Contributors

Agurtzane Azkarai is Associate Professor at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), where she teaches in the degrees of English Studies and Translation and Interpreting, and in the Language Acquisition in Multilingual Settings MA program. Her research focuses on collaborative writing and task-based interaction with adult and child populations, and how different individual variables affect L2 learning opportunities. Her work has been published in many well-known journals and edited books.

Yuko Goto Butler is a Professor of Educational Linguistics at the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also the director of the Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) program at Penn. Her research interests primarily focus on improving second/foreign language education among young learners in the U.S. and Asia, addressing the diverse needs of an increasingly globalized world. Her work has also focused on identifying effective ESL/EFL teaching and learning strategies and assessment methods that take into account the relevant linguistic and cultural contexts in which instruction takes place.

Colin J. Flynn is Assistant Professor in Applied Linguistics at Trinity College Dublin. His research and teaching are focused on second language learning, minority language maintenance and revitalization, and multilingualism. His publications include numerous journal articles and book chapters, as well as two monographs: Adult Minority Language Learning: Motivation, Identity and Target Variety (Multilingual Matters, 2020) and Foghlaim an Dara Teanga: Modhanna agus Tascanna sa Seomra Ranga [Second Language Learning: Methods and Tasks in the Classroom] (Cló Iar-Chonnacht, 2021).

Xuesong (Andy) Gao is Professor of Language and Literacy Education in the School of Education, the University of New South Wales, Australia. His research interests include language learner autonomy, language education policy, and language teacher education. He is the Editor-in-chief for International Journal of Applied Linguistics. He also edits the English Language Education Series for Springer.

Suzanne Graham is Professor of Language and Education at the Institute of Education, University of Reading. She has led several large, funded research projects in the field of second language education. She was Principal Investigator for the Nuffield Foundation’s Progress and Preparedness research project, a longitudinal study exploring the language and motivation development of learners of French aged 9 to 11 years. Most recently she has co-led the Digital Empowerment in Language Teaching research project, exploring the development of linguistic and non-linguistic skills in young learners. She has published widely in the areas of motivation, self-regulation and language comprehension.

María del Pilar García Mayo is Full Professor of English Language and Linguistics at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Honorary Professor at the Institute of Education (University College London) and Honorary Consultant for the Shanghai Center for Research in English Language Education. She has published widely on the L2/L3 acquisition of English morphosyntax and the study of conversational interaction in EFL. She has been an invited speaker to universities in Europe, Asia and North America. She is the director of the research group Language and Speech and the MA program Language Acquisition in Multilingual Settings and the editor of Language Teaching Research. Prof. García Mayo is a member of the steering committee of the Spanish State Research Agency.

Rowena Kasprowicz is Associate Professor in Second Language Education at the Institute of Education, University of Reading and a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow. She leads the UKRI-funded research project, Progression in Primary Languages, a longitudinal study exploring language learning in primary schools in England. Her primary research interests are in classroom-based foreign language learning, particularly for young learners and in relation to the impact of individual, instructional and contextual factors on the development of linguistic knowledge. Rowena also contributes actively to efforts to bring together research and practice, through initiatives such as the Research in Primary Languages network.

Nicola Morea has a PhD from the University of Cambridge and currently works as a Senior Impact Evaluator at Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Prior to this role, Nicola worked as a Senior Post-Doctoral Research Associate on the Progression in Primary Languages project, University of Reading. Nicola’s research interests include multilingualism, teacher education, language education, and research methods in applied linguistics.

Rhonda Oliver is a research professor, School of Education, Curtin University, Western Australia. She has researched extensively and is widely published in the areas of second language and dialect acquisition, and task-based language learning especially in relation to child and adolescent language learners in schools and universities. Her more recent work includes studies within Australian Aboriginal education settings.

Szilvia Papp completed her PhD in Second Language Acquisition from the University of Edinburgh in 1999. Previously, she worked as Senior Lecturer in TEFL at the University of Portsmouth (1999–2007), then as a Senior Research and Validation Manager at Cambridge Assessment English (2007–2015). Currently, Szilvia works as an independent consultant in educational measurement with special expertise in English language assessment among primary, secondary and pre-school learners. She advises examination boards, international assessment consortia, publishers, testing agencies, and Ministries of Education. She is involved in test development and large-scale international survey projects, as well as randomized controlled trials.

Annamaria Pinter is a Professor at the Department of Applied Linguistics, the University of Warwick, UK. Her research interests focus on all aspects of second/ foreign language education for children, task-based second language teaching and learning and engaging children actively in research. She has published widely in the area of teaching English to children and has a strong international reputation in TEYL and second language teacher education. She is the author of Teaching Young Language Learners Oxford Handbooks for Language Teachers, Oxford University Press (second edition, 2017), Children Learning Second Languages, Palgrave Macmillan (2011) and Engaging Children in Applied Linguistics Research (2023, Cambridge University Press). She is also joint series editor of Early Language Learning in School Contexts by Multilingual Matters.

David Singleton is an Emeritus Fellow of Trinity College Dublin, where he was, until his retirement from that institution, Professor in Applied Linguistics. He has also held professorships at the University of Pannonia (Hungary) and at the State University of Applied Sciences, Konin (Poland). He served as President of the Irish Association for Applied Linguistics, as Secretary General of AILA and as President of EUROSLA. He was the founding editor and is currently co-editor of the Multilingual Matters SLA book series. In 2015 he received the EUROSLA Distinguished Scholar Award and in 2017 Honorary Life Membership of AILA.

Pia Sundqvist is Professor of English Education at the University of Oslo, Norway. Her research interests are in the field of applied linguistics, with a focus on informal language learning, especially extramural English and the relation between gaming and L2 English proficiency, the assessment of L2 oral proficiency, and English language teaching. Sundqvist is the author of Extramural English in Teaching and Learning (with Sylvén, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), Motivational Practice (with Henry and Thorsen, Studentlitteratur, 2019), and Testing Talk (with Sandlund, Bloomsbury Academic, 2024). She has served many years as a member of the board of the Swedish Association of Applied Linguistics, and three years as its president. Sundqvist is the editor-in-chief of its journal since 2020.

Runhan Zhang is Professor of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics in the School of Foreign Studies at the Central University of Finance and Economics, People’s Republic of China. Currently, she serves as the vice dean of the School. She obtained her PhD in Applied Linguistics at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Her research interests include second language acquisition, psycholinguistics, and foreign language education. She has published three monographs and a number of articles in these fields in several prestigious journals, including Studies in Second Language Acquisition (SSLA), Applied Linguistics Review, International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching (IRAL), and Modern Foreign Languages.