ELT journal apr 091

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ELT journal apr 091

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NEW from OXFORD More support for your Young Learners classroom An international journal for teachers of English to speakers of other languages NEW EDITION n Ready-made grammar activities to suit different learning styles n Fully revised with new ideas and stories n Strengthens grammatical accuracy in a fun and purposeful way n n Focus on grammar through drawing, storytelling, songs and games Guidelines on combining stories with drama, poems and music, cross-curricular studies and personal development n Selection of ready-to-tell stories, photocopiable worksheets and easy-to-draw pictures April 2009 Storytelling with Children Volume 63/2 Grammar for Young Learners ELTB NEW Volume 63/2 April 2009 ELTB Articles Reviews Written corrective feedback types A guide to Methodologia Raising sociocultural awareness Learner-created lexical databases The case for spoken grammar production A coursebook and the test of time Teachers’ perspectives on reform Doing Task-based Teaching Tasks in Second Language Learning Trainer Development Learner and Teacher Autonomy Language Testing and Assessment Teacher Cognition and Language Education Reflective Language Teaching Conversation in Context Readers respond A response to Michael Swan The Extended Writing Project Websites review The moving image Key concepts in ELT  oxford www.oup.com/elt Age and the critical period hypothesis in association with C Every effort has been made to trace the owners of copyright material in this issue, but we shall be pleased to hear from any copyright holder whom we have been unable to contact If notified, the publisher will attempt to rectify any errors or omissions at the earliest opportunity © Oxford University Press 2009 All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be produced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without either the prior written permission of the Publishers, or a licence permitting restricted copying issued in the UK by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1PS 9HE, or in the USA by the Copyright Clearing Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, Massachusetts 01923, USA UK ISSN 0951-0893 (print); 1477-4526 (online) Typeset by TnQ Books and Journals Pvt Ltd., Chennai, India Printed by C.O.S Printers Pte Ltd, Singapore Advertising Inquiries about advertising should be sent to: Linda Hann Oxford Journals Advertising 60 Upper Broadmoor Road Crowthorne RG45 7DE UK Email:: lhann@lhms.fsnet.co.uk Tel: +44 (0)1344 779945 Fax: +44 (0)1344 779945 Website Article titles, abstracts, and Key concepts appear free online through the ELT Journal website: http://eltj.oxfordjournals.org The Editorial Advisory Panel David Bell Ohio University, USA Sue Garton University of Aston Laura Grassick British Council, Egypt Carol Griffiths British Council Teacher Training Project, DPRK Peter Grundy IATEFL Graham Hall Northumbria University Éva Illés Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest Barley Mak The Chinese University of Hong Kong Jonathan Marks Leba, Poland Alice Oxholm Sheffield Hallam University Joint winner of the Duke of Edinburgh English-Speaking Union English Language Book Award 2008 Baron reveals that online and mobile technologies - including instant messaging, cell phones, multitasking, Facebooks, blogs, and wikis - are profoundly influencing how we read and write, speak and listen, but not in the ways we might suppose April 2008 | 304 Pages | 978-0-19-531305-5 | Hardback | £15.99 The Oxford History of English Lexicography Volume I: General-Purpose Dictionaries; Volume II: Specialized Dictionaries Edited by A P Cowie The fullest account ever published of the lexicography of English describes its history from medieval glosses to a high-tech industry and covers English in all its varieties, including American English A unique reference uniting scholarship with readability November 2008 | 1,017 Pages | 978-0-19-928562-4 | Hardback : Two Volume Set| £140.00 Julie Coleman Jane Spiro Oxford Brookes University Melinda Tan University of Central Lancashire Key Concepts Editor Alan Waters University of Lancaster Text Messages Editors Jill and Charles Hadfield Consultant to the Editors Cristina Whitecross The Reviews Editor Philip Prowse Naomi S Baron Barbara Skinner University of Ulster The Board of Management Simon Greenall IATEFL The Editor Keith Morrow Language in an Online and Mobile World A History of Cant and Slang Dictionaries Editorial Front Office Jane Magrane Norman Whitney ELT Consultant Always On Annamaria Pinter University of Warwick Abstracting and Indexing British Education Index covers ELT Journal Catherine Kneafsey Oxford University Press New from OXFORD Consultant on Research Design Catherine Walter Department of Education, University of Oxford Volume III: 1859-1936 Volume III of this acclaimed history casts light on life across the globe from Canadian and Australian settlers, London cockneys, and American schoolboys to New York ganglang, the narcotics trade, and the entertainment business A book for everyone interested in language, lexicography, class, poverty, sexuality, and the criminal underworld October 2008 | 520 Pages | 978-0-19-954937-5 | Hardback | £75.00 NEW IN PAPERBACK The Oxford History of English Edited by Lynda Mugglestone This book unites scholarship with readability to trace the language from ancient roots to the present In accounts made vivid with examples from an immense range of evidence, fifteen experts describe the history of English in all its versions, written and spoken A book for everyone interested in the English language, present and past September 2008 | 504 Pages | 978-0-19-954439-4 | Paperback | £14.99 For more information please contact: Jennifer Clark, Humanities Marketing Tel: +44 (0)1865 353265 Email: jennifer.clark@oup.com 24-hr Credit Card Hotline: +44 (0)1536 454534 www.oup.com Announcements Developing Countries Initiative What is the Oxford Journals Developing Countries offer? This offer represents our commitment to providing free and greatly reduced online access to many of our journals for low income countries What does it include? Institutions within qualifying countries can apply for the full Developing Countries collection, the Humanities and Social Science subset, or the Science, Technical, and Medical subset Which institutions qualify for this offer? This offer is available to established not-for-profit educational institutions from qualifying countries based on country incomes as established by the World Bank Report 2006 Access is either free or greatly reduced depending on which list they appear in For full details see: http://www.oxfordjournals.org/access_purchase/ developing_countries.html Back issues Subscribers to E LT Journal have access online to articles, features, and reviews from 1996 to the present—together with ‘advance access’ to forthcoming articles You can search the archive by author, title, or by any keyword: http://eltj.oxfordjournals.org Some institutional subscribers (e.g university libraries) may also have subscribed to the Oxford Digital Archive, which gives online access to every issue of ELT Journal from Volume 1/1 (1946) to the present Individuals, or institutions not wishing to subscribe to the whole Digital Archive, can get access to articles and features from 1981 to 2006, and to reviews from 1998 to 2006, by purchasing an archive C D - R O M This is searchable by author, title, or by any key word: http://www.nichepublications.co.uk E LT Journal Volume 63/2 April 