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Promotional Information on Book's Back Cover | References
The “Understanding” collection provides opportunities for current and prospective teachers of English to speakers of other languages to examine experienced teachers’ ways of structuring and offering complete language courses. It reviews relevant literatures, provides a synopsis of contemporary teaching-learning principles and features individual teachers’ descriptions and explanations of how they teach a total of eighteen different English as a second language (ESL) and English as a foreign language (EFL) courses.
Teachers of English as a second or foreign language have interesting stories to share about the courses they teach. Some of their more compelling stories focus on a specific course and reveal details of an individual teacher’s local approach to classroom instruction. The Understanding collection showcases ESL and EFL teachers’ firsthand descriptions of eighteen authentic English language courses offered in a wide range of settings. For too long, the field of second and foreign language instruction has been dominated by generic discussions of language teaching that fail to capture contect-specific illustrations of teachers’ and learners’ actual experiences in language courses. By focusing on individual teachers’ descriptions and explanations of instructional plans, as well as their decisions and experiences in specific ESL and EFL courses, the Understanding collection personalizes the field of English language teaching and serves as an innovative complement to other professional development resources.
The collection’s first three chapters introduce major themes, review relevant literature, and outline the book’s conceptual parameters. Chapter 1 introduces themes and terminology featured in the rest of the book, as well as the collection’s purpose and scope. Chapter 2 begins with a survey of professional development literatures and culminates with a listing and discussion of fourteen core principles of English language learning and teaching synthesized from contemporary sources. Among other topics included in this chapter are discussions of the roles of learners’ background knowledge, learner readiness, learning strategies, motivation, and culture in relation to English language teaching. The principles featured in Chapter 2 serve as points of reference for readers while they examine the rest of the collection (or while teaching in a language classroom). The third chapter focuses on precursors to the Understanding collection’s organizing scheme. Chapters 4 and 5 introduce a unifying framework for examining different teachers’ understandings and explanations of their work. Contributors to later chapters used this framework as an organizing scheme for describing and discussing the courses they teach. Chapters 4 and 5 guide readers in how to use the framework as a conceptual lens for understanding, comparing, and contrasting the local approaches to teaching presented by the individual teachers---or teams of teachers---who contributed to the collection’s later sections.
The heart of the collection is chapters 6-23 in which different teacher-contributors discuss eighteen separate ESL and EFL courses. These eighteen chapters are divided into four thematic clusters: (1) general purpose instruction including workplace literacy, community-based ESL, a third grade classroom in the USA, and courses designed for recent immigrants in Australia, Canada, and the United States; (2) the teaching of English as a foreign language in Hong Kong and Japan; (3) credit-bearing courses focused on the teaching of English for academic purposes in the United States and Canada; and (4) non-credit courses offered through intensive English programs in the USA.
By surveying contemporary literatures, introducing core principles, presenting a conceptual framework, and featuring descriptions of eighteen different language courses, the Understanding collection bridges the gap between theory and practice in the field and illustrates contemporary language teachers’ context-specific approaches to English language teaching. A final chapter introduces the book’s website and outlines plans for on-going Internet connectivity between the book’s readers, editors and other contributors.
Over recent years, second language teachers, researchers and teacher educators have expressed growing interest in what Johnson (1999) calls the “situated nature of language teaching.” Such interest is illustrated by an increasing number of publications in the field of English language teaching (ELT) that document the local experiences of teachers and learners in classrooms. Expanding upon this tradition, the Understanding collection reflects the field’s progression away from generic to more context-specific analyses of ELT. For example, contemporary interest in classroom-oriented research, reflective teaching, action research, case studies, the teacher-as-researcher, and the teaching of English for specific purposes highlights the importance of individual teachers’ experiences within specific instructional settings. At the forefront of this tradition, specialists such as Clarke (1994) , Edge (1994), Graves (1996), Johnson (1999), Kumaravadivelu (1994), Nunan (1999), Prabhu (1992), and Richards (1996) challenge language teachers, researchers, and teacher educators to work together in order to explore, document, and share individual teachers’ local understandings of clearly defined ELT courses. This position permeates the work of a long line of ELT specialists through which they explore local understandings and explanations of teachers’ efforts in whole courses. The Understanding collection places contemporary interest in setting-specific approaches to English language teaching at center stage. At the same time that it accomplishes this purpose, Understanding introduces readers to widely accepted principles, as well as contemporary and innovative practices, of ELT. While the book celebrates the local experiences and insights of individual language teachers, the conceptual framework and principles it features are rooted firmly in historical and contemporary developments of the field.
