An interview with Dr. Ruth Breeze and Dr. Florentina Taylor on foreign language teaching and learning

Abstract

Dr. Ruth Breeze received her degree in Modern and Medieval Languages from the University of Cambridge and subsequently completed a master's degree from the same university. She has a PhD in language teaching from the University of Navarra. She was the Director of the Institute of Modern Languages at the University of Navarra until 2014, is currently a professor of English at the same Institute, and is a member of the GRADUN research group in the Institute of Culture and Society (ICS). Her publications focus on discourse analysis, language pedagogy – especially in higher education - and professional communication. Some of her recent research has focused on CLIL (e.g. Breeze et al., 2014). Dr Florentina Taylor holds a PhD from the University of Nottingham, an MEd in TESOL from the University of Exeter, and Qualified Teacher Status for England. She currently works at the University of Greenwich as Senior Lecturer in Applied Linguistics and TESOL. She previously worked in the Department of Education at the University of York as a Teaching Fellow in TESOL, Lecturer in Language Education and MA TESOL Programme Leader. Her recent research mainly focuses on identity and self-perceptions, and their relationships to perceived relevance, motivation, engagement, uptake and achievement in foreign language education (e.g. Taylor, 2013). The interviews were carried out in the summer of 2015, following up on previous conversations relating to education in general, SLA, ESL, CLIL, etc. during time spent by the author in Pamplona (Spain) as well as in Lancaster and York (United Kingdom). The interviews reflect some of the crucial points arising from these discussions.