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The action-oriented approach (AoA) is a powerful basis to inform teaching, learning, and assessment in the classroom that identifies learners as social agents and focuses on language learning through language use. This paper answers the call for developments that help teachers teach and learners learn in an AoA-informed way. We argue that cognitive discourse functions (CDFs) align with AoA, helping to develop learner thinking by focusing on the learners' use of language. We complement our conceptual discussion referring to the process of developing a self- and peer-assessment tool informed by AoA and CDFs and the initial application of this tool in an advanced academic writing course in a Japanese university with B1 and B2 level students. We discuss how this tool can guide learners' understanding of their writing process and fosters learners' responsibility for deciding how they mobilize their linguistic resources to express particular language functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the implementation of a language learning project in a Japanese EFL classroom in which the trigger, or motivational energy for involvement, came from interacting with English-speaking international students. The project provided a context to investigate the trajectory of one group's (three learners) sustained engagement across three tasks that formed the subgoals of the project. Data sources include learner diaries, engagement questionnaires, and transcripts of task conversations, which together were used to describe the level of engagement for each learner at key times throughout the project. The findings indicate that engagement is sustained by certain flow-like conditions during tasks (i.e. control, interest, challenge-skill balance), group cohesion among project members, and a growing focus on the long-term goal of the project. The results highlight project design features that teachers should consider when implementing projects with the purpose of engaging students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper documents the design, implementation and evaluation of a content‐based language teaching (CBLT) curriculum for an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) programme at a Japanese university. The aim of the programme is to prepare students for study abroad in Anglophone universities in a two‐year time frame. This curriculum redesign project integrated second language learning theory with backward design curriculum development theory in an institutional setting where administration mandates and changing student and faculty populations impacted the process. The curriculum team conducted a needs analysis with multiple data sources, implemented the curriculum, and then, conducted an evaluation utilising various sources. The needs analysis revealed several surprises, countering faculty and curriculum designers' intuition. Likewise, conflicting student and faculty feedback in the evaluation of the curriculum posed difficulties for drawing conclusions about the curriculum's effectiveness. The university context, with its emphasis on academic freedom and research, requires adjusting theoretically based processes used in compulsory education levels, such as adopting an adaptable approach to curriculum design. As more universities require faculty to write and revise curricula, the authors call for more tertiary‐level curriculum design case studies that illustrate successes or shortcomings for curriculum design theory in the face of real‐world challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]