2009; doi:10.1093/elt/ccp029 ª The Author 2009 Published by Oxford University Press; all rights reserved Aims ELT Journal is a quarterly publication for all those involved in the field of teaching English as a second or foreign language The journal links the everyday concerns of practitioners with insights gained from related academic disciplines such as applied linguistics, education, psychology, and sociology ELT Journal aims to provide a medium for informed discussion of the principles and practice which determine the ways in which the English language is taught and learnt around the world It also provides a forum for the exchange of information among members of the profession worldwide The Editor of ELT Journal is supported by an Editorial Advisory Panel whose members referee submissions Their decisions are based upon the relevance, clarity, and value of the articles submitted The views expressed in ELT Journal are the contributors’ own, and not necessarily those of the Editor, the Editorial Advisory Panel, or the Publisher Contributions Contributions are welcome from anyone involved in ELT Contributors should consult the current Guide for contributors before submitting articles, as this contains important information about the focus and format of articles Articles not submitted in accordance with the Guide will not be considered for publication The Guide can be obtained on request from the Editor, and is now available online See our website: http://eltj.oxfordjournals.org If you wish to write a review for ELT Journal, please contact the Reviews Editor Unsolicited reviews cannot be accepted for publication Correspondence e d i t o r i a l : The Editor, ELT Journal, Homerton House, Cawston Road, Reepham, Norwich nr10 4lt, UK Fax: +44 (0) 1603 872955 Email: editor@eltj.org re vi e w s: The Reviews Editor, ELT Journal, po Box 83, Cambridge cb3 9pw, UK Fax +44 (0) 1223 572390 Email: reviews@eltj.org ELT Journal Volume 63/2 April 2009 ª The Author 2009 Published by Oxford University Press; all rights reserved Contents ELT Journal Volume 63 Number April 2009 Articles Rod Ellis Alan Waters Troy McConachy Gregory L Friedman Simon Mumford E´va Ille´s Lakhana Prapaisit de Segovia and Debra M Hardison A typology of written corrective feedback types 97 A guide to Methodologia: past, present, and future 108 Raising sociocultural awareness through contextual analysis: some tools for teachers 116 Learner-created lexical databases using web-based source material 126 An analysis of spoken grammar: the case for production 137 What makes a coursebook series stand the test of time? 145 Implementing education reform: EFL teachers’ perspectives 154 Readers respond Luke Prodromou Yun Zhang Swan’s way (a response to Michael Swan) 163 Discussing the Extended Writing Project 167 Christian AbelloContesse Age and the critical period hypothesis 170 Key concepts in ELT Reviews Jeremy Harmer Alan Waters Jo¨rgen Tholin Javanshir Shibliyev and _ Ilkay Gilanlıog˘lu Luke Prodromou Rod Bolitho Ivor Timmis Diana Eastment Doing Task-Based Teaching by D Willis and J Willis and Tasks in Second Language Learning by V Samuda and M Bygate 173 Trainer Development by T Wright and R Bolitho 176 Learner and Teacher Autonomy: Concepts, Realities, and Responses by T Lamb and H Reinders (eds.) 179 Language Testing and Assessment: An Advanced Resource Book by G Fulcher and F Davidson 181 Teacher Cognition and Language Education by S Borg 183 Reflective Language Teaching: From Research to Practice by T.S.C Farrell 186 Conversation in Context: A Corpus-Driven Approach by C Ruehlemann 188 Websites for the language teacher The moving image 191 IATEFL 194 Please visit ELT Journal’s website at http://eltj.oxfordjournals.org A typology of written corrective feedback types Rod Ellis As a basis for a systematic approach to investigating the effects of written corrective feedback, this article presents a typology of the different types available to teachers and researchers The typology distinguishes two sets of options relating to (1) strategies for providing feedback ( for example, direct, indirect, or metalinguistic feedback) and (2) the students’ response to the feedback ( for example, revision required, attention to correction only required) Each option is illustrated and relevant research examined Introduction How teachers correct second language (L2) students’ writing is a topic that has attracted enormous interest from researchers and teachers alike However, as a recent review of feedback on L2 students’ writing (Hyland and Hyland 2006) makes clear, despite all the research there are still no clear answers to the questions researchers have addressed Hyland and Hyland observed: while feedback is a central aspect of L2 writing programs across the world, the research literature has not been equivocally positive about its role in L2 development, and teachers often have a sense they are not making use of its full potential (p 83) Guenette (2007) pointed out that one of the reasons for the uncertainty lies in the failure to design corrective feedback (CF) studies that systematically investigate different types of written CF and control for external variables that are likely to impact on how effective the CF is One way forward, then, might be for researchers and teachers to systematically identify the various options available for correcting students’ writing as a basis for both designing future studies and for pedagogical decision making In this article I would like to make a start on this agenda by examining the various options (both familiar and less familiar) for correcting students’ written work I will focus on just one kind of correction—the correction of linguistic errors—and consider studies that have examined the different options by way of illustrating how they have been investigated and the limitations in the research to date I will argue that identifying the options in a systematic way is essential for both determining whether written CF is effective and, if it is, what kind of CF is most effective A typology of options for correcting linguistic errors Table presents a typology of teacher options for correcting linguistic errors in students’ written work.1 These options have been identified by inspecting both teacher handbooks (for example, Ur 1996) and published empirical E LT Journal Volume 63/2 April 2009; doi:10.1093/elt/ccn023 ª The Author 2008 Published by Oxford University Press; all rights reserved Advance Access publication May 20, 2008 97 studies of written feedback (for example, Robb, Ross, and Shortreed 1986; Chandler 2003; Ferris 2006) A basic distinction needs to be made between the options involved in (1) the teacher’s provision of CF and (2) the students’ response to this feedback Clearly, CF can only have an impact if students attend to it Thus, any account of CF must consider both aspects Type of CF Description Studies Direct CF The teacher provides the student with the correct form e.g Lalande (1982) and Robb et al (1986) Indirect CF The teacher indicates that an error exists but does not provide the correction This takes the form of underlining and use of cursors to show omissions in the student’s text This takes the form of an indication in the margin that an error or errors have taken place in a line of text A Strategies for providing CF a Indicating + locating the error b Indication only Metalinguistic CF a Use of error code b Brief grammatical descriptions The focus of the feedback a Unfocused CF b Focused CF Various studies have employed indirect correction of this kind (e.g Ferris and Roberts 2001; Chandler 2003) Fewer studies have employed