This study explores the field of EFL (English as a foreign language) classroom learning within a formal learning institution. Drawing on theories and methods from various disciplines, this book explores the question which has been frustrating language teachers: why do so many students remain reticent and anxious in language class? Based on a large-scale survey and a more focused case study, the book argues persuasively that reticence and anxiety in formal EFL classrooms are important factors in determining the outcome of language learning. By means of a triangulated research method, this book examines various aspects of reticence and anxiety in EFL classroom learning situations. The author analyses causes and consequences, differences in terms of gender and proficiency level, and coping strategies.

This collection focuses on Chinese learners with original data sets using innovative research methods. It investigates Chinese learners' learning and language skills, perceptions and particularly the processes of reciprocal intercultural adaptations in a wide international context of Australia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, New Zealand and the UK.

China has attached great importance to teaching students to become proficient users of English. Yet, despite a plethora of studies and practice on Chinese ESL/EFL (English as a second/foreign language) learners, the large student population, its complicated composition and the complex nature of second and foreign language learning have rendered it difficult to offer a panoramic view on ESL/EFL teaching and learning of Chinese learners. This book provides a new and up-to-date perspective on the teaching and learning of Chinese ESL/EFL learners. The book collects 15 case studies, falling into two parts—Curriculum Development and Teaching Practice and Skills-Based Research. The collected studies deploy qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods to explore patterns, features, developments and causes and effects of a variety of issues in the sphere of ESL/EFL teaching and learning. Moreover, the cases offer insights that are relevant beyond the mainland Chinese context such as Hong Kong, Macau, Britain and Australia. Students and scholars of TESOL and applied linguistics will be interested in this title.

This book contributes to overcoming the deficit in research on emotions in foreign language learning in the domain of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) in both traditional and virtual settings. The authors divide emotions into positive (i.e., enjoyment and curiosity) and negative (i.e., boredom and language anxiety) and explore their role in L2 teaching and learning in CALL environments from theoretical, empirical and pedagogical perspectives. The book begins with a theoretical overview of selected issues concerning positive and negative emotions and surveys the studies that have dealt with this issue in L2 learning in conventional settings and CALL. The empirical part of the book is devoted to a research project which explores the experience of positive and negative emotions in learning English in the virtual world Second Life, the relationships of the emotions in question and factors influencing them. The book concludes by recommending a selection of practices which can help maximize the positive emotions and minimize the negative emotions in foreign language learning in CALL environments. This is an important and illuminating read for students and scholars of applied linguistics, second language education and educational technology who are interested in CALL and in incorporating VW/VR-based language learning programs into their studies and teaching.

This book offers the first full-length treatment of the topic of debating as a method of developing English Foreign Language (EFL) speaking, inviting scholars and practitioners to reflect on the demands of the current age for moving forward educational practice. While debating is a well-known method of dialogic speaking and is widely practiced, the extent to which it is integrated in adult TEFL has not been established, and an understanding of its affordances for developing foreign language speaking is also limited. This book fills the gap in the field of TESOL and applied linguistics on the affordances of debating as a form of dialogic speaking that can promote a holistic understanding and improvement of experience of education, and indeed academic outcomes. The two main themes that situate the work are those of dialogic speaking and affect (at times referred to as 'humanistic', 'positive psychology' and 'social and emotional learning'). The book details the experiences of an adult EFL debate group in a private language school in the North of Italy. It reports how the participants experience the pedagogy so as to offer insights into it as a form of teaching speaking in adult EFL, as well as providing a practical framework with lesson plans and curriculum. The affordances of debating emerge as being social, cognitive, educational and communicative, and are discussed alongside the work of language teaching scholars Curran and Freire, and more broadly within a Social Constructivist approach to education. As such, debating is discussed as being a holistic and dialogic form of pedagogy. Particular attention to experience - often affective - is also found to be fundamental in planning and assessing educational outcomes for both teachers and learners.