Language Teaching Research

This article describes a case study and a follow-up comparative study which focused on expert foreign language (FL) teachers’ professional knowledge as it was reflected in their spoken and written discourse. Both studies provide evidence indicating that professional knowledge can develop via its verbalization in reflective-narrative discourse from personal past-tense stories into generic statements, which guide classroom activities. The follow-up study further compared experts’, new teachers’ and student teachers’ written answers to a domain-specific questionnaire. Qualitative and quantitative data analyses identified two distinctive features in the experts’ language: a n abundance of t e n s e d verbs in past and present forms, focusing on ‘ r e a l world’ experience (realis), and i n t e g r a t i v e comments which combine subject-matter issues with general pedagogical issues, within the same linguistic unit. The former was interpreted as a discourse manifestation of experts’ knowledge which is fully anchored in their professional r e a l i t y, and the latter as a guiding principle which experts use to enhance FL learning.

The question of how to motivate language learners has been a neglected area in L2 motivation research, and even the few available analyses lack an adequate research base. This article presents the results of an empirical survey aimed at obtaining classroom data on motivational strategies. Two hundred Hungarian teachers of English from various language teaching institutions were asked how important they considered a selection of 51 strategies and how frequently they used them in their teaching practice. Based on their responses we have compiled a concise set of ten motivational macrostrategies, which we have called the ‘Ten commandments for motivating language learners’. On the basis of the frequency data, we also discuss which of the commandments tend to be particularly underutilized in the language classroom.

This article presents some of the findings relating to a study on pupils’ perceptions of the in-school foreign language learning experience. This represents one area of a larger, accelerated longitudinal study on the motivational perspectives of secondary school pupils learning German. What are the factors which influence pupils’ views of what goes on in the classroom? What are their likes and dislikes? How do they feel the in-school experience could be enhanced? Can this help identify what it is that leads to the apparent diminution in enthusiasm for learning (languages) between the ages of 11 and 13? The article also has a comparative dimension, as the same questions are asked in relation to the English-learning experience of comprehensive school pupils of the same age in Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany. What can be learned from these findings which may have a beneficial influence on how languages are taught?