Heidi Byrnes

Examines the need for advanced levels of language learning from socio-cultural and linguistic perspectives.

The Contribution of Halliday and Vygotsky

Advanced Language Learning

Interdisciplinary Dimensions

Contemporary Perceptions of Language

Heather D. Weger

Katherine A. Sprang

Advanced language learning has only recently begun to capture the interest and attention of applied linguists and professionals in language education in the United States. In this breakthrough volume, experts in the field lay the groundwork for approaching the increasingly important role of advanced language learning in the larger context of multilingual societies, globalization, and security. This volume presents both general and theoretical insights and language-specific considerations in college classrooms spanning a range of languages, from the commonly taught languages of English, French, and German to the less commonly taught Farsi, Korean, Norwegian, and Russian. Among theoretical frameworks likely to be conducive to imagining and fostering instructed "advancedness" in a second language, this volume highlights a cognitive-semantic approach. The theoretical and data-based findings make clear that advanced learners in particular are characterized by the capacity to make situated choices from across the entire language system, from vocabulary and grammar to discourse features, which suggests the need for a text-oriented, meaning-driven approach to language teaching, learning, and research. This volume also considers whether and how information structuring in second-language composition reveals first-language preferences of grammaticized concepts. Other topics include curricular and instructional approaches to narrativity, vocabulary expansion, the demands on instructed programs for efficiency and effectiveness in order to assure advanced levels, and learners' ability to function in professional contexts with their diverse oral and written genre requirements. Finally, the volume probes the role and nature of assessment as a measurement tool for both researching and assessing advanced language learning and as an essential component of improving programs.

Constructs, Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment

Educating for Advanced Foreign Language Capacities

Hiram H. Maxim

The popular AAUSC series of annual volumes for directors of university language programs strives to further scholarship in second language acquisition and teaching with regard to undergraduate programs with multi-section courses. Teaching assistant supervision, teaching assistant professional preparation, and the role of faculty and administrators in postsecondary institutions are some of the topics addressed.

A Challenge to College Programs

Advanced Foreign Language Learning

'The editor and authors in this volume make a convincing case for focusing on advanced foreign language instruction. Importantly, they invite consideration of this focus as an opportunity to re-examine conventional definitions of the target of instruction. In so doing, readers also learn more about the theories highlighted in this volume, and their capacity to enhance our understanding of advancedness and its development within an educational context. This book thus mediates between linguistic and language learning theories and educational practice, modelling the very best of what applied linguistics has to offer.' Diane Larsen-Freeman, Professor of Education, University of Michigan. The reality of multicultural societies and globalization has increased the demand for language abilities that far exceed those that have typically been associated with communicative competence in a second language. This book examines the acquisition of advanced levels of ability in three parts: theoretical; descriptive; and instructional. It moves beyond the traditional constraints of second language acquisition research by linking systemic functional linguistics and sociocultural theory. The contributors draw primarily on the work of Halliday, Vygotsky and Bakhtin, as well as empirical data from the language classroom, to suggest practical applications towards advanced literacy and linguistic competence. Advanced Language Learning will be of interest to academics researching systemic functional linguistics, second language acquisition and applied linguistics.

Heidi Byrnes

Books

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