Educational Linguistics

This volume provides both practicing and aspiring Language Program Administrators with knowledge about the research and theory that underpin key topics in educational leadership, as well as practical guidance for the day-to-day management of language programs, including budgets, personnel, decision making, strategic planning, advocacy, and digital technologies. The volume brings together 46 authors and contributors with a vast array of experiences as administrators of English language teaching programs all over the world—in Asia; Australia; Europe; the Middle East; New Zealand; North, Central, and South America; South Africa; Turkey; and the United Kingdom.

The perception of a permanent enrollment crisis in US postsecondary foreign language education has shaped our profession’s image for an entire generation of educators. Over the past 30 years, this crisis rarely invited self-examination or inspired creativity. Instead, it was routinely attributed to external factors: shrinking budgets, unsympathetic administrators, disengaged students. This volume is refreshingly optimistic: After providing a nuanced picture of the complex enrollment situation and focusing on perceptions of language education among undergraduate students, the volume features an inspiring panorama of successful models that revitalized language programs at a wide range of institutions. The diversity of approaches to post-secondary language education in the United States featured in this volume highlights that there are no simple “one size fits all” solutions. To be transformational, initiatives need to be intimately calibrated to the evolving needs and desires of our institutions’ most important stakeholder: the student. Per Urlaub, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MA, USA

This edited volume brings together studies that test the effectiveness of original version television for foreign language learning and the possible ways to enhance this learning process. The wide availability of on-demand streaming platforms and the popularity of television as a leisure activity grant language learners access to massive amounts of authentic original version television input, which warrants further research to maximise language learning opportunities. The edited volume features a set of empirical studies, encompassing different target languages (Dutch, English, and French) and participant profiles (young learners, adolescents, and adults), which will be of interest to applied linguists, pre- and in-service language instructors, and second language acquisition researchers working on audiovisual input. Importantly, this book includes studies on a variety of linguistic features, the majority of which have been traditionally underrepresented in audiovisual input research: vocabulary, formulaic sequences, pronunciation, pragmatics, and humour. It thus offers a comprehensive view of how original version television may contribute to foreign language development, addressing the dynamic and holistic nature of the language learning process.