this method (e.g Robb et al 1986) The teacher provides some kind of metalinguistic clue as to the nature of the error Teacher writes codes in the margin Various studies have examined the (e.g ww ¼ wrong word; art ¼ article) effects of using error codes (e.g Lalande 1982; Ferris and Roberts 2001; Chandler 2003) Teacher numbers errors in text and Sheen (2007) compared the effects writes a grammatical description of direct CF and direct CF + for each numbered error at the metalinguistic CF bottom of the text This concerns whether the teacher attempts to correct all (or most) of the students’ errors or selects one or two specific types of errors to correct This distinction can be applied to each of the above options Unfocused CF is extensive Focused CF is intensive Most studies have investigated unfocused CF (e.g Chandler 2003; Ferris 2006) Sheen (2007), drawing on traditions in S L A studies of CF, investigated focused CF Electronic feedback The teacher indicates an error and Milton (2006) provides a hyperlink to a concordance file that provides examples of correct usage Reformulation This consists of a native speaker’s reworking of the students’ entire text to make the language seem as native-like as possible while keeping the content of the original intact 98 Rod Ellis Sachs and Polio (2007) compared the effects of direct correction and reformulation on students’ revisions of their text B Students’ response to feedback For feedback to work for either redrafting or language learning, learners need to attend to the corrections Various alternatives exist for achieving this Revision required A number of studies have examined the effect of requiring students to edit their errors (e.g Ferris and Roberts 2001; Chandler 2003) Sheen (2007) asked students to study corrections No revisions required a Students asked to study corrections A number of studies have examined what students when just given back their text with revisions (e.g Sachs and Polio 2007) No study has systematically investigated different approaches to revision b Students just given back corrected text table Types of teacher written CF Strategies for providing CF Five basic strategies for providing written CF can be identified, with a number of options associated with some of them Direct CF In the case of direct CF the teacher provides the student with the correct form As Ferris (op cit.) notes, this can take a number of different forms—crossing out an unnecessary word, phrase, or morpheme, inserting a missing word or morpheme, and writing the correct form above or near to the erroneous form Example illustrates direct correction a a the A dog stole bone from butcher He escaped with having bone When the dog was over a a saw a going through bridge over the river he found dog in the river EX AMPLE Direct CF has the advantage that it provides learners with explicit guidance about how to correct their errors This is clearly desirable if learners not know what the correct form is (i.e are not capable of self-correcting the error) Ferris and Roberts (2001) suggest direct CF is probably better than indirect CF with student writers of low levels of proficiency However, a disadvantage is that it requires minimal processing on the part of the learner and thus, although it might help them to produce the correct form when they revise their writing, it may not contribute to long-term learning However, a recent study by Sheen (2007) suggests that direct CF can be effective in promoting acquisition of specific grammatical features A typology of corrective feedback types 99 Indirect CF Indirect CF involves indicating that the student has made an error without actually correcting it This can be done by underlining the errors or using cursors to show omissions in the student’s text (as in the example below) or by placing a cross in the margin next to the line containing the error In effect, this involves deciding whether or not to show the precise location of the error A dog stole X bone from X butcher He escaped with XhavingX X bone When the dog was going XthroughX X bridge over XtheX river he found X dog in the river X ¼ missing word X X ¼ wrong word EX AMPLE As already noted, indirect feedback is often preferred to direct feedback on the grounds that it caters to ‘guided learning and problem solving’ (Lalande 1982) and encourages students to reflect about linguistic forms For these reasons, it is considered more likely to lead to long-term learning (Ferris and Roberts op cit.) The results of studies that have investigated this claim, however, are very mixed Some studies (for example, Lalande op cit.) suggest that indirect feedback is indeed more effective in enabling students to correct their errors but others (for example, Ferris and Roberts’ own study) found no difference between direct and indirect CF No study to date has compared the effects of these two indirect types of CF on whether they have any effect on accuracy in new pieces of writing In accordance with the general line of argument by Ferris and Roberts, it might be claimed that indirect feedback where the exact location of errors is not shown might be more effective than indirect feedback where the location of the errors is shown (as illustrated in Example 2) as students would have to engage in deeper processing Robb et al (op cit.) investigated four types of feedback including direct feedback and indirect feedback where the number of errors was given in each line of text They reported no significant difference Lee (1997), however, specifically compared the two types of indirect correction and found that learners were better able to correct errors that were indicated and located than errors that were just indicated by a check in the margin However, Lee did not consider long-term gains Metalinguistic CF2 Metalinguistic CF involves providing learners with some form of explicit comment about the nature of the errors they have made The explicit comment can take two forms By far the most common is the use of error codes These consist of abbreviated labels for different kinds of errors The labels can be placed over the location of the error in the text or in the margin In the latter case, the exact location of the error may or may not be shown In the former, the student has to work out the correction needed from the clue provided while in the latter the student needs to first locate the error and then work out the correction Examples of both are provided below A major issue in error codes is how delicate the categories should be For example, 100 Rod Ellis for projects The authors also provide a glossary of key terms at the end of the book As an additional resource to the book, there is a website http:// www.routledge.com/textbooks/9780415339476 which the reader may visit for further activities, practice, additional reading, and ideas for projects Section A addresses the following issues: (a) validity, (b) classroom assessment, (c) constructs and models, (d) test specifications and designs, (e) writing items and tasks, (f) prototypes, prototyping, and field tests, (g) scoring language tests and assessments, (h) administration and training, (i) fairness, ethics, and standards, and (j) arguments and evidence in test validation and use Unlike other titles in this area, this book begins with the concept of validity as central in testing and assessment, taking a historical approach, and tracing the changes in the concept of validity It is approached from a philosophical perspective, specifically a positivist one Regarding the role of validity theory in a philosophical plain, the writers find the relationship between theory and