speech. They also show how listening could contribute to expanding vocabulary knowledge, and emphasise several factors that future research on this topic should take into account.

The following conversation between Zhu Hua (ZH) and Claire Kramsch (CK) was conducted on 27 October 2020 at a webinar organized by Rebecca Taylor and Rachel Tonkin from Cambridge University Press on the occasion of the impending publication of Claire's book Language as Symbolic Power and in the shadow of the imminent presidential American election. What follows are extracts from the conversation in which we have incorporated some of the questions sent in by the attendees.ZH:

What motivated you to choose this topic for your book?

This study explores the impact of power dynamics – represented by linguistic privilege, learning environment, and identity formation – on translingual practices in Chinese as a Second Language (CSL) writing education. It focuses on a specific case involving Chinese language learners at a Sino-US joint-venture university in China to elucidate these dynamics in a real-life context. The findings revealed how societal expectations, internalized power dynamics, and prevailing language ideologies nurtured perceptions of a diminished Chinese identity and influenced students' language preferences and engagement in CSL writing. The article argues that the decolonization of writing education necessitates critical awareness of power dynamics and the challenges they pose to monolingual ideologies. It also proposes pedagogical strategies to incorporate power dynamics into translingual practices by emphasizing the need to embrace language diversity and fluidity, facilitate translingual identity formation, and employ reflective practices. By raising awareness of power dynamics in translingual practices, educators can empower students to confront the linguistic status quo, promote linguistic justice, and cultivate a more equitable CSL writing education.

Once upon a time, there were four skills. But what did it mean to be a listener? A speaker? A reader? A writer? Skills in a vacuum are useful neither for describing how well one uses language nor for how to teach it effectively. As the Standards were developed, the task force made an effort to look at related disciplines and to investigate how their methods might inform the teaching of second languages. As the discipline of communication was studied, the role of context became evident. For example, the speaker as rhetorician was quite distinct from the speaker in interpersonal or small group communication. The rules that governed those behaviors and the way students were taught to speak in these two situations differed considerably. What are the ramifications for how we look at communication in foreign languages? The answer is ‘The Framework of Communicative Modes’.

This article offers insights into trends found in 74 empirical studies on teaching and learning a foreign language (FL) in pre-primary schools in 25 countries. The emerging picture is like that of primary-school programs: most are implemented in English, mostly owing to parents’ enthusiasm rather than evidence on long term FL benefits. Researchers focus on measurable outcomes in the FL rather than embedding studies in what early childhood education and language policies aim for: developing children not only in a FL, but also in their first language and emotional, cognitive, and social domains. A short literature review on how children learn languages and what necessary conditions include, is followed by the evidence empirical studies offer along themes found in them. Research has revealed encouraging results as well as weaknesses, whereas most authors frame their findings in positive terms. Overall, the younger the children the slower their rate of FL development. The field is dominated by FL experts; it would benefit from early childhood expertise to shift it towards the whole child. Although the increase in research is significant, more is necessary to build a model of pre-primary FL programs. A table available online complements the text.

This paper proposes the replication of Bird's (2010) and Serrano's (2011) studies, which examined distribution of practice effects in second language acquisition (SLA). These studies, which took place in authentic classroom contexts, produced conflicting results regarding the degree to which the learning of a second language (L2) benefited from distributed instruction. In the first part of the paper, I discuss the distribution of practice research in the learning and teaching of L2s. I then describe Bird's (2010) and Serrano's (2011) work, and highlight the strengths and limitations of the approaches of these studies. Finally, a number of approaches to approximate replications are suggested for each study in order to assess the reliability, internal validity, and generalizability of the original findings

As is customary in this annual review, the focus is on research which has been published mainly in international research journals and which has a bearing on the teaching of languages and on those aspects of languages learning and use which seem to have implications for teaching. For the most part, it is additional languages which are under discussion, whether of the second, (third, fourth) or modern foreign or some other variety. 2001 yielded a large number of valuable articles of this sort. Rather than seeking to mention them all, I have made a selection in order to allow certain themes to be developed.

Three themes seemed to me to be of particular interest in 2001: ‘Focus on form’, ‘Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and languages’ and ‘Early language learning’. None of these of course represents a new area of research, but in 2001 they seemed to play strongly. My review begins with a discussion of each of these in turn.

In the sections to follow, cross-reference is made to the abstracts in Language Teaching. Thus, Haley (2001: 02–253) refers to the article published in 2001 and appearing as abstract 253 in the 2002 volume of the journal.

At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), the English Placement Test (EPT) is the institutional placement test that is used to place students into appropriate English as a second language (ESL) writing and/or pronunciation service courses. The EPT is used to assess the English ability of newly admitted international undergraduate and graduate students as validated against the English language demands of our campus (UIUC English Placement Test 2013). According to Davidson & Cho (2001), the current format of the EPT has maintained its quality and displayed evidence of validity through the use of detailed test specifications that align with the goals of the UIUC ESL writing and pronunciation service courses. UIUC offers these courses to international students who are accepted on a limited status based on their scores on standardized English proficiency tests (TOEFL or IELTS) and/or other relevant information in each student's admission dossier. Students accepted on limited admission status are required to take the EPT before start of instruction.

The Department of Linguistics at University of Victoria (UVic) in Canada has a long-standing tradition of empirical approaches to the study of theoretical and applied linguistics. As part of the Faculty of Humanities, the department caters to students with a wide range of backgrounds and interests, and provides crucial language teaching support in collaboration with other teaching units at UVic. Accordingly, some applied linguistics studies concern language teaching and learning, some of which are conducted in classroom settings. In this article, we provide a brief overview of recent corrective feedback research conducted by UVic Applied Linguistics Research Group.

