Our overview of current dissertation work at German universities has identified four main strands of research interest within the field of second language acquisition (SLA). The 38 Ph.D. theses reviewed here were all read between 2006 and 2009 and fall into the subject areas of: foreign language (FL) teaching in primary school, Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) and multilingual pedagogy, language learner autonomy, and multimedia and language learning. Research methods are mostly qualitative in nature, although method and instrument triangulation are common, and studies often involve smaller research groups. The focus of study tends to be quite practical, reflecting the need to adapt teaching curriculums and learning materials to changing learning situations and populations.

Genres are staged, structured, communicative events, motivated by various communicative purposes, and performed by members of specific discourse communities (Swales 1990; Bhatia 1993, 2004; Berkenkotter & Huckin 1995). Since its inception, with the two seminal works on the topic by Swales (1990) and Bhatia (1993), genre analysis has taken pride of place in much of the ongoing research in languages for specific purposes (LSP). The goal of much of this research is pedagogic, the understanding being that good genre descriptions can feed into pedagogy in the form of syllabus and materials design. Whereas genre analysis usually focuses on language as action, this paper argues that analysis needs to focus also on content and identity. The discussion sketches out what this might mean in terms of pedagogic application.

Presented at the Second Language Research Forum, Michigan State University, USA; 31 October 2009

Focus on form, i.e. brief attention to language items within a larger meaning-focused context (Long 1991; Ellis 2001), occurs in a variety of L2 instructional contexts. Meta-analyses of the effectiveness of focus on form have found overall positive effects; however, these meta-analyses have commented on the small number of studies available for synthetic analyses, particularly when considering the effects of specific characteristics of focus on form (e.g. Norris & Ortega 2001; Russell & Spada 2006; Mackey & Goo 2007). Consequently, this colloquium continued the investigation of specific focus on form variables to further our understanding of why ‘sometimes focus on form works, and sometimes it does not’ (Williams 2005: 685).

This new strand in the journal provides a space for contributors to present a personal stance either on future research needs or on the perceived current applications of research in the classroom. Like much of our current content, it echoes the historical uniqueness of this journal in terms of its rich and expert overview of recent research in the field of L2 teaching and learning. However, this new strand takes such research as its starting point and attempts to look forward, using these findings both to debate their application in the language learning classroom and also to suggest where research would be best directed in the future. Thus, the objective of both papers is eminently practical: contributors to the research agenda will present suggestions for what research might usefully be undertaken, given what is currently known or what is perceived to be necessary. In the research into practice papers there will be critical appraisal both of what research is, and is not, getting through to the language learning classroom and practical suggestions made for improving such outcomes.

Presented at the AAAL Annual Conference, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 6 March 2010.

The purpose of this colloquium was to update professional appreciation of language learning in study abroad, with special reference to projects illustrating contemporary interest in the socially situated nature of this phenomenon. Introducing the panel, Celeste Kinginger (Pennsylvania State University) noted that while a sojourn abroad can enhance every aspect of language ability, it is most effective in domains related to social interaction. The colloquium was motivated by several limitations of current research on study abroad. First, the vast majority of studies address the experiences of US-based students learning commonly taught languages. Second, the research would benefit from a shift away from conservative, academic views of language to more usage-based models reflecting the full range of living language that students encounter abroad. Finally, an exclusive focus on the student perspective, in qualitative studies, may yield incomplete and potentially ethnocentric findings.

This new strand in the journal provides a space for contributors to present a personal stance either on future research needs or on the perceived current applications of research in the classroom. Like much of our current content, it echoes the historical uniqueness of this journal in terms of its rich and expert overview of recent research in the field of L2 teaching and learning. However, this new strand takes such research as its starting point and attempts to look forward, using these findings both to debate their application in the language learning classroom and also to suggest where research would be best directed in the future. Thus, the objective of both types of paper is eminently practical: contributors to the research agenda will present suggestions for what research might usefully be undertaken, given what is currently known or what is perceived to be necessary. In the research into practice papers there will be critical appraisal both of what research is, and is not, getting through to the language learning classroom, policy making, curriculum design, evaluation of teaching and/or assessment programmes, and practical suggestions made for improving such outcomes.

This article is a personal view of the application of research on vocabulary to teaching and how there are three different types or categories of relationship between that research and the teaching to which it is applied: first, where the research is not applied or not applied well, second, where it is reasonably well applied, and third, where it is over-applied. For each of these three categories, I look at what I consider to be the most important areas of research and suggest why they fit into that category. The topics covered include planning vocabulary courses, distinguishing high frequency and low frequency words, extensive reading, the deliberate learning of vocabulary, academic vocabulary and vocabulary teaching.

The Research Centre for Language Education and Acquisition in Multilingual Societies (RCLEAMS) is one of four Institute-level Research Centres at the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd). The principal aim of RCLEAMS is to study multilingual acquisition, language contact and the respective roles of different languages of education in contexts where the languages are not cognate (and where the scripts are often different), in order to be able to better understand the processes and issues involved and to inform governments and language policy-makers. Our particular focus is on Asian languages, including, of course, Chinese, and English. Further details about RCLEAMS, including our specific objectives and international partners, can be found at the website (www.ied.edu.hk/rcleams/). While RCLEAMS itself is relatively small, with only four full-time researchers, we conduct collaborative research with colleagues from the Institute itself, other universities in Hong Kong and with a number of international partners. There are also some thirty doctoral students in the field of language education who work closely with the Centre. We invite anyone who might be interested in working collaboratively with us to get in touch. This report will summarise current and recently completed research projects.

