The Foreign Language Classroom: Current Perspectives and Future Considerations

Abstract

The Modern Language Journal has long been an important venue for the publication of research and reflection on the teaching and learning of foreign languages (FL) in classroom contexts. In this article, we offer a perspective on the contemporary FL classroom, informed by a descriptive survey of all studies that took place in FL classes that were published in the Modern Language Journal (MLJ) between 2001 and 2014 inclusive (N = 97). This yielded a profile of FL classrooms in terms of geographical locations; languages being taught; the amount and distribution of instructional time; and the age and language backgrounds of the students. The findings revealed that FL environments benefiting from research investigations in the MLJ typically involve older learners in on-site (rather than virtual) classes that afford limited exposure to the FL, which was typically English (in non-English speaking countries) and French, German or Spanish (in English-speaking countries). We consider the implications of these findings for the study of FLs in the future and identify aspects of FL classrooms that merit greater research attention as the MLJ moves into its second centenary. Keywords: foreign language; language teaching; language learning; language classrooms; EFL; instructional time