My research review of 2007 is somewhat shorter than in earlier years in order to allow space for the journal's impressively increased number of other articles. This naturally adds to my problems of selection, especially as 2007 witnessed the welcome appearance of new international journals in the form of Innovation in Language Learning & Teaching and a considerably re-vamped Language Learning Journal. Accordingly, my selection of articles is not intended as a representative sample of the Applied Linguistics field but should be taken as a personal judgement based on attempting an appropriate range of the following: journals, languages, topics, countries, institutional settings, levels of proficiency, learner age, theory, practice, and personal interest. My selection is organised under a number of headings, but these offer only a general clue as to what a particular article is about, since most articles reviewed have reverberations across a number of headings rather than one alone. In addition, what I say about a particular article is not meant to be a summary. Those wishing to see a summary should go to the article itself and read its abstract. My account of a particular article may in fact reflect only one theme within the article which I have chosen to highlight.

In this first of a series of country-specific reviews of published research, my aim has been to highlight current lines of research in Spain which are either new in themselves or have taken their starting-point from existing international research agendas. In the preparation for this review more than one hundred papers were reviewed from over forty journals, conference proceedings, and books edited during the period 1999–2002. Inevitably, however, a ‘selection’ of recent research is just that. Demands of space are, of course, paramount but – in the light of the sheer volume of work published in Spain over the period – some kind of personal criterion inevitably needed to be used for the inclusion or otherwise of a paper. I have decided primarily to highlight experimental or quasi-experimental research which, though it might be based on, or targeted at, a local population or context, also has considerable interest for the wider readership of Language Teaching. Such a decision is not meant to imply a personal preference for such research over other kinds; rather I wished on this occasion to highlight what I perceive as a recent increase in interest in Spain in such studies. Many national university PhD programmes now include the production of an original piece of experimental research as an obligatory requirement of the course, and much of the research cited below has its origins therein. Conversely, this has meant that other, equally valid and commendable, published work has had to be omitted or mentioned only in passing. Amongst these are the numerous on-going reports on locally-initiated and government-funded research projects which are currently operating in many higher-education establishments, as well as teaching and learning materials production carried out with European Union (EU) initiatives. For example, current and recent LINGUA and COMENIUS projects in which there has been considerable Spanish representation include PINOCCHIO (the production of Italian language and culture materials for use in mainstream secondary education – University of Seville), SUBJECT PROJECTS (the production of plurilingual didactic tools for use in European secondary schools – University of the Basque Country), ARTEMIS (the creation of an advanced communicative course for L2 Greek–University Complutense of Madrid), and LEARNER AUTONOMY (an inventory of training needs and current practices for the teaching of learner autonomy in foreign language (FL) teacher training–University of Granada).

Investigations of crosslinguistic effects in second language acquisition (SLA) have contributed rich understandings about the ways in which prior language knowledge and experience can influence additional language learning. Building on this work, one recent line of research has examined the extent to which SLA findings about crosslinguistic influence can be used to improve L2 learning, indicating that explicit instruction tailored to address the nature of the crosslinguistic learning problem can benefit L2 performance. At the same time, however, this line of inquiry is relatively novel and under-researched. The aim of this paper, therefore, is to suggest further research which might advance knowledge and understanding about the ways in which explicit instruction can facilitate second language (L2) learning of crosslinguistically difficult target features. To this end, I lay the ground for a series of close replications designed to understand the role of prior language knowledge and experience in L2 learning: Ellis and Sagarra (2011) and Tolentino and Tokowicz (2014). These studies were selected because they are grounded in empirical SLA research and SLA theory. In addition, the selected studies facilitate replication because they have either (i) made their data collection materials available in digital repositories or (ii) have robustly described their design and provided the stimuli used.

This paper explores three research projects conducted by the writer and others with a view to demonstrating the importance of effective theory and methodology in the analysis of teaching situations where Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL), teacher practice and teacher education meet. It argues that there is a tendency in the field of teacher education for CALL to make use of what might be considered quite traditional research methodology, often drawing on research traditions not connected to teacher education. In teacher education and CALL, research theory is quite often drawn from the field of Second Language Acquisition (SLA), which despite its connection with CALL, is less relevant to the specific combined demands of researching teacher education for CALL. At the same time we are seeing some moves in recent publications and conference presentations towards the use of sociocultural theories as part of an analysis of CALL teacher practices and teacher education for CALL. In this paper, I argue that this is a positive step in the direction of establishing teacher education for CALL as a more mature field of enquiry. In order to avoid the pitfalls of inappropriate research methodology, the paper then presents an argument for a range of methodologies, chosen on the basis of a fashioning of research instruments (Czarniawska 1998), or a ‘bricolage’ (Levi-Strauss 1962/1966) that enables us – in conjunction with the theory – to explore different teaching situations in an informed and effective way.

Written corrective feedback (WCF) is a ubiquitous pedagogical activity in second language (L2) classrooms and has become a key area of inquiry in L2 writing research. While there have been several reviews on experimental WCF research, there is not yet a synthesis of naturalistic classroom studies where the type and amount of feedback provided on students' writing performance is not manipulated or controlled. This state-of-the-art article intends to fill the gap by providing a comprehensive and critical review of naturalistic WCF studies in L2 writing, with significant implications for practice and research. A systematic search generated 50 empirical studies that met our inclusion criteria for the current review, which revealed four major themes: (1) teacher WCF practices in L2 writing classrooms, (2) L2 learner responses to WCF, (3) stakeholders’ beliefs and perspectives on WCF, and (4) WCF-related motivation and emotions. Based on the reviewed evidence, we propose pedagogical implications for enhancing teacher WCF practices and student learning, as well as potential avenues for further exploration. This article contributes to a nuanced understanding of current empirical advances in naturalistic research on WCF in L2 writing, providing insights to inform WCF pedagogy and new lines of inquiry.