Presented at the Second Language Research Forum, Michigan State University, USA; 30 October 2009

Recent years have brought increasing attention to studies of language acquisition in a country where the language is spoken, as opposed to formal language study in classrooms. Research on language learners in immersion contexts is important, as the question of whether study abroad is valuable is still somewhat controversial among researchers (DeKeyser 2007; Sunderman & Kroll 2009). In the introduction to a pioneering volume on language study abroad, Freed (1995, pp. 17–18) noted that a vital question concerns the relative linguistic benefits of a summer, a semester or a year in the foreign environment. Our purpose in this colloquium, which was organized by Lynne Hansen, was to introduce a new line of research which allows comparisons of L2 attainment over these exposure times as well as longer periods. Tens of thousands of young missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as the LDS or Mormon Church), advanced speakers of some fifty languages, return home annually after two years of language learning abroad. This natural sample of learners, in its relative uniformity of learner characteristics and learning contexts, allows for the control of variables in SLA research which can be problematic in studies of more heterogeneous groups.

The European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML), a Council of Europe Partial Agreement based in Graz, Austria, has been serving the community of language education professionals in its 34 member states for over 15 years now. This unique intergovernmental centre, integrated within the Council of Europe's Department of Language Education and Policy, offers concrete approaches to the issues and challenges facing Europe's multicultural societies in a period of intensive change and mobility.

A panel discussion presented at the Second Language Acquisition Graduate Student Symposium on 17 April 2010 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

With the growing international market for pre-experience MA in ELT/TESOL programmes, a key curriculum design issue is how to help students develop as learners of teaching through and beyond their formal academic studies. We report here on our attempts at the University of Warwick to address this issue, and consider wider implications for research and practice in initial language teacher education. At the Centre for Applied Linguistics at the University of Warwick, we run a suite of MA programmes for English language teaching professionals from around the world. Most of these courses are for students with prior teaching experience, but our MA in English Language Studies and Methods (ELSM) programme is designed for students with less than two years’ experience and, in fact, the majority enrol straight after completing their undergraduate studies in their home countries.

Presented at the AAAL Annual Conference, Atlanta, Georgia, USA; 6 March, 2010.

This colloquium discussed a multilingual approach to language learning, language teaching and language assessment in school settings. This approach implies looking at language acquisition and use from a holistic perspective, taking into account not only the target language but all the languages known by the learner; such a perspective brings together the traditions of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and bi/multilingualism because it looks at the whole linguistic repertoire of learners when acquiring and using languages. This perspective does not regard the boundaries between languages as clear-cut; nevertheless, those boundaries are themselves used as a resource in communication. In contrast to traditional teaching approaches, code-mixing, code-switching and translanguaging are considered common practices in the behavior of multilingual learners. The multilingual approach also represents a reaction against the ‘monolingual bias’, which leads to the judging of multilingual speakers' competencies by native speaker norms. It also goes beyond common practices not only in foreign language classrooms but also in bilingual and multilingual schools.

Faculty and graduate students in the Doctoral Program in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison engage in a broad spectrum of research. From Professor Sally Magnan's research on study abroad and Professor Monika Chavez's work in foreign language policy through Professor Richard Young's examination of language-in-interaction, Professor Jane Zuengler's investigation of language socialization, Professor Diana Frantzen's research in second language (L2) vocabulary acquisition and linguistic analysis of literature, to Professor Catherine Stafford's investigation of processes involved in Spanish-English bilinguals’ acquisition of a third language (L3), our research interests encompass much of the SLA field.

The AYLLIT project (http://ayllit.ecml.at) was launched by the ECML in 2008, with the overall aim of producing material that teachers can use to establish the reading and writing level of young learners (YLs) between 9 and 13 years; the material will ultimately be linked to the CEFR (Council of Europe 2001).

The European Framework for CLIL Teacher Education (EFCT – http://clil-cd.ecml.at) is a conceptual tool for guiding the professional development of CLIL teachers. CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) is a dual-focused approach in which an additional language is used for the learning and teaching of both content and language. The framework provides a set of principles and ideas for designing CLIL professional curricula. CLIL programmes differ widely from country to country in their organisation, content, intensity and choice of languages, and there are corresponding differences in how teacher education providers design and implement teacher training and development programmes. The EFCT aims to serve as a transnational conceptual tool for supporting the development of theoretically-sound educational practice in CLIL contexts. It is not intended as a prescriptive template.

Hosted by Birkbeck College, University of London, and co-organised by the International Association of Multilingualism, the AILA Research network ‘Multilingualism: Acquisition and Use’ and the Centre for Multilingual & Multicultural Research, Birkbeck; 24–25 June 2010.