evidence sometimes unclear as theory is always evolving, and new evidence is continually collected This might be one of the reasons why statistics, widely used in testing and evaluation, ‘is not always clear in a larger picture of developing theories of language acquisition and testing’ (p.11) According to the authors, validity has become one of the central enterprises in psychological, educational, and language testing and considers the social and political factors in designing tests and using test scores (p 22) One of the issues considered in Section A concerns constructs and models Special emphasis is placed on certain models developed by Canale and Swain ¨rnyei, (1980), Bachman (1990), and Celce-Murcia, Do and Thurrell (1995) The writers treat these constantly evolving models as sources of potential constructs for specific testing purposes The authors also present the general concept of test specifications and place special emphasis on such subtopics as planning in test authoring, guiding language versus sampling, congruence, reverse engineering, and archetypes, etc Moreover, the authors consider the process of item and task writing as part of the iterative process of writing test specifications, draw on the paradigm of evidencecentred design (ECD ), and look at a particular methodology in test design According to the authors, ‘one of the most common mistakes made in language testing is for the test writer to begin the 182 Reviews process by writing a set of items or tasks that are intuitively felt to be relevant to the test takers’ (p 62) Among the issues that Section A considers are the study of washback and test administration within the E CD delivery models The authors believe that the former is concerned with the political use of tests to implement changes in classrooms that are seen as improvements by governments Concerning the latter, the writers object to placing test administration ‘under the catch-all term of ‘‘test practicality’’, but not treated in any detail, even if its centrality to questions of validity has been recognized’ (p 137) The authors also address the issue of ethics and fairness and link them to the concept of professionalism Section A of the book opens and closes with the same topic: validity But in Unit A10, the topic is considered from a slightly different angle: arguments and evidence in test validation and use The writers treat validation as an ongoing process that continues throughout the life of a test Section B provides extracts from various articles and books with the aim of giving further insights into the concepts introduced in the previous section Among the chosen extracts are the ‘seminal’ papers by Cronbach and Meehl (1955) on construct validity, and Kane (1992) on test validation, pioneer studies by Alderson and Wall (1993) on the concept of washback and Hamp-Lyons (1991) on rating scales, and finally an ‘extremely influential’ paper by Canale and Swain (1980) on testing and teaching of languages Section C—‘Exploration’—seems to be the most challenging one since it aims to help readers to apply the accumulated knowledge on testing and assessment in realizing various student-centred activities in the form of both individual and group project work In fact, topics presented in this section provide the reader with the opportunity to synthesize the ideas discussed in the previous two sections We believe that the book, which combines theory with practice, will no doubt be of interest to the language teaching and testing community since it has certain outstanding features One of the major strengths of the book is the way knowledge is introduced It displays a uniform pattern throughout First, a concept is presented and defined Then, it is further contextualized in extracts for deeper insights Finally, the reader has a chance to critically evaluate it as part of a project This procedure is supplemented by tasks provided in all three sections, which will enable readers to stop and check what has been acquired These tasks can also lead to discussions and topics for research projects Besides, all three sections are interwoven through cross-referencing which helps the reader to perceive the book as a whole This carefully tailored journey from one section into another with built-in amenities makes the book a pedagogically solid one Another strength of the book is that it uses literary characters and draws analogies from various fields of science and everyday life, making the language of the book vivid and explanations meaningful Furthermore, the book deals with topics like test administration for disabled people, professionalism, and democracy in language testing Though they are insignificant, the book does have some flaws For instance, there are typos like the word ‘tropical’ instead of ‘topical’ (p 46) Also, the writers have missed the publication year of some books (see pp 25, 149) Perhaps, a noteworthy point of criticism is that the book could be rather challenging for undergraduate students due to their lack of teaching experience and background knowledge of certain concepts However, these by no means decrease the value of the book All in all, Language Testing and Assessment: An Advanced Resource Book makes a great contribution to the field of testing and assessment and therefore would be an invaluable resource for a wide audience including students, language teachers and/ or test designers, administrators, as well as researchers References Alderson, J C and D Wall 1993 ‘Does washback exist?’ Applied Linguistics 14/2: 115–29 Bachman, L F 1990 Fundamental Considerations in Language Testing Oxford: Oxford University Press Brown, H D 2004 Language Assessment: Principles and Classroom Practices New York: Longman Canale, M and M Swain 1980 ‘Theoretical basis of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing’ Applied Linguistics 1/1: 1–47 Celce-Murcia, M., Z Do¨rnyei, and S Thurrell 1995 ‘Communicative competence: a pedagogically motivated model with content specifications’ Issues in Applied Linguistics 6/2: 5–35 Cronbach, L J and P E Meehl 1955 ‘Construct validity in psychological tests’ Psychological Bulletin 52: 281–302 Gronlund, N E 1976 Measurement and Evaluation in Teaching (3rd edn.) New York: Macmillan Publishing Hamp-Lyons, L 1991 ‘Scoring procedures for E S L contexts’ in L Hamp-Lyons (ed.) Assessing Second Reviews Language Writing in Academic Context Norwood, NJ: Ablex Heaton, J B 1990 Writing English Language Tests (new edition) London: Longman Henning, G 1987 A Guide to Language Testing: Development, Evaluation, Research Boston: Heinle and Heinle Publishers Hughes, A 1989 Testing for Language Teachers Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Kane, M T 1992 ‘An argument-based approach to validity’ Psychological Bulletin 112/3: 527–35 O’Malley, J M and L V Pierce 1996 Authentic Assessment for English Language Learners: Practical Approaches for Teachers New York: Longman Valette, R M 1977 Modern Language Testing (2nd edn.) New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc Weir, C J 1990 Communicative Language Testing Hemel Hempstead, UK: Prentice Hall The reviewers Javanshir Shibliyev is an Assistant Professor of the E LT Department, Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus He has taught both language support and subject matter courses at various universities in Azerbaijan and North Cyprus His research interests are testing and assessment, materials development, sociolinguistics, and language policy Email: javanshir.shibliyev@emu.edu.tr _ Ilkay Gilanlıog˘lu is Vice-Chair of the E LT Department, Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus