New Perspectives on Material Mediation in Language Learner Pedagogy

This volume distinguishes itself from existing research on materials design, development, and evaluation, and focuses on material mediation in actual processes of teaching and learning, a subject that has been under-researched in the field of applied linguistics and second language education. This edited volume includes diverse perspectives on the roles that materials play in language learner pedagogy. Moving beyond the field of English language teaching, readers will find novel contributions offering a diversity of language teaching contexts, learner populations, and topics in the theory and/or practice of second and foreign language teaching. Chapters explore the ways in which affordances and constraints of classroom materials impact teachers and learners, while at the same time they bring their own (evolving) resources, identities, beliefs, and expertise to modify and adapt the materials to better suit their local language teaching and learning environments. As such, this text is ideal for use as supplemental reading in a wide variety of applied linguistics, second/foreign language education, TESOL, and instructional course design courses.

Darren K. LaScotte is Teaching Specialist in the Minnesota English Language Program at the University of Minnesota (U.S.A.), where he teaches English as a second language to international students. He is co-author of Intercultural Skills in Action (2021, University of Michigan Press) and Voice and Mirroring In L2 Pronunciation Instruction (2022, Equinox),. Other recent publications appear in The Modern Language Journal, RELC Journal, and Language Awareness.

Corinne S. Mathieu, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor in the Professional Program in Education at the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay (U.S.A.). Her research and teaching focus on preparing bilingual and dual language/immersion teachers to integrate content and language in their instruction. She studies the role of materials in these content-based language education contexts as well as teacher knowledge and identity. Recent publications appear in Classroom Discourse, Language Teaching, and Folio.

Samuel S. David, Ph.D.,is Assistant Professor of Second Language Education at the University of Minnesota (U.S.A.), where he teaches future teachers about the intersection of language, literacy and culture in the classroom. Sam’s research focuses primarily on literacy development of emergent bilingual students and teacher learning about translanguaging and culturally responsive pedagogy, and his recent publications have appeared in Cognition and Instruction, Bilingual Research Journal, and TESOL Journal. Prior to academia, Sam worked as a Spanish-English bilingual special education teacher in elementary and middle grades in Brooklyn, NY.