News

The Communicative Manifesto for Contemporary Language Teaching According to Science

Posted 28 February, 2025

The Communicative Manifesto For Contemporary Language Teaching Brochure 

• Language, Input & Communication
• Task-Based Language Learning
• Vocabulary Learning & Focus on Form

Prof. Alessandro Benati
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN, IRELAND

Specializes in research on the theoretical framework known as Input Processing, and particularly its pedagogical model Processing Instruction. His another research interest is the effects of formal instruction on the acquisition of linguistic properties in romance and non-romance languages.

Prof. Joe Barcroft
WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS, USA

Investigates vocabulary acquisition, lexical input processing, and psycholinguistic approaches to different issues in second language acquisition. He is the author of several scholarly books and many research articles in in top journals.

Prof. Michael Leeser
FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY, USA

Focuses on the area of instructed second language acquisition, second language comprehension, and input processing, and sentence processing in second language learners and bilinguals.

LANGUAGE UNLIKE RULES
Language is complex, abstract, and it is not learned explicitly.

COMMUNICATION UNLIKE Q/A PARADIGMS
Communication is the interpretation, expression and negotiation of meaning in a context and with a purpose for language exchange.

INPUT AS THE BASIC INGREDIENT
The basic data for language learning is comprehensible and meaningful input.

TASKS OVER DRILLS
Language tasks and not exercises should form the backbone of the language curriculum.

INTERACTIVE OVER MECHANICAL TASKS
Communicative and interactive language tasks can facilitate language learning.

THE TARGET OVER THE FIRST LANGUAGE
The use of the target language in the classroom should be maximized.

MINIMUM, INDIRECT, AND IMPLICIT ERROR CORRECTION

VOCABULARY IS LEARNED, WHEN IT IS

• meaning-oriented,
• comprehensible,
• multi-level,
• frequent,
• and repeated over time.

A FOCUS ON GRAMMAR SHOULD

• include both a focus on form and a focus on meaning,
• be on effective pedagogical interventions (e.g., input flood, textual enhancement, structured input).

More information can be found on our website.

Key Questions in Second Language Acquisition

Posted 18 November, 2024

Now in its second edition, this highly accessible introductory textbook establishes the fundamentals driving the field of second language (L2) acquisition research, including its historical foundations. Intended for the novice in the field with no background in linguistics or psycholinguistics, it explains important linguistic concepts, and how and why they are relevant to second language acquisition. Topics are presented via a 'key questions' structure that enables the reader to understand how these questions have motivated research in the field, and the problems to which researchers are seeking solutions.

(opens in a new window)Key Questions in Second Language Acquisition

Second Language Teacher Education

Posted 4 September, 2024

The main aim of this textbook is to provide both trainee language teachers and undergraduate students with an evidence-based second language teacher education programme. This textbook responds to the demand for a teacher education programme which is not based on simply training language teachers to use textbooks. In this textbook, how the principles derived from theory and research in language learning can be applied to day- to-day classroom language teaching pedagogy will be examined.

New Special Issue for the journal Instructed Second Language Acquisition to be published soon! Editor: Alessandro Benati

Language acquisition and language instruction: A neurolinguistics perspective

The idea for this Special Issue generates from the increasing interest of language instructors in the neuroscience of language. Research in the area of neurolinguistics has provided new insights in the acquisition of a second language which might have important implications for language instruction and instructors.

The goal of the proposed Special Issue is twofold: (i)  to provide an overall assessment of  the current state of the neurolinguistics research database from the point of view of its implications for language acquisition and language processing; (ii)  to highlight pedagogical implications of this research for second language instruction.