Project-based Language Learning and CALL
From Virtual Exchange to Social Justice
Edited by
Michael Thomas [+–]
Liverpool John Moores University
Michael Thomas is Professor of Education and Chair of the Centre for Educational Research (CERES) at Liverpool John Moores University. Among his other books are Project-based Language Learning with Technology (Routledge, 2017) and Language Teaching with Video-based Technologies: Creativity and CALL Teacher Education (with Christel Schneider, Routledge, 2020).
Kasumi Yamazaki [+–]
University of Toledo, USA
Kasumi Yamazaki is Associate Professor of Japanese in the Department of World Languages & Cultures at the University of Toledo, USA. Her research focuses on a wide range of contemporary Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) pedagogy and integration, namely, the use of 3D simulation games and virtual realities (VRs), the development of intelligent CALL (ICALL) systems, and the effectiveness of hybrid teaching curricula. Her areas of expertise include Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL), Technology Enhanced Language Learning, Japanese Language Pedagogy, English as a Second Language (ESL) Pedagogy. Dr Yamazaki currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of the journal Technology in Language & Teaching and Learning.
This book is the first substantive scholarly book on project-based and cross-curricular language learning using digital technologies. The book includes new empirical research on project-based language learning utilizing CALL technologies and conceptual and theoretical chapters that address new methodological approaches for researching project-based and cross-curricular language learning in digitally-mediated learning environments. This dual focus distinguishes the volume from previous books on project-based learning in which digital technologies have not been the main focus. CALL research involving a variety of languages is also offered.
The book is timely in that, inspired by OECD reports and curriculum reforms in several countries, a repositioning and re-evaluation of foreign language education in school-based education has been taking place in which foreign language learning is taught in a multi-disciplinary approach involving an emphasis on collaborative literacies, including problem-solving, civic engagement, social justice and telecollaboration. In this mix, language learning, particularly driven by developments in CLIL (content and integrated language learning), is being taught as one of several disciplines in a way that firmly emphasizes communication and creativity rather than a traditional functional approach.
