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<p> Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) is an established field of academic inquiry with distinct applications for second language teaching and learning. Many CALL professionals direct language labs or language resource centers (LRCs) in which CALL software applications and generic software applications support language learning programs and individual study. The central research question of this study is: What aspects define the lived experience of CALL professionals as they select CALL solutions for language resource centers or language labs? A subset of related research questions focuses on how CALL professionals consider pedagogical aspects of CALL solutions in making selections, the other aspects that CALL professionals consider in adoption or non-adoption decisions, and how CALL professionals experience satisfaction with the solutions available to them, taking into account these pedagogical and other aspects. This study explores the selection of applications from a phenomenological approach based upon Moustakas's modification of Van Kaam's method. Twenty-five language lab and language resource center directors, members of the International Association for Language Learning Technology (IALLT), were interviewed to ascertain aspects of their lived experience in the selection and use of CALL applications in their educational institutions. Areas of inquiry included the alignment of instructional technologies used for language learning to pedagogical and andragogical approaches; the importance of other factors such as cost, technical support, and provider reputation; and the extent of user satisfaction with each of these elements. The majority of the interviewees indicated that pedagogical alignment between CALL solutions and the pedagogical orientation of the programs they support is a critical factor in their decision-making process. Cost is a factor in the majority of cases, while provider reputation and technical support vary as criteria for adoption. Interviewees also identified varying levels of satisfaction with the CALL solutions available with regard to these factors. They proposed a number of additional user requirements and adoption criteria to be integrated into the development lifecycle of CALL software solutions. </p><p> <i>Keywords:</i> CALL, computer-assisted language learning, user requirements, user satisfaction, pedagogy, andragogy, software selection, instructional technology, language lab, language resource center, IALLT, language learning technology, information technology.</p>

<p> This research consists of three case studies conducted within American Jewish day schools (JDSs). Addressing some of the issues pointed to by past researchers, this investigation focuses on the following discrete areas of Hebrew language (HL) programs: the stated visions for Hebrew language learning as noted in the mission statements and other documents of the schools and as articulated by teachers and administrators, the methodologies employed by Hebrew and Jewish Studies educators within these institutions, and the assessment practices employed by these schools and educators to determine whether the expressed goals of these programs are being met. By exploring the missions, methods, and assessment processes within these Hebrew language programs, and contrasting these aspects of the schools, we come to a better understanding of the inner workings of these programs and the issues that may be addressed in practice and future research. The following questions guided this mixed-methods study: (1) Within each JDS, what are the goals, according to the mission statement, teachers and administrators, for receptive and productive oral proficiency and literacy in HL? (2) Within each JDS, what are the instructional methodologies employed by teachers in HL and Jewish Studies? (3) Within each JDS, what formal and informal assessments, including teacher perceptions, are currently used for student placement, ongoing and recursive assessment, and outcome assessment? Findings indicate that each of these schools has articulated its missions and program goals to incorporate the development of some kind of Hebrew proficiency and Jewish identity among students. However, confusion was identified within each institution regarding planning methodological approaches and employing systematic and meaningful evaluations of student progress, both of which are found to be interwoven with the desired development of Hebrew language, Jewish identity and a Zionist orientation. In order to successfully achieve their goals and missions, clearer articulation, more consistent and research-based methodological choices, along with consistent and meaningful assessments are required.</p>

This study explores the oral interaction between teachers and their students in university English as a foreign language classrooms in Mainland China with particular focus on teachers' codeswitching behaviours and students' reactions to these behaviours. Codeswitching in foreign or second language classrooms has been the subject of a great deal of research interest from the applied linguistics community in recent years, but patterns of codeswitching in "broadly communicative" classrooms have rarely been studied in great detail nor have students' strategic reactions to codeswitching been directly elicited from learners as a means of gauging the impact of teacher codeswitching. Moreover, there is a clear need to situate the debate about teacher codeswitching in a more rigorous theoretical framework. A case study approach best suited the aims of this research and two teachers were selected in an initial pha e (Phase 1) of the study because they conformed to a number of pedagogical and interaction-related criteria. In the main phase of the study data were elicited through a combination of systematic observation, stimulated recalls and teacher interviews. The codeswitching patterns of the two teachers were analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. However, much greater emphasis is placed on the qualitative analysis of the codeswitching and students' reactions towards it. The findings show that the amount of codeswitching was relatively low but varied considerably by lesson. Most codeswitching was for medium-oriented lexical explanations. Students' reactions to their teachers' codeswitching varied by individual not by groups. The findings suggest an interesting pattern of variance between the two teachers in terms of their codeswitching behaviours and enrich our understanding of codeswitching in L2 classrooms and provide hypotheses that could be tested with larger samples. The findings also contribute to an understanding of the functions and consequences of codeswitching from the learners' perspective, which may contribute towards major advances in the field and have direct pedagogical implications.

