The Journal of Language Teaching and Learning

1-14

Authors: Xinxiao Yang, Dianbing Chen

The Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century (1996; 2006) listed culture as one of five goals of learning a foreign language. However, the perceptions of foreign language instructors towards the teaching of culture and their effects on students’ foreign language learning remain unclear. This study involved six instructors from five different foreign language programs and four undergraduate students who are enrolled in the current language programs. Documents, classroom observations, and interviews were collected and analyzed to report the findings. The results indicated that instructors’ perceptions on teaching culture in foreign language classroom did make a difference in students’ learning and teaching a foreign language. Keywords: The teaching of culture, perceptions, instructors, culture teaching and learning, qualitative study

29-47

Authors: Dick Smakman, Agnieska Duda-Osiewacz

This study compares native English publications with non-native English publications. Specifically, publications have been compared of Anglophone and Polish scholars in the past two decades. Various stylistic and linguistic characteristics and several textual levels are assessed by applying Kaplan's (1966) Contrastive Rhetoric Analysis. Results show that differences exist at the paragraph level and not at the sentence or textual level. Native texts have a higher degree of reciprocity (reader-friendliness) and are more linear. Results reveal that Polish authors write academic English with traces of a Teutonic style but as far as reciprocity is concerned they are moving towards the stylistic features of native English; newer publications by the Polish authors are more reader-friendly than the older ones. Native speakers are not able to reliably recognise native and non-native sentences and often mistake non-native writings for native writing, and in many cases they even label native sentences as non-native. These findings put into perspective the aims applied in teaching academic language.contrastive rhetoric, academic English, Poland Keywords contrastive rhetoric, academic English, Poland

63-75

Authors: Rebecca Galeano, Kelly M. Torres

The National Standards for Foreign Language Learning seek to prepare U.S. students to be “culturally equipped to communicate successfully in a pluralistic American society and abroad” (NSFLL, 1996). Each of the five areas, Communication, Culture, Connections, Communities, and Comparisons, articulates a goal related to the culture and there is at least one cultural sub-standard under each of the other goal areas (Galeano, 2013). Even with such a stated focus on preparing students to function in a multicultural, multilingual world, language teaching, or focusing on the grammatical elements of the target language, continues to be prioritized in U.S. foreign language classrooms. This study analyzes whetherU.S. teachers continue to present information about target cultures at the surface level or whether they lead students to a deeper understanding of how cultural products, practices, and perspectives are related. It also examines whether or not teachers who have spent time living or studying abroad approach the teaching of culture differently from those who have not. Keywords: Culture, classroom, K-12 learners, National Standards for Foreign Language Learning, perspectives

84-91

Authors: Hayo Reinders

Backchanneling is a technique for monitoring student engagement and performance in the language classroom. In this article I give the pedagogical rationale for this activity and describe some examples of best practice. The article concludes with a number of practical recommendations on how to get started with the various tools that are available and how to best make use of their affordances with your students. Keywords: Motivation, assessment, monitoring, CALL