Search

While the role of culture in second and/or foreign language (L2/FL) learning and teaching has often been unquestioned, empirical research on culture learning and teaching in L2/FL education has been less common than opinion-oriented writings in relevant journals. This article offers a summary and synthesis of 52 empirical studies on L2/FL culture learning and teaching published during the 20-year period 1996-2015. In doing so, it first provides some background, then discusses the methods used for choosing, summarizing, and briefly analyzing these studies, and finally outlines a range of quantitative and qualitative findings. Culture learning and teaching research in L2/FL education during this period involved five main languages (English, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish) in 19 different countries; adopted mainly qualitative research approaches; and addressed a diverse range of age and educational levels, although postsecondary research studies were most common. The survey here highlights a shift from a focus on 'culture' to the 'intercultural,' and reveals that culture learning and teaching research has moved beyond reporting teachers' and students' attitudes to a range of topics impacting L2/FL learning and teaching, including instructional approaches, teaching materials, assessment, and technology. It also points to connections between the studies outlined and offers possibilities and directions for future research in this important area.

Within the communicative approach, often the assumption has been that with the right exposure, students will simply "pick up" the vocabulary required for learning and using English, and thus there is no need to focus on or teach it. Yet, as many teachers can attest, this is frequently not the case, and there have been recent efforts to reemphasize vocabulary learning and teaching in both research and practice. This article surveys the literature on word lists for vocabulary teaching in English as a second/foreign language (ESL/EFL), especially for adults, briefly summarizing their potential for learners and teachers in learning and teaching English vocabulary. After discussing general and academic word lists, it introduces contributions from recent corpus research resulting in 2 lists of English formulaic expressions and 8 subject-specific English word lists, in fields varying from agriculture, business, and engineering to medicine and theology. Finally, it offers suggestions for their potential in vocabulary teaching.

This article presents a descriptive case study on the use of technical vocabulary in the lectures of a first-year graduate theology course in Canada. It first contextualizes this research by noting four kinds of English vocabulary and the study of classrooms as lexical environments. Next it outlines the study's methodology, including the observation of 23 classes over one semester, the transcription of 34 h of audiotaped lectures, and the use of computer programs VocabProfile and MonoConc Pro to analyze the files of the lecture transcripts. Data analysis addresses two research questions: 1) What kind of lexical environments are these lectures (and what is the specific frequency and distribution of vocabulary within them)? 2) How are representative technical theological terms used, in oral and written form, during these lectures? Quantitative results are presented on the frequency of each of four types of vocabulary, and sample transcript, handout, and whiteboard extracts offer examples and a qualitative description of the use of specialized theological vocabulary within the lectures observed. The final section discusses possible implications for specialized vocabulary learning, suggesting that academic lectures may offer a rich lexical environment for ESL students trained to observe and acquire technical vocabulary in context. (Contains 2 tables and 2 figures.)

Recognizing the importance of lexis and vocabulary learning strategies (VLS) in academic studies, this article presents a descriptive case study of technical vocabulary learning in English over one academic term in an intact, required first year course in a graduate school of theology in Canada. After outlining background information and describing the research methods, the article discusses the vocabulary learning strategies and success of five non native (NNES) and six native English speaker (NES) participants. Data were collected using pre- and post-Tests of Theological Language (TTL), through mid- and end-of-term interviews, and at the end of the course using an Approach to Vocabulary Learning Questionnaire. Analyses addressed the VLS that NNES and NES students use in learning the technical vocabulary of their discipline, how these VLS may be classified in relation to previous research, what types of words participants report learning, and whether a particular approach to or strategy in technical vocabulary learning predicts success in acquisition, as reflected in scores on the TTL. Results indicate that participants used a variety of VLS, though no one strategy appeared to dominate. Detailed portraits of participants' approaches to technical vocabulary learning are included. While there were no consistent trends in approaches to or strategies in success on the TTL, overall participants who approached their technical vocabulary learning in an unstructured manner tended to obtain higher scores on the TTL. In terms of growth in depth of vocabulary knowledge, however, TTL results suggest that a structured approach may be helpful for NNESs. (Contains 1 note and 2 tables.)

This article describes a case study on native and non-native English-speaker (NES and NNES) students' knowledge and learning of specialized vocabulary over one academic term in a graduate school of theology. After outlining the collection of baseline data on theological vocabulary and the development of a Test of Theological Language (TTL), the article discusses the five NNES and seven NES participants' scores on the TTL. Results on the initial TTL revealed that both groups brought some breadth and depth knowledge of specialized theological vocabulary to their studies, but that the NNES group's scores on both measures tended to be lower than those of NESs. At the end of the term the TTL results indicated an overall increase in scores, but while the gap between the NNES and NES groups in breadth vocabulary knowledge was essentially bridged, for depth knowledge it actually widened. These and other findings are discussed. Test of Theological Language is appended. (Contains 2 tables and 8 notes.)