Center for Language Acquisition Invited Speaker Series

Speaker: Jonathon Reinhardt

Title: “Language learning and teaching beyond the classroom: Implications for the relevance of formal education”

Abstract: Today, as the Internet has created a global village, educators are finding older methods and theories inadequate to accommodate the many informal, incidental, and casual L2 experiences their students bring to the classroom. In response, new perspectives on language learning and teaching beyond the classroom (LLTBC) (Reinders, Lai, & Sundqvist, 2022) attempt to build on these new contexts and leverage them for theoretical and pedagogical implications. A historical perspective on the phenomenon of LLTBC (Reinhardt, 2022; Reinhardt, in progress) can help in this endeavor, as it shows that L2 learning theories and teaching methods have been mutually shaped by simultaneous cultural, educational, and techno-social developments throughout history. Most recently, digital technologies--for example, social media and digital gaming--have created new contexts for independent, informal language use and learning that challenge some pre-digital postulations about LLT while confirming others. Critically examining the history of LLTBC in relationship to the practices of formal language education puts concepts like teaching methodology, learner autonomy, and assessment in a new light while also offering implications on how to bridge informal and formal LLT practices and make formal learning experiences relevant.

Reinhardt, J. (2022). “Language learning beyond the classroom: An historical perspective”. In Reinders, H., Lai, C., & Sundqvist, P. (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Language Learning and Teaching Beyond the Classroom, 9-23. London: Routledge.

Bio: Jonathon Reinhardt (Ph.D., Penn State) is professor of English applied linguistics and second language acquisition and teaching at The University of Arizona. His research interests focus on second/foreign language pedagogy and technology-mediated language learning, especially with emerging technologies like digital gaming and social media. He is the current president of the Computer-Assisted Language Instructional Consortium. jonreinhardt.wordpress.com