This book brings together researchers from across the globe to share their work on the micro-analyses of storytelling. By doing so, the book helps to deepen the understanding of, and track storytelling practices cross-culturally and longitudinally in the home, at school, and in higher education. Through the unique focus on education and learning, this book provides a lens with which to identify how children’s and adolescents’ language development and sense of self in storytelling are supported in various contexts: the home, classroom, playground or in the higher education context. It explores the work, identity and practices of friends, teachers and lecturers in teaching, learning, reflection and supervision. Importantly, in identifying these practices, the book presents opportunities to assist parents and teachers, to inform pedagogy in teacher education, and to support effective doctoral supervision. The focus on storytelling in homes, education, and for learning, and the practical applications of the findings, contribute to the ongoing research in both education and conversation analysis. Chapter 10 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Winner of the 2003 Trillium Book Award "Stories are wondrous things," award-winning author and scholar Thomas King declares in his 2003 CBC Massey Lectures. "And they are dangerous." Beginning with a traditional Native oral story, King weaves his way through literature and history, religion and politics, popular culture and social protest, gracefully elucidating North America's relationship with its Native peoples. Native culture has deep ties to storytelling, and yet no other North American culture has been the subject of more erroneous stories. The Indian of fact, as King says, bears little resemblance to the literary Indian, the dying Indian, the construct so powerfully and often destructively projected by White North America. With keen perception and wit, King illustrates that stories are the key to, and only hope for, human understanding. He compels us to listen well.

This book explores the distinct approaches of conversation analysis (CA) and cultural-historical theory to investigations of childhood storytelling with children aged 15 months to nine years. The authors draw on a rich set of data that depict children’s interactions with parents, teachers and peers as they talk together after having read stories, as they recount their experiences, as they enact stories through play, and as they participate in school activities in science and in literacy tasks. The book demonstrates the matters that concern CA and cultural-historical theory and explore in what ways comparisons can work to inform research design to understand how far the boundaries of approaches can be stretched, and the challenges in attempting to do so. In this process the authors focus on adding to knowledge about children’s rich interactional competencies and development as they tell stories, and on providing research-based evidence for parent, teacher and teacher educator practices.

Oral assessments are of vital importance to second language learners, but how can teachers and examiners best test L2 learner talk and interaction? Bringing together theory and research within the field of L2 oral proficiency, with the concept of L2 encompassing any language learned later than the early childhood years, this book provides a state-of-the art overview of what is at stake for L2 learners and examiners, and advice on how to approach testing and assessment. Using data and findings from empirical research to illustrate and discuss key topics, Testing Talk takes the reader step-by-step through the major concepts and issues in the oral assessment of second languages, with a main focus on L2 English. Investigating and explaining the most important educational and interactional issues facing both examiners and test-takers, such as the factors which come into play during speaking tests, the differences between common test formats, and the challenge of ensuring equity in assessment, this book offers research-based advice on ways to design test tasks and in-depth insights into the assessment of L2 speaking. Featuring a glossary of key terms and concepts, discussion questions and further reading for each chapter, and a comprehensive companion website hosting a wealth of additional materials, including authentic test recordings and assessment tasks to be used by researchers and practitioners alike, this is the only book needed in order to understand, design, and assess interactive oral L2 tests.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, educational institutions worldwide were compelled to embrace online learning, leading to a significant shift in the dynamics of education. As schools, colleges, and universities adapted to virtual learning environments, teachers and learners alike found themselves navigating unfamiliar terrain. Balance and Boundaries in Creating Meaningful Relationships in Online Higher Education explores the art of forging connections in virtual classrooms. This book provides educators with valuable guidance and strategies for cultivating relationships in virtual learning environments. It covers synchronous, asynchronous, and hybrid learning, offering a comprehensive understanding of relationship-building techniques for higher education and beyond. Addressing the unique challenges of online instruction, it empowers faculty members to create classrooms based on trust, connection, and support. With practical ideas and resources, it serves as a critical reference for transitioning to online teaching. Essential for cross-departmental higher education faculty and graduate-level students, it revolutionizes the field by empowering educators to thrive in the evolving landscape of online instruction.

Bushnell and Moody present a rich investigation into the navigation of friendships, adopting discursive and ethnographic perspectives to examine Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and English interactional data. Since the definition of friendship is hard to pin down, most sociocultural anthropologists have tended to focus on issues of kinship and descent, while leaving friendship as a residual or interstitial issue. However, this book puts friendship as the central focus and offers unique perspectives from the participants themselves. The interactional work implicated in the accomplishment of making and being friends, and the trials and tribulations of friendship, are both explored through the many detailed analyses showing how the participants navigate the calm and rough waters of friendship in and through their everyday interactions. Researchers, undergraduates, and postgraduate students in the fields of conversation analysis, pragmatics, and other social sciences will benefit from the real-life examples in the book as well as the analysis.

This concise collection critically reflects on mobile assisted language learning research across educational stages, from early childhood through to university settings. // The volume traces the development of MALL practices through researchers' and teachers’ efforts to make sense of the impact of mobile technologies on formal and informal second language learning and development. The chapters explore a range of topics around mobile learning design, implementation, and affordances across different educational and geographic contexts, drawing on both qualitative and quantitative perspectives. In so doing, the book creates a broader conversation around the importance of continuity in the successful integration of MALL practices into L2 learning curricula across the educational lifespan. // This book will appeal to students and scholars in applied linguistics and language teaching and learning, especially to those with a specific interest in mobile technologies.