He has taught EFL /ESP courses at the Middle East Technical University, Turkey He did his PhD in Applied Linguistics at the Institute of Education, University of London His academic interests include materials development, testing and assessment, language acquisition, psycholinguistics, and sociolinguistics Email: ilkay.gilanlioglu@emu.edu.tr doi:10.1093/elt/ccp010 183 Teacher Cognition and Language Education S Borg Continuum 2008, 320 pp., £24.99 isbn 978 8470 6333 While second language acquisition (S L A ) has been thoroughly researched, much less research has been conducted into what second language teaching (SLT) involves There is no ‘S LT ’ to match SL A Simon Borg’s book on teacher cognition is an important contribution to our knowledge of what Reviews 183 goes on inside teachers’ heads It is, however, a book that also reminds us of how what goes on inside teachers’ heads is inextricably tied to what goes on outside their heads, in the social and educational context in which teaching takes place It is a fascinating, if somewhat demanding, read Teacher Cognition and Language Education brings together research into teacher cognition from ELT and beyond The book, a substantial volume of over 300 pages, will be an invaluable handbook for researchers in the field, teacher educators, and curriculum designers Although not specifically targeted at classroom teachers, it is a mine of information for those seeking to enhance their knowledge of classroom practice The term ‘teacher cognition’ refers to what teachers know and think and how this affects their behaviour, especially insofar as it relates to what happens in the classroom Much of what we think we ‘know’ about language teaching is based on anecdotal evidence or the work of inspirational educators In ELT, if not in general education, very little empirical work has been done on how teachers think and behave The work of ¨n (1983), Richards and Lockhart (1994), and Scho Wallace (1991) has encouraged a more reflective approach to teacher education A small but important body of empirical work has also now accumulated on teacher cognition, though scattered as this work is in academic journals it is difficult for non-specialists to get access to it Indeed, Borg’s book is not the easiest of texts, but it has abundant insights for the classroom practitioner; in this review, I will focus on this practical aspect of the book In Teacher Cognition and Language Education, Simon Borg does three things: first, he provides an exhaustive summary of the research into teacher cognition, with a particular focus on language education; second, he analyses the significance of this research to language teaching; and third, he describes and evaluates the various research methods which have been applied to studies of teacher cognition Thus, in Part of the book, Borg reviews, in impressive detail, the research into the cognition of pre-service, novice, and experienced teachers, with separate chapters on the teaching of grammar, reading, and writing Some of this work refers to the teaching of English as a second or foreign language but much of it is drawn from teaching and teacher education in general In Part 2, Borg describes—again in great detail—a variety of research methods which have been applied in the investigation of teacher cognition 184 Reviews The book concludes with a very useful summary of the main insights uncovered in the main body of the book and the description of a framework for the future study of teacher cognition The book has a wide scope and, apart from the specific insights into foreign language teaching it reports on, it helps put ELT into a broader context of teacher education across the curriculum I will now go on to give a summary of the contents of the book, chapter-by-chapter, and round off with an example of what I personally found most useful in the book Chapter puts the study of language teacher cognition in its historical context by describing the origins of teacher cognition research in general education The research brings out the two-way interaction between teacher thinking and practice but also the importance of context in shaping what teachers think, feel, and For example, Borg describes research which foregrounds the importance to teacher effectiveness of the knowledge we have of our students (such as their classroom behaviour, ability, and background) in combination with the teacher’s practical pedagogic knowledge (pp.11–13) The evidence suggests that teachers transform the knowledge they acquire in pre-service education programmes through a combination of information processing, practical knowledge, and interaction with pedagogical content Teacher cognition is, thus, described as an often tacit, personally held practical system of mental constructions, resulting from a complex, interactive process involving subjective and objective factors It is a dynamic, interactive process, which is defined and refined on the basis of educational and professional experiences throughout teachers’ lives (p 35) Chapter focuses on research conducted in the context of pre-service teacher education It examines the impact of pre-service education programmes on teachers’ thoughts and beliefs but also on what teachers actually in the classroom The contradiction between what, on the one hand, teachers say they in class or what they believe about teaching, and on the other hand, what they actually is a commonplace amongst teacher trainers Borg describes research which reveals the importance of pre-service teachers’ own previous learning experiences on their cognition (p 52) An analysis of pre-service teachers’ diaries reveals intriguing insights, such as the central place of classroom management factors in teachers’ hierarchy of priorities, but also the enduring importance in their thinking of teaching grammar effectively (p 56) The motif of the two-way interaction between cognitive systems and experience, between beliefs and practice, reappears in this chapter Chapter is particularly rich in insights In this chapter, Borg looks at teacher cognition research with reference to in-service teachers The chapter focuses on how teachers’ beliefs and knowledge shape their classroom practice and how in turn these beliefs are shaped by contextual constraints The beliefs of teachers regarding mainstream approaches, such as the communicative approach, are explored through teacher narratives; these narratives highlight the degree to which teacher cognition is socially situated—it is influenced by the emotions aroused when teachers reflect on the relationship between what they believe in principle and what is feasible in practice ‘Almost all teachers reported using communicative activities such as role-play games, survey, group-work, simulations; unfortunately, these things were rarely observed’ (p 97: quoted from Sato and Kleinsasser 1999: 509–10) Teacher narratives also bring out the influence of teachers’ early experiences on what they believe and how they behave in the classroom The outcome of all these factors is the contradiction identified earlier between what teachers say they and what they actually Chapters and review the literature on two subjects in the curriculum which have received particular attention in teacher cognition research: the teaching of grammar and the teaching of literacy skills (reading and writing) Interestingly, as Borg points out, research into teachers’ beliefs regarding grammar teaching emanates mostly from EFL /ESL contexts while research into teacher cognition and reading has been conducted in the context of mother tongue teaching In the chapter on the