The Understanding collection is written for current and prospective teachers of English to speakers of other languages. It illustrates a new genre of English as a second language (ESL) and English as a foreign language (EFL) teacher development resource material. This innovative approach to discussions and illustrations of English language teaching will be of special interest to teacher educators interested in exploring the situated nature of teachers’ work in second and foreign language courses. The book may be used to introduce the ESL/EFL field to prospective teachers either alone or as a complement to other teacher development resources. In teacher preparation programs geared toward the teaching of ESL or EFL, the book may be used as a primary text in courses covering methods, instructional materials, curriculum development, teaching practices, teacher reasoning, and teaching practicum among other possibilities. Current ESL/EFL teachers will also be interested in working with the collection as a way of learning even more about other experienced teachers’ ways of conceptualizing, designing, and teaching English language courses. The book is unique to the field of Applied Linguistics and ESL/EFL because it features eighteen separate chapters that are each devoted to an in-depth description, analysis, and discussion of an individual ESL or EFL course as taught by the teacher-contributor. The collection’s five initial chapters survey historical and contemporary developments in the field of English language teaching, list and discuss a set of core principles for second language learning and teaching, and introduce a conceptual framework for the description and analysis of individual teachers’ approaches to English language teaching. The heart of the collection is chapters 6-23 which are devoted to separate discussions of eighteen different English language courses currently being offered in diverse parts of the world in a wide range of instructional settings.
Promotional
Information as It Appears on the Book's Back Cover
Understanding the Courses We Teach provides current and prospective teachers of ESL/EFL with opportunities to examine context-specific ways teachers conceptualize, organize, and implement actual language courses. By focusing on individual teachers' discussions of instructional plans, decisions, and experiences in specific courses, this book is the perfect complement to other professional development resources, such as methods course textbooks, because it successfully bridges the gap between theory and practice.
Chapter 1-3
introduce major themes, review relevant literatures, and outline the book's
conceptual parameters. Chapters 4 and 5 introduce a unifying framework
for examining different teachers' local understanding and explanations
of their work. Chapters 6-23 are the heart of the collection: some
of the most respected people in the field of ELT describe and discuss 18
different ESL/EFL courses that represent the full spectrum of educational
settings and types of courses. In chapter 24, the editors offer their
thoughts on the future of English Language teaching.
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References
Clarke, M. A. (1994). The dysfunctions of the theory/practice discourse. TESOL Quarterly, 28(1), 9-26.
Edge, J. (1994). Comments on Donald Freeman and Jack C. Richards's "Conceptions of teaching and the education of second language teachers: A reader reacts." TESOL Quarterly, 28, 2, 395-400.
Graves, K. (1996). A framework for the course development process. In K. Graves (ed.), Teachers as curse developers (pp.12-38). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Kumaravadivelu, B. (1994). The postmethod condition: (E)merging strategies for second/foreign language teaching. TESOL Quarterly, 28, 1, 27-48.
Johnson, K. (1999). Understanding language teaching: Reasoning in action. New York: Heinle & Heinle.
Nunan, D. (1999). Second language teaching and learning. Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle.
Prabhu, N. S. (1992). The dynamics of the language lesson. TESOL Quarterly, 26, 2, 225-242.
Richards, J.(1996).Teachers’ maxims in language teaching.TESOL Quarterly, 30, 2, 281-296.