The book concerns the ways in which the new media shape communication along with educational expectations and practices in foreign language classrooms. Although foreign language learners have cheap and easy access to information and ways of communication, they also wrestle with problems that have always accompanied language learning. The focus of the book is two-fold. On the one hand, the authors demonstrate how using social networks, videoconferencing, mobile phones, wikis, and computer-mediated interaction contributes to the development of language skills, negotiated interaction, autonomy, and intercultural competence. On the other, they discuss “old” issues pertaining to the role of vocabulary, corrective feedback, textbooks and inner speech in the process of language learning and use. Every chapter reports original empirical research on issues related to the new media and old problems in foreign language teaching contexts in various countries, and with respect to various age groups.

While educators and educational psychologists debate the influence of media on learning, there can be little doubt that media is now an integral constituent of any educational context. In particular, computer and internet media, with their immense processing power and multimedia capabilities, can have significant bearing on learning processes and outcomes in today's learning environment. Such media, which are increasingly designed to be highly interactive and adaptable, can enable reflective, productive and communicative activities and have much potential for foreign language learning. The book contains 16 papers which look at different forms of media and explore how these affect or can be used effectively in foreign language education. The first of three parts focuses on important theoretical and pedagogical issues in selecting and using media. In the second part, insightful empirical research findings are presented on the contributions of different forms of media in language teaching and learning, including their effect on learners' learning motivation. The third and concluding part of the book provides in-depth accounts of how media can be harnessed to drive innovative curricular practice as well as students' evaluations of these curricular projects.

Foreign Language Learning in the Digital Age addresses the growing significance of diversifying media in contemporary society and expands on current discourses that have formulated media and a multitude of literacies as integral objectives in 21st-century education. The book engages with epistemological and critical foundations of multiliteracies and related pedagogies for foreign language-learning contexts. It includes a discussion of how multimodal and digital media impact meaning-making practices in learning, the inherent potentials and challenges that are foregrounded in the use of multimodal and digital media and the contribution that (foreign) language education can provide in developing multiliteracies. The volume additionally addresses foreign language education across the formal educational spectrum: from primary education to adult and teacher education. This multifaceted volume presents the scope of media and literacies for foreign language education in the digital age and examples of best practice for working with media in formal language learning contexts. This book will be of great interest to academics, researchers, and post-graduate students in the fields of language teaching and learning, digital education, media education, applied linguistics and TESOL.

Robert Blake, now with Gabriel Guillén, updates his successful book (1st ed. 2008, 2nd ed. 2013) on how to teach foreign languages using technology. Brave New Digital Classroom touches on all of the key concepts and challenges of teaching with technology, focusing on issues specific to FLL or L2 learning and CALL. Originally referred to as computer-assisted language learning, CALL has come to encompass any kind of learning that uses digital tools for language learning. This edition reframes the conversation to account for how technology has been integrated into our lives. Blake and Guillén address the ways technology can help with L2, how to choose the right digital tools, how to use those tools effectively, and how technology can impact literacy and identity. The book is primed for use in graduate courses: terminology is in bold and a comprehensive glossary is included; each chapter finishes with a short list of references for further reading on the topic and discussion questions. The authors provide short interview videos (free via GUP website) to enhance discussions on each chapter’s topic.

This volume examines selected aspects of the foreign language learning process from an ecological perspective, adopting a holistic view on complex interrelations among and within organisms (L2 language learners) and their milieus (family, school and society). First of all, the personal ecosystem of the learner is taken into consideration, whereby two powerful influences are intertwined: cognitive and affective aspects. The learning space formed by the individual is largely shaped by their affective states coexisting in conjunction with their cognitive processes. Moreover, this specific space is also modified by a wider array of other personal ecosystems or those of cultures. Hence, the ecosystem of the foreign language learner is also subject to influences coming from sociocultural leverage that can be represented by people they know, like parents and language teachers, who can both directly and indirectly manipulate their ecosystem. At the same time other important forces, such as culture as a ubiquitous element in the foreign language learning process, also have the power to shape that ecosystem. Accordingly, the book is divided into three parts covering a range of topics related to these basic dimensions of foreign language acquisition (the cognitive, affective and socio-cultural). Part I, Affective Interconnections, focuses on the body of original empirical research into the affective domain of not only L2 language learners but also non-native language teachers. Part II, Cognitive Interconnections, reports on contributions on language learners’ linguistic processing and cognitive representations of concepts. The closing part, Socio-cultural Interconnections, provides new insights into language learning processes as they are affected by social and cultural factors.

This is the first international and interdisciplinary handbook to offer a comprehensive and an in-depth overview of findings from contemporary research, theory, and practice in early childhood language education in various parts of the world and with different populations. The contributions by leading scholars and practitioners are structured to give a survey of the topic, highlight its importance, and provide a critical stance. The book covers preschool ages, and looks at children belonging to diverse ethno-linguistic groups and experiencing different histories and pathways of their socio-linguistic and socio-cultural development and early education. The languages under the scope of this handbook are identified by the contributors as immigrant languages, indigenous, endangered, heritage, regional, minority, majority, and marginalized, as well as foreign and second languages, all of which are discussed in relation to early language education as the key concept of the handbook. In this volume, “early language education” will refer to any kind of setting, both formal and informal (e.g. nursery, kindergarten, early childhood education centers, complementary early schooling etc.) in which language learning within a context of children's sociolinguistic diversity takes place before elementary school.

This book provides tips and guidelines for teachers and learners of modern foreign languages in higher education institutions, drawing on the authors' experiences of teaching languages including Turkish, Japanese and Korean to suggest strategies and approaches that promote effective use of the online environment. As well as shedding light on modern languages that are typically under-studied and under-represented in the literature, this book demonstrates how the online sphere is increasingly fundamental to language use, change and contact. The authors provide practical guidance to help teachers and learners capitalise on the opportunities presented by a virtual educational context, and offer a more resilient blended approach that will increase teachers' and students' preparedness for changing circumstances and institutional priorities in the future. This book is primarily aimed at teachers and students of foreign languages within HE settings, but its focus on new perspectives will also be of interest to scholars researching the online shift in language education, applied linguistics, curriculum design and educational technology.