Advances in Second and Foreign Language Acquisition: From Greek Classrooms to Global Contexts

This book offers new empirical insights into second language acquisition and multilingual education. Drawing on diverse theoretical frameworks, it explores the intersections of multilingualism and language pedagogy across varied global contexts. Organised into three thematic sections, the volume brings together thirteen studies first presented at the 2024 annual Advances in Second and Foreign Language Acquisition conference at the University of Nicosia. It spans topics such as Teaching Greek to Speakers of Other Languages, intercultural communicative competence, task-based instruction, and the cognitive dimensions of language learning. Contributions are grounded in sociocultural theory, complex dynamic systems theory, and intercultural communicative competence, highlighting issues of integration, learner identity and linguistic diversity. Bridging both regional and international contexts, this book is a valuable resource for researchers, educators, and policymakers engaging with contemporary challenges facing second and foreign language education.

Table of Contents:
Introduction.- Section 1: Teaching Greek as a Second Language.- 1. English as a Lingua Franca in Erasmus+ L2 Greek Classroom (Ellie Zampiaki and Aretousa Giannakou).- 2.An examination of Greek vowel production by adult Albanian speakers of Greek as a second language Semina Kask (Asimina Kaskampa and Georgios P. Georgiou).- 3. Navigating the Challenges of Reliability and Validity in Self-Assessment for Greek as a Second Language (Antonios Ventouris, Olympia Blatsioti, Dimitra Tsalta and Thomais Rousoulioti).- 4. Teaching Greek to refugee and migrant students: Primary school teachers’ educational methods and approaches (Marina Mogli and S. Goudoufa).- 5. The effectiveness of Processing Instruction and meaningful Production-Based Instruction on the acquisition of gender-agreement by child acquirers of Greek as an L2 (Evi Magnisali and Irini Konta).- Section 2: Diverse Approaches in Second/Foreign Language Teaching and Acquisition.- 6.Using short films in teaching Turkish L2 to Greek L1 learners (Fani Lazari and Theodora Konisi).- 7. Enhancing the speaking competence in a Turkish language classroom of Greek L1 in Cyprus (Katerina Antoniou Karantoki).- 8. Integrating language into the CLIL classroom: A walk in the park or a walk in the dark? (Irena Vodopija-Krstanović).- 9. ROADMAPPING preparatory year programs: Implications for content and language teaching (Kate Elizabeth Heath).- 10. Investigating Heuristic Processing among Second Language Learners of Turkish (Zeynep İrem Bayraklı and Onur Keleş).- Section 3: Cross-cultural and Multilingual Language Perspectives.- 11. Reconstructing American English inputs in a globally available mass media product: Intensifiers in the television series Gilmore Girls (Julia Davydova).- 12. Social representations of English among Mexican medical students (Ofelia Gomez Landeros, Anna V. Sokolova and Jose Arturo Granados Cosmee).- 13. Exploring Indigenous language dynamics: insights from a Mexican university study (Anna V. Sokolova).- 14. Lexical Acquisition of Sign Language of the Netherlands by Deaf Refugee Children: A Study of Phonological Complexity (Lisa Bianca Lepp).- 15. The impact of individual differences during performance with grammatical gender (Martha Black).- 16. Comparative Effects of Interaction Components on Vocabulary Gains and Retention in Second Language Learners (Amvrazis Nikos).

About the Author :
Christine Savvidou is Associate Professor at the University of Nicosia, Cyprus and coordinator of the PhD TESOL programme. Her research focuses on TESOL, teacher education, and professional development. She publishes widely in international journals and regularly presents at international conferences on second language education, teacher development, technology-enhanced language learning and higher education. Georgios Georgiou is an Assistant Professor of Linguistics at the University of Nicosia, Cyprus and currently serves as Associate Head of the Department of Languages and Literature. He is the Director of the Phonetic Lab. His research interests include experimental phonetics, speech acquisition, language acquisition, and machine learning. Aretousa Giannakou is a Lecturer at the University of Nicosia, Cyprus. Her research interests include formal and applied linguistics, focusing on comparative syntax, bilingualism, second language acquisition, heritage languages, Greek as a second language, English as a lingua franca, and intercultural education. Her work contributes to both theoretical understanding and educational applications in multilingual contexts.