<p>Military adult learners enrolled in intensive language courses such as the Arabic Basic Course at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center may need to utilize specific learning strategies in order to reach high proficiency language achievement. These strategies are established in the literature as contributors to high language proficiency achievement. The problem addressed in this study was that the desired high proficiency levels defined as 2+/2+/2 on the Defense Language Proficiency Test remains unrealized. In order to understand how to help students excel in foreign language learning, this study compared self-regulated learning scores of students who met the proficiency goal of 2+/2+/2 to those who did not. The 2+/2+/2 are the scores of the listening, reading and speaking measured by Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) scale. The Motivated Strategies for Leering questionnaire was used to compare the self-regulated learning strategies of the high and the low language proficiency achievers. Interviews of the Arabic learners to understand what self-regulated learning strategies these learners used and how they developed their self-regulated learning strategies were necessary to determine what the high achievers did and what the low achievers did not do so that this information can be used to improve the way that the foreign language learners are taught. Quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS and Interviews were analyzed following the Powell and Renner&rsquo;s (2003) five steps of data analyses. The results of this mixed-methods study showed that using more self-regulated learning strategies increased the students&rsquo; language proficiency levels and also revealed how the students developed and used these strategies to increase Arabic language proficiency levels. </p>

This research report explores the ways in which English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students and an EFL teacher position themselves in relation to the themes of ‘local’ materials as well as to the ‘global’ EFL pedagogy in a local South African classroom. This research was undertaken to investigate the relevance of local constructions of culture and identity within broader global EFL discourses and classroom practices. The research was conducted at International House Johannesburg, an affiliate member school of a British-based EFL organisation, and focused on a group of ‘foreign’ adult students from non-English speaking African countries. The 16 page module of materials entitled Customs in our Time, was designed by the researcher, and attempted to create a space for the local by incorporating texts about customs and rituals practised in certain African countries. The overall design of the study is qualitative and draws on aspects of an ethnographic methodology. Spoken interaction in the classroom, as well as transcripts of interviews with the twelve participants involved, are the focus of this analysis. I draw on the work of Canagarajah (2005) and Pennycook (1994) in situating this research in broader sociohistorical context. I also utilise post-structuralist theory to conceptualise the key constructs of this research: language, culture and identity (Weedon, 1987). Of particular relevance to this study is the post-structuralist notion of positioning in understanding the subjectivities of the research participants (Davies & Harré, 1990). In analysing the data, I demonstrate that there are multiple, diverse and contradictory identity positions circulating in the local classroom space. I argue that the dominant EFL pedagogy works to negate the hybridity of this space and in doing so strips the communicative context of it authenticity. The research thus argues that an acknowledgment of the multiple voices and positions of the students and teacher in the local classroom space is essential for the creation of a more ethical and productive pedagogy: a localized pedagogy.

This study examines the beliefs of foreign language teachers regarding the relative positions of native and nonnative speakers in foreign and second language education. In particular, I am concerned with the idealization of the native speaker in this context and the foreign language anxiety that may occur in nonnative speaker language teachers if they internalize this idealization. I collected data from 29 college-level Arabic and Hebrew teachers using four methods: (1) a questionnaire on their background and beliefs regarding native and nonnative speaker language teachers, (2) a version of the Teacher Foreign Language Anxiety Scale (Horwitz, 2007), (3) a one-on-one interview, and (4) class observation. By and large, study participants believed that native speakers, because of their nativity, have reached higher levels of linguistic and cultural proficiency with relative ease, and as a result are more readily granted credibility as teachers of their native language. Participants believed that nonnative speakers are more empathetic and understanding of their students' problems because of their own experience and efforts as students of the language. With regard to foreign language anxiety, the main sources of anxiety among the nonnative speaker participants were the fear of making mistakes (and losing credibility as a result), of not having the authority to speak on cultural issues, of not being hired when competing with native speakers, and of addressing professional audiences. Native speakers feared that they cannot anticipate or understand as easily as nonnative speaker teachers the difficulties their students have in learning their language, because they cannot relate to their experiences in the same way. Neither group, however, reported feeling particularly anxious overall. I argue that anxiety was minimal for both groups because of specific steps that participants have taken to overcome the perceived disadvantages of their group and thereby bolster their confidence. Participants reported gaining confidence through some combination of the following factors: (1) gaining experience and education, (2) improving their linguistic and cultural proficiency, (3) presenting the persona of a credible language teacher through extra preparation and language choices, (4) receiving external validation, and (5) realizing that everyone can learn from and teach others. / text