This article reports on the design and evaluation of “PaCKed with Technology”, a pedagogically-driven technology professional development program for pre-service teachers of primary English in Kuwait. PaCKed with Technology is novel in its focus on enabling teachers to identify technologies that align with second language acquisition pedagogy. Having provided teachers space to revise and develop their pedagogical content knowledge, trainee teachers are taken through two reflective cycles. The first comprises: (1) comprehension & connection, which encourages the development of pedagogical content knowledge and makes connections between technologies and pedagogical principles; (2) experience, which enables teachers to “learn with technology”; and (3) reflection, which encourages reflection based on their experience. The second comprises the same steps and provides trainee teachers the opportunity to “teach with technology.” Pre-module and post-module surveys of the teachers’ awareness of the range of technologies they might employ in their teaching, their rationale for doing so, and their Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) were complemented with qualitative interviews exploring their experience of the training. While the trainee teachers’ self-reported levels of TPACK decreased, their rationales for using technology shifted from motivating and engaging learners to reasons grounded in approaches and methods of language teaching. Interview data suggests that these changes might be explained by changes in trainees’ understanding of what it means to use technology effectively to support their pedagogical goals and approach.

This action research (AR) study investigated the pedagogical implementation of web-based machine translation (WBMT), specifically Baidu Fanyi 百度翻译 (Baidu Translator), for teaching reading strategies in extensive reading tasks in Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) classrooms. The study focused on CFL learners’ perceptions of utilizing WBMT-assisted reading strategies. Eleven third-year CFL students participated in a semester-long project that followed Kemmis and McTaggart's (2000) AR spiral model through three cycles in the classroom. The study analyzed students’ reflective reports and found that learners acknowledged the benefits of WBMT for enhancing motivation and boosting confidence when reading authentic materials. However, some learners expressed concerns about their linguistic gains, particularly in vocabulary acquisition, during the reading process. The study also suggests that WBMT can serve as a supplementary reading tool, providing an alternative approach to facilitating reading comprehension for learners.

This study focused on instructors teaching German as a foreign language at two UK universities and examined their experiences with and attitudes toward free online neural machine translation (FONMT). In September 2022, eight semi-structured interviews were conducted to gather data. The results indicate a general openness toward FONMT, with instructors making varying assumptions regarding their learners’ reasons for utilizing FONMT. In addition, the instructors’ underlying conceptions of language learning in relation to FONMT became apparent and influenced their perspectives on assessment. The author presents FONMT from an instructor's perspective as a triangular relationship between assumptions (about students’ rationales), expectations (in light of language learning), and assessment (of language learning). Consequently, it appeared essential to consider potential reasons for using FONMT and the objectives of language learning when implementing FONMT in foreign language teaching and learning. By doing so, strategies become visible for both teacher training and language instruction that may assist learners in a purposeful use of FONMT while resisting its allure.

Research Methods for Digital Discourse AnalysisEdited by Camilla VásquezLondon: Bloomsbury, US $ 27.96, ISBN 9781350166820 (Paperback), 330 pages, 2022

Game-based instruction has been praised as an effective approach to second language (L2) development, as it can provide a low-stakes, fun, and engaging learning environment. However, in designing digital games for L2 learning, it is important to consider how various game designs and mechanics can affect learning gains. In the current study building on Taguchi (2023), a digital game-informed application was developed to teach 118 L2 English learners to identify and produce pragmatically appropriate requests in English. Two versions of the game were developed that differed only in one designed game mechanic: version A allowed learners to see one single reaction from interlocutors after selecting one option from a set of request forms. In contrast, version B allowed learners to see the full range of interlocutor reactions across all items in the same set of request form options. Results indicate that both versions of the game had positive effects on learners’ pragmatics knowledge. The difference in learners’ gains between the two versions of the app had negligible to small effect size (Cohen’s d) differences on both the recognition and production knowledge of the learners. Implications are discussed, offering direction for future research aiming to measure the effects of targeted game mechanics implemented in educational technology

The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition and TechnologyEdited by Nicole Ziegler and Marta González-LloretNew York: Routledge, US $ 220, ISBN 9780815360773 (Hardback), 428 pages, 2022

This special issue brings together five articles all situated within the field of extended reality (XR) and language learning. Since the release of the widely used Google Cardboard VR "headset" back in 2014, XR has been gaining in popularity among computer-assisted language learning (CALL) researchers and practitioners who are interested in understanding how to best use this technology for language acquisition. Extended reality is an umbrella term that encompasses three more specific types of immersive technologies: augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), and virtual reality (VR). These three realities differ in the degree of immersion that they afford users, and can be classified on a continuum ranging from least (AR) to most (VR) immersive (see Figure 1 and Table 1 ). Augmented reality can be defined as a technology that allows users to superimpose virtual images or interactive media onto their real-life surroundings. This is typically done using a smartphone or a tablet, which makes AR one of the more financially accessible forms of XR, given that the vast majority of the adult population already owns a smartphone. One of the most well-known uses of AR is Pokémon GO, a smartphone game that went viral when it launched during the summer of 2016. In terms of language learning, AR applications such as Mondly (Figure 1 , left) allow users to place various elements of virtual content into their environment to learn and practice L2 vocabulary. In the case illustrated in Figure 1 , this includes

Digital Games and Language Learning: Theory, Development and Implementation Edited by Mark Peterson, Kasumi Yamazaki, and Michael Thomas London/New York: Bloomsbury Academic UK £ 85.50 ISBN 9781350133006 (Hardback) 300 pages 2021

Teaching Language Online: A Guide for Designing, Developing and Delivering Online, Blended, and Flipped Language Courses Victoria Russell and Kathryn Murphy-Judy New York, NY, and Abingdon, UK: Taylor & Francis £120.00 ISBN 9781138386983 (Hardback) 328 pages 2021