teaching of grammar, we discover that research suggests that ‘non-native teachers’ significantly better on explicit grammar awareness than their ‘native-speaker counterparts’ (p 112) Another fascinating piece of data is the incongruence between students’ beliefs and teachers’ beliefs regarding the need to correct errors: while 94 per cent of learners believe teachers should correct their errors in class, only 48 per cent of teachers agreed with them that errors should be corrected A similar discrepancy in the views of learners and teachers is reported in the case of the ‘formal teaching of grammar’, with the students once again more strongly in favour of traditional grammar teaching than their more communicatively oriented teachers ‘These mismatches between teacher and student views about the role of formal instruction and error correction’, speculates Borg, ‘may impinge Reviews negatively on student motivation’ (p 115) In response to this danger of demotivation, some teachers may engage in grammar teaching ‘not because they think it enhances language acquisition but because they feel it is something their students expect’ (p 124) The way context shapes teacher attitudes and actions is clearly complex and full of contradictions Another example of the constraining power of the classroom environment on teacher cognition is the way the teaching of writing skills has been influenced by an apparently unrelated issue such as discipline and classroom management (p 151) A process approach to writing, for example, is desirable in theory but often makes prohibitive demands on the teacher in terms of classroom control and the ability to motivate learners This insight has profound implications for the feasibility of many forward-looking and learner-centred methodologies which are not often fully explored in teacher training courses or optimistic teachers’ handbooks! Chapters 6–9 change gear as Borg looks at research methodologies rather than the outcome of the research, though in these chapters the reader will find a large number of insights into the rationale and effectiveness of classroom practice Borg examines the following research methods: self-report instruments (questionnaires, scenario rating, tests), verbal commentaries (interviews, thinkaloud protocols), observation, and reflective writing (journals, autobiographical accounts, retrospective accounts, and concept mapping) He points out what these methods have achieved, what they have neglected, and what they still have to offer the ongoing exploration of teacher cognition In his final chapter, Borg revisits the salient issues which his book has described: the nature of language teacher cognition, the relationship between language teachers’ cognition and classroom practices, the impact of context on language teachers’ cognitions and practices, and the nature of expertise in teaching Borg ends the book with a consideration of the divergence between S L A studies and teacher cognition He argues for the need to bring these two lines of inquiry closer together so that S L A and ‘S LT ’ can inform each other S L A needs to show a greater awareness of the complexities of what teachers and the impact of teacher cognition on learning outcomes: ‘rather than calling for either S L A researchers or teacher cognition researchers to change their perspectives on researching language education it is perhaps more realistic and 185 ultimately more productive to combine the expertise of both parties’ (p 288) One of the most intriguing of the themes developed in the book is the nature of expertise in language teaching I would like to end my review by drawing on the useful topic index provided at the back of the book in order to trace the insights into teacher expertise running throughout the book What does Borg’s meticulous account of the research tell us about the nature of effective teaching? Expert teachers: n possess knowledge derived from the classroom n are familiar with typical student behaviours n use their knowledge to make predictions about what might happen in the classroom n have more fully developed schemata of teaching on which to base their practical classroom decisions: ‘they know a lot about their students even before they meet them’ (p 40) n pay more attention to language issues than novice teachers (who worry more about classroom management) n learn to automatize the routines associated with managing the class; this skill leaves them free to focus on content n improvise more than novice teachers—they make greater use of interactive decision-making as a source of their ‘improvisational performance’ (p 102) n build on students’ difficulties n notice errors and classify them n maintain active student involvement n have a clear language learning focus n integrate skills n are able to articulate their pedagogic principles and make conscious decisions n internalize theory and link theory to practice It emerges from this summary of the research that expertise in language teaching is a complex, dynamic process, involving constant engagement, exploration, and experimentation It is an integration of formal and experiential knowledge which enables the expert practitioner to envisage the learning potential of students in context; an expert teacher is both technically skilled and emotionally intelligent Expertise is certainly not synonymous with experience These insights into expertise in language teaching are what this reviewer found most useful in Simon Borg’s book But the book as a whole will offer much more to different readers; it is a rich source of what we know, empirically, about what teachers think and 186 Reviews References Richards, J C and C Lockhart 1994 Reflective Teaching in Second Language Classrooms Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Sato, K and R C Kleinsasser 1999 ‘Communicative language teaching (C LT ): practical understandings’ Modern Language Journal 83/4: 494–517 Scho¨n, D 1983 The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action New York: Basic Books Wallace, M 1991 Training Foreign Language Teachers: A Reflective Approach Cambridge: Cambridge University Press The reviewer Luke Prodromou is a freelance teacher, teacher trainer, and materials writer based in Greece He has worked for the British Council and a variety of private institutions in Greece, Spain, and the UK He has written Dealing with Difficulties (Delta, with L Clandfield), winner of the Ben Warren Prize, an English-Speaking Union award, and nominated for a British Council Elton Award for Innovation in English Language Teaching for 2007 He is also coauthor of Attitude (for adults) and Smash (for young learners—both Macmillan) He has an MA in Shakespeare Studies (Birmingham University), a Diploma in T ES L (Leeds University), and a PhD from the University of Nottingham His book, English as a Lingua Franca: A Corpus-based Analysis, was published in 2008 by Continuum He is currently teaching young learners Email: lukep@otenet.gr doi:10.1093/elt/ccp011 Reflective Language Teaching: From Research to Practice T S C Farrell Continuum 2007, 202 pp., £19.99 isbn 978 8264 9658 This is one of the most recent additions to the literature on reflective practice The author is based in Canada, but also draws on his experience as a teacher and trainer in other contexts The subtitle of the book raised an immediate question for me: Why would a book about teaching and for teachers use research as a point of departure? The first (and rather convoluted) sentence in the author’s preface gives us a clue: 186 Reviews Reflective Language Teaching is a book unique in existence because it presents up-to-date research on reflective language teaching and also presents case studies, most of which have been conducted by this author in collaboration with other language teachers, that illustrate topics covered in each chapter (p vi) This is quite a claim but it does provide a yardstick against which to assess the book’s value to potential readers It also hints at the approach taken to chapter design, which is based on a template leading from an introduction to research findings, followed by one or more case studies, a section entitled ‘From research to practice’, questions to reflect on, a conclusion followed, rather oddly, by a so-called ‘Chapter scenario’ and finally another set of questions While the template lends structure to the book, it also becomes repetitive and predictable and does not always make for a smooth read There are 14 chapters in all, starting from a general overview of reflective language teaching, and covering a variety of angles on reflection ranging from well-established reflective tools such as teachers’ narratives and journals to collaborative relationships such as critical friendships and teacher development groups, all the way through to a concluding chapter on professional development Interestingly, and unusually for an author based in North America, Farrell draws on both American and British sources in his references to literature in the field This has the welcome effect of broadening the perspectives he offers his readers Yet, as I made my way through the chapters, I began to see the book as something of a curate’s egg: good in parts Let me start with the good Farrell covers a lot of useful ground in the book and a number of the case studies are very convincing In Chapter 7, for example, the case studies on ‘Classroom Communication’ include carefully transcribed passages of classroom discourse which go a long way towards illustrating his points about the prevalent pattern of classroom questioning (teacher initiates–learner responds– teacher evaluates response) and ways in which teachers can become aware of and review their own classroom communication patterns The case study in Chapter acknowledges, usefully for the reader after the plethora of guilt-inducing literature (for example, Bailey 1990, Jarvis 1992) on diaries and journals, that not every teacher is positively disposed towards writing as a means of reflection The chapters on ‘Critical Friendships’ and ‘Concept Mapping’ both have value, the former for its coverage of peer coaching and team teaching as triggers to reflection and the latter for its reference to understanding where Reviews a teacher or a trainee group is starting from as a basis for assessing progress and developing conceptual thinking in a training course Almost all the other chapters have useful insights, and there is much for an experienced and critical reader to glean from the book, but the insights tend to come piecemeal, and there is a lack of overall coherence about the author’s view of his topic, which means that it cannot really be regarded as the kind of authoritative overview of the field which he seems to be claiming in his preface This last point is best illustrated by reference to Chapter in which he sets out his understanding of reflective practice and the different stages and processes involved in reflection He draws heavily ¨n’s (1983) distinction and at some length on Scho between ‘reflection-in-action’ and ‘reflection-onaction’, adding to this the forward looking dimension of ‘reflection-for-action’ (Killon and Todnew 1991) These three categories, which are so valuable as a way of conceptualizing reflection, are then blithely ignored for the whole of the rest of the book, leaving me regretting the opportunities missed to support the reader’s understanding by showing how they work in practice through the case studies and chapter scenarios I also found it disappointing that Farrell makes no reference to the recursive and cyclical nature of reflection as a process and that he makes no use of the various versions of experiential learning cycles (for example, Kolb 1984) that would have helped the reader to locate the stages involved in reflection both visually and conceptually There are other concerns, too In Chapter on ‘SelfReflection’, the author (bravely or rashly?) uses himself as the subject in his case study, but the result comes perilously close to self-indulgence with his repeated insistence on describing himself as a ‘teacher-scholar’ Some of the case studies, for example, those in Chapters 4, 5, and 10, on ‘Teachers’ Narratives’, ‘Teachers’ Language Proficiency’, and ‘Teacher Development Groups’, respectively, are really insufficiently contextualized for the reader to make proper sense of them In Chapter 4, Farrell laudably aims for authenticity by sticking to the teacher’s own account, but this leaves too many gaps for the reader to fill in, and the case studies in Chapters and 10 are simply too skimpy to serve the author’s purpose This heightens the impression that the decision to go for a repetitive chapter structure became something of a straitjacket to the writer rather than a support to the reader The ‘Reflection’ sections represent a positive attempt to interact with the reader through questions, but I would have liked fewer, better questions in some cases, and I really felt 187 that each chapter could have ended with the ‘Conclusion’ (Is that not what conclusions are meant to do?) rather than meandering on through a ‘Chapter Scenario’ and yet another set of questions to reflect on, neither of which seem to add a great deal to the reader’s understanding Scho¨n, D 1983 The Reflective Practitioner How Professionals Think in Action New York: Basic Books Wallace, M 1991 Training Foreign Language Teachers: A Reflective Approach Cambridge: Cambridge University Press The final chapter also turned out to be something of an anticlimax, with, for my taste, a rather overstructured view of the place of reflection in the process of professional development This would have been a golden opportunity to pull everything together and to locate reflection in the context of lifelong learning, with both individual and groupcentred dimensions, to see reflection as a way of being professional rather than a compartmentalized activity to be fitted into available time slots in a busy schedule I agree with Farrell’s point that not everyone is a born reflector and that reflection for some is a learnt behaviour, but for me it is also a habit which, once acquired, becomes integral to a teacher’s professional persona Wallace’s (1991) work pointed the way to stimulating reflective practice on preservice teacher education courses, a dimension which Farrell devotes little attention to, even in his chapter on Classroom Observation, and for me, this also represents a missed opportunity to add overall coherence to the book The reviewer Rod Bolitho is currently Academic Director at Norwich Institute for Language Education and has been training English language teachers and trainers for over 25 years He has been consultant to many overseas projects, most recently in Austria, Croatia, Romania, and Uzbekistan He is co-author (with Tony Wright) of Trainer Development and (with Brian Tomlinson) of Discover English He also edits Folio, the journal of the Materials Development Association Email: rodbol44@yahoo.co.uk doi:10.1093/elt/ccp012 Finally, a note on language and on editing and proofing In the early chapters, there are several examples of awkward written expression, faulty punctuation, and spelling mistakes The author’s tone also slips occasionally into ‘shoulding’ and ‘musting’ at the reader, which verges on the patronizing and is a turn-off for any professional Is not all this part of the service that publishers are supposed to provide to authors in return for their lion’s share of income from a book? A stronger editorial hand would have helped Farrell to avoid these traps and consequently to make a better impression on the reader References Bailey, K 1990 ‘The use of diary studies in teacher education programs’ in J C Richards and D Nunan (eds.) Second Language Teacher Education Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Jarvis, J 1992 ‘Using diaries for teacher reflection on in-service courses’ E LT Journal 46/2: 133–43 Killon, J and G Todnew 1991 ‘A process of personal theory building’ Educational Leadership 48/6: 14–6 Kolb, D A 1984 Experiential Learning Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall 188 Reviews Conversation in Context: A Corpus-Driven Approach C Ruehlemann Continuum 2007, 246 pp., £74.18 isbn 0826497136 Christoph Ruehlemann’s book navigates a clear and engaging course through what McCarthy colourfully describes in the preface (p ix) as ‘the murky waters of ‘‘performance’’ data, where grammar, lexis, phonology and paralinguistics collide ’ The voyage is never less than interesting and often fascinating Two main aims are set out for the book in the Introduction: To contribute to E FL teaching by narrowing the gap between ‘school’ English and ‘authentic conversation’ To test what the author calls ‘the adaptedness hypothesis’: ‘ the hypothesis that a situationbased description of conversation can show how conversational language is adapted to certain needs arising from specific types of constraints on speakers in conversational situation’ (p 2) While the author returns to the first aim with some zeal in the conclusion, it is clearly the second aim which drives the book and dictates its structure In the Introduction, the author sets out a convincing case for a register-sensitive approach to language description and stresses the central importance of conversation as a register both in language use and 188 Reviews language analysis It might seem that the importance of conversation does not need to be stressed to E FL practitioners, but there is some truth in my view in Hugh Dellar’s (personal communication) parody of EFL coursebooks which take learners directly from transactional dialogues to earnest debates about capital punishment without experiencing social conversation in between The second chapter deals concisely with the research methodology and the details of the spoken component of the British National Corpus (BNC ) on which the research is based ‘You know’ and the frequent repetition of ‘I’ in utterance-initial position In other words, in line with the adaptedness hypothesis, the frequency can be related to shared context and also to discourse management needs and real-time processing needs The analysis of laughter in conversation in this chapter reinforces the motif of the multifunctionality of features of conversation and produces some of the intriguing descriptive insights which are an attractive feature of the book: ‘The typical ‘‘laugher’’ in British conversation seems to be a young, female, whitecollar worker’ (p 86) Chapter lays the foundation for ‘the adaptedness hypothesis’ The author describes in detail the five conditions under which conversation takes place: In Chapter 5, Ruehlemann turns to co-construction phenomena Among the examples he gives are coconstructed tags and co-constructed utterances I have seen co-constructed tags described elsewhere as reply questions, so an example might be useful: n n n n n shared context co-construction discourse management real-time processing relation management A: I’ve just read a brilliant review by Ivor Timmis B: Have you? Here I would express one of my few quibbles with the book: the author refers consistently to these conditions as ‘constraints’, but as his own examples later show, shared context and co-construction offer opportunities to speakers as well as constraints Ruehlemann’s key argument, however, is that it is in the light of these conditions (or constraints) that conversational grammar is best understood from a functional point of view Ruehlemann makes two important points at this stage which are consistently and clearly reinforced in the remainder of the book: The five conditions are interdependent so it is likely that a particular feature of conversational grammar will be explicable in relation to more than one of the conditions Relation management needs are the dominant goal of conversation The five subsequent chapters deal with each of the conditions above in turn, highlighting selected features of conversational grammar which seem particularly well adapted to that particular condition Chapter 4, then, deals with shared context phenomena Ruehlemann points to deictic forms (references to person, time, or place which are relative to the situation in which the utterance takes place) as an example of shared context phenomena and notes the high frequency of the deictic personal pronouns ‘I’ and ‘You’ in conversation This in itself is unsurprising What is of more interest is Ruehlemann’s argument that among the reasons for the frequency of ‘I’ and ‘You’ in conversation are their frequency in discourse markers such as ‘I mean’ and Reviews Co-constructed utterances meanwhile involve the expansion or completion of one speaker’s utterance by another as in: A: I’ve just read a brilliant piece by Ivor Timmis B: Which is a rarity Here again, Ruehlemann is concerned to stress the multifunctional aspect of such devices, arguing that co-constructed tags ‘play a dual role as turn-yielders, responding to the co-constructive need to encourage speaker change, and as backchannels, encouraging the main speaker to carry on’ (p 93) Co-constructed utterances have the dual function of strengthening discourse coherence and establishing ‘bonds of communion’ Discourse management phenomena are the focus of Chapter Reported speech (or ‘discourse presentation’ in Ruehlemann’s terms) in conversation is one of the features to come under the microscope here Ruehlemann’s first observation is that discourse presentation in conversation is normally carried out in direct mode In terms of the adaptedness hypothesis, discourse presentation is then related to real-time processing needs—it obviates the need for the grammatical changes required by indirect mode—and to relational needs: it allows for a vivid reconstruction of the scene It is no surprise to find ‘like’, so ubiquitous both as a discourse marker and a quotative, come under analysis in this chapter The analysis of ‘like’ is a good example of the non-judgemental approach which characterizes the book Ruehlemann is at pains to explain why certain forms are common in 189 conversation, in this case noting the ‘remarkable versatility for the lemma like as a whole’ (p 150) and arguing that this versatility applies to ‘be + like’ too (for example, ‘I was like, ‘‘Oh my God!’’’) Chapter brings real-time processing phenomena into focus Ruehlemann highlights initially the dual role of silent and filled pauses: they help us to cope with real-time pressures but can also be ‘deployed in the service of turn and information management’ (p 161) He then goes on to argue that there are two basic strategies for ‘reducing processing cost’: phonological reduction and grammatical reduction The frequent use of ‘there is’ + plural noun phrase is one example cited of this kind of reductionism, but Ruehlemann really goes to town on the case of ‘I says’ to report speech This analysis is particularