Prof Ernesto Macaro[back]

Ernesto obtained a first degree in French and English from the University of Kent, an MA in Applied Linguistics by research from the University of Warwick and a Doctorate from the University of Reading. He was a teacher of French and Italian in UK secondary schools for 16 years before becoming a teacher educator and applied linguist. He joined the Department of Education at Oxford in 1999.

Research Topics
There are two major strands to Ernesto's research activity and proposals for doctoral study are particularly welcomed in these two strands and sub-strands:

Strand 1. The second language oral discourse and interaction between teacher and learners

The particular focus when analyzing the discourse is on:

• the teacher's codeswitching (switching between first and second language) and its impact on learning
• the wait time and lengths of turns accorded to the learners in questioning sequences
• the proportion of learner initiated turns to teacher initiated turns
• the proportion of verb use to noun use that the teacher involves his/her learners in

Underlying this analysis is the notion of "quality interaction", one which produces the best cognitive processes in the learners.

Strand 2. The language learning strategies that the learners themselves deploy in order to facilitate and maximize learning and in order to overcome obstacles in their language learning

In this research the language learner's cognitive and metacognitive actions are being analyzed for their deployment, combination, and ultimately effectiveness in learning.

Current Research Project(s)

Project Title: The effects of teacher codeswitching on acquisition of second language vocabulary

Brief Description: Using listening comprehension texts as the tasks around which the intervention takes place, year 9 students will be taught vocabulary by either being provided with target language information or via first language information. We measure pre- post and delayed tests.

Project Title: New technologies and English as a second language

Brief Description: Initially a systematic review of research into technology-based English language teaching will be carried out. On the basis of the review findings one or possibly two research projects will be formulated. The over-arching objective is to examine rigorously whether technology does enhance language learning.

Project title: Decoding French, Motivation and Foreign Language Learning
Funding Body: ESRC
Brief Description: This study involves an England-wide survey of Key Stage 3 learners of French in comprehensive schools which will elicit respondents' mastery and perceptions of decoding French (from the written form to the spoken form)  and will correlate these results with the same learners' self-reports on their self-efficacy in French, their attributions of success and failure in French and their motivation to continue learning it.

• Macaro, E. (ed.) (2009 forthcoming) Continuum Companion to Second Language Acquisition. London: Continuum.
  Cohen, A.D. and Macaro, E. (Eds) (2007) Language Learner strategies: thirty years of research and practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Macaro, E. (2003) Teaching and Learning a Second Language: a guide to current research and its applications. London: Continuum
• Macaro, E. (2001) Learner Strategies in second and foreign language classrooms. London: Continuum
   
• Macaro E. (1997) Target Language, Collaborative Learning and Autonomy. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
  Journal Articles
• Graham, S. and Macaro, E. (2008) Strategy instruction in listening for lower-intermediate learners of French. Language Learning. 58/4, 747–783.
• Macaro, E, and Erler, L (2008) Raising the achievement of young-beginner readers of French through strategy instruction. Applied Linguistics. 29/1,  90-119.
• Macaro, E. (2008 ) The decline in language learning in England: getting the facts right and getting real. Language Learning Journal, 36/1.
• Macaro, E. (2008) The shifting dimensions of language learner autonomy.  In, Lamb, T.E. and Reinders, H.(eds.) Learner and teacher autonomy: concepts, realities and responses. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins Pages 47-62.
• Macaro, E. (2009) Developments in language learner strategies. In Li Wei and V. Cook. (eds.) Contemporary Applied Linguistics. London: Continuum.
• Macaro, E. (2009) Teacher Codeswitching in L2 classrooms: exploring ‘optimal use’. In T. Yoshida et al. (eds.) Researching Language Teaching and Learning: An Integration of Practice and Theory. Oxford: Peter Lang.
• Macaro, E. (2009) Teacher use of codeswitching in the second language classroom. In Turnbull and Dailey-O’cain (ed.) First language use in second and foreign language learning. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
• Macaro, E. and Graham S. (2008) The development of the passé composé in lower intermediate learners of French. Language Learning Journal. 36/1. 5-20.
• Macaro, E. and Mutton, T. (2009) Developing reading achievement in primary learners of French: inferencing strategies versus exposure to ‘graded readers’. Language Learning Journal. 37/2. 165-182
• Macaro, E., Guo, T. Chen, H., Tian, L. (2009). Can differential processing of L2 vocabulary inform the debate on teacher codeswitching behaviour: the case of Chinese learners of English. In Daller et. al. (eds.) Vocabulary Studies in First and Second Language Acquisition: The interface between theory and application. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Macaro, E. (2010 [April] forthcoming) A systematic review of the teaching and learning of Italian as a second or foreign language. Language Teaching.
• Macaro, E, and Erler, L (2007) Raising the achievement of young-beginner readers of French through strategy instruction. Applied Linguistics.
• Macaro, E. (2007) Do beginner learners of French have any writing strategies? Language Learning Journal. 35/1, 23-36.
• Macaro, E. (2006) Strategies for language learning and for language use: revising the theoretical framework. Modern Language Journal. 90/3. 320-337.
   
• Macaro, E. and Masterman, E. (2006) Does intensive explicit grammar instruction make all the difference? Language Teaching Research 10, 3, 297-327.
   
• Macaro, E. and Wingate, U. (2004) From sixth form to university: motivation and transition among high achieving state-school language students. Oxford Review of Education. Volume 30, number 4, 467-489.
   
• Macaro, E. (2003) Second Language Teachers as Second Language Classroom Researchers. Language Learning Journal, 27, 4 -12.
   
• Macaro, E and Mutton, T. (2002) Developing language teachers through a co-researcher model. Language Learning Journal, 25, 27-39.
   
• Macaro, E. (2001) Analyzing Student Teachers' Codeswitching in Foreign Language classrooms: Theories and Decision Making. The Modern Language Journal, 85, 4. 531-548.
  Chapters in Books
• Macaro, E. (2008) The shifting dimensions of language learner autonomy.  In, Lamb, T.E. and Reinders, H.(eds.) Learner and teacher autonomy: concepts, realities and responses. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins
• Grenfell, M and Macaro E. (2007) Language learner strategies: claims and critiques. In A.D. Cohen and E. Macaro (Eds) Language Learner strategies: 30 years of research and practice.
•  
• Macaro, E. Graham, S. and Vanderplank, R. (2007) Listening strategies. In A.D. Cohen and E. Macaro (Eds) Language Learner strategies: 30 years of research and practice
• Macaro, E. (2005) Codeswitching in the L2 classroom: A communication and learning strategy. In E. Llurda (ed.) Non-Native Language Teachers: Perceptions, Challenges, and Contributions to the Profession. Boston, MA: Springer. pp. 63-84.

Ernesto is currently supervising doctoral students researching the following topics:

1. Codeswitching patterns and student reactions among Chinese university students of English as a second language
2. 
   The impact of teacher codeswitching behaviour on the acquisition of English vocabulary
3. 
   Decoding ability in French as a second language and its relationship with language proficiency and motivation
4. The relationship between attitudes towards European citizenship, knowledge about the EU, and language learning provision in 4 European countries.
5. Implications of English as Medium of Instruction (Hong Kong) on teacher-learners interaction patterns
6. Differential impacts of teacher codeswitching on vocabulary acquisition of (i) young EFL learners (ii) adult EFL learners