Recent research has established that it is academically advantageous for students to adopt an incremental view of their intelligence and that this is a key marker of a student's level of self-efficacy. The self-efficacy of students following Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) courses in UK secondary schools is known to be low. Interventions have been successful in modifying students' intelligence theories in the short term, but less research has been conducted into the longer-term impact of such interventions. This paper investigates the impact of intervention training focussed on the benefits of adopting both an incremental theory of intelligence and a strategic approach to learning. We report the results of a year-long intervention study with a quasi-experimental design based in a large comprehensive secondary school in England. The participants were five Year 9 German as a foreign language classes (N= 127). The impact of two interventions is assessed through in-depth questionnaires, analysis of student outcomes, and students' intentions to continue with post-compulsory language study. The findings of this study yield significant implications for teachers' classroom practice. Targeted intervention is shown to have a lasting impact on students' theories of intelligence. The combination of interventions appears to have had an effect on the frequency with which students report adaptive attributions for failure. Most strikingly, for students of lower initial attainment, such interventions may have the power to transform attainment and motivation to continue with language study.

There is now extensive theoretical and empirical literature on the place of the first language (L1) and the second language (L2) in the foreign language (FL) classroom. Although this body of work includes related teacher beliefs and practices, less attention has been paid to the factors that may influence these practices across different national contexts. Through an extensive survey of secondary school teachers of a FL in Spain and England we investigated teachers’ reported L1/L2 practices and the possible influence of pre-service training on these practices. We found that teachers in England reported greater use of the L1 than teachers in Spain across virtually all language functions. In both groups there was no evidence of the influence of advocated teaching approaches within pre-service training courses on teachers’ reported L1 and L2 use. Differences in teachers’ reported practices seem to be better explained by contextual factors influenced by and derived from national policy and the social value of the L2.

Despite the growth of research in learning and teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL), no scoping review of research published in international, anglophone journals has been published so far. A total of 289 journal articles published in 95 journals were identified and used to provide a bibliometric mapping of research in CFL over three decades. Data from the sampled articles reveals a great diversity of focus in CFL research that has been conducted in more than 24 countries. The included articles also reflect an upsurge in research intensity across several key areas of focus, some of which are related to the distinctive linguistic features of the Chinese language. We also report on the research methods employed by the studies in our sample and the characteristics of their participants. Our mapping of the field identifies gaps in the existing literature which may subsequently inform any focused or comprehensive reviews. We conclude by setting out some implications for future CFL research, both in terms of substantive areas of focus and methodological approaches.

Laura is a lecturer in second language teacher education at the University of Oxford, Department of Education. She works with student teachers of French, German, Spanish and Mandarin and supervises practicing languages teachers who are completing their Master's in Learning and Teaching. Her doctoral research centres on understanding the professional learning of languages teachers in secondary schools. She is also interested in second language acquisition research with a focus on language learning strategies and student motivation. Which aspects of their practice do modern languages teachers in England's secondary schools say they want to develop?This study draws on teacher perception data gathered from 65 secondary school modern languages (L2) teachers in South-East England. Data were collected via four iterations of an online questionnaire and follow-up interviews with six heads of department. This paper reports respondents' perceived strengths and development needs in relation to their classroom practice, including: L2 teachers' sense of self-efficacy for classroom teaching and the stability of this selfassessment over the course of an academic year; the extent to which teachers felt that their classroom practices aligned with research-informed understandings about how languages are learned; teachers' self-identified priorities for further development; and their reasons for these choices. The L2 teachers in this study reported generally strong self-efficacy scores for teaching, although scores for self-efficacy in fostering pupil engagement tended to be lower. A gap was found between teachers' endorsement of research-informed language teaching principles and their enactment of these principles in their classrooms. Many teachers reported that they would value support in developing their pupils' spoken use of the L2. Teachers highlighted spontaneity and fluency as the key speaking skills in need of development, and these priorities were highlighted by teachers at all schools and at all stages of their career.

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