Ecological Languaging Competencies: Teaching, Learning and Assessment (Elements in Applied Linguistics)

Bys: Constant Leung, Paul J. Thibault, Angel M. Y. Lin, et al.

The concept of communicative competence has been rendered as context-abstracted code-bound knowledge for language teaching and assessment. This Element offers a different perspective on 'communication' and 'competence'. Section 1 offers the rationale for this re-orientation. Section 2 examines the conceptual and pedagogic affordances and delimitations of the prevailing approach to communicative competence; Section 3 describes a conceptual re-framing of language use as ecological languaging in terms of embodied, situation-sensitive action through which people coordinate with others, artefacts, and environments; Section 4 explores assessment approaches built on Bayesian principles for tracking learner development and progress by taking account of prior accomplishment, expert opinion, and emerging performance to create probabilistic trajectories; Section 5 focusses on professional developments related to conceptual refinement, curriculum design, teaching materials, and teacher education. Section 6 considers some key future challenges. This Element is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 100975629X
• ISBN13: 9781009756297
• Release Date: October 2026
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 75 Pages
• Weight: 0.06 lbs.