This article reports on a case study that investigates how a successful Chinese sojourner exhibits learner autonomy through mediating agency, identity, and language learning strategies (LLS) to seek out affordances within a religious social setting in the UK. This study employs an ecological perspective and ethnographic methods through participant observation and interviews to identify a set of LLS employed by this sojourner to deal with language and socio-cultural issues in a complex ecosystem comprised of interacting human and non-human components within this social setting. The results predominantly show this sojourner exercises agency by utilizing the newly observed concealing identity strategy to hide his ‘atheist identity’ which is a self-perceived barrier to the setting. Employing this strategy mitigates this sojourner’s affective barrier to open access to the linguistic and non-linguistic affordances within the dynamic second language (L2) changing circumstance in this specific social place. This case study broadens the LLS research area by taking a socially-oriented perspective to investigate LLS in relation to socio-cultural and interactional abilities in real communicative L2 settings. Therefore, this study gives insights into how learner autonomy is socially mediated in a complex transnational world through the constructs of LLS, agency, and identity based on ecology theory.

By focussing on the physical and virtual space of a Language Resources Centre and the development of a wide set of digital literacies skills, this article discusses the SotonSmartSkills (Mar-Molinero & Lewis, 2014) programme developed at the University of Southampton, UK. Through a wide range of scaffolded courses designed to support the transition to the learner autonomy required of students in Higher Education, the programme equips students with skills, strategies, techniques and tools vital for success in their language learning (for international students) and more generally, in their academic achievement and professional life. In this paper we illustrate this initiative with the specific example of an integrated SotonSmartSkills module on our Pre-Sessional English programmes

No abstract

Despite the benefits of multimodal technology in the language classroom and common practice to introduce digital tools in language teaching, research has shown that many language teachers do not feel confident to engage with and create online multimodal learning resources and environments. This exploratory study examines data from five experienced English for Academic Purposes (EAP) teachers and discusses the dynamic challenges faced when training them to engage with multimodal teaching, learning, and assessment methods, such as digital learning, confidence and community building, and supporting them in creating multimodal learning resources. It also discusses the Dynamic Teacher Training model developed as a result of this experience to support teachers in developing the skills they needed to fully engage with the different digital teaching tools and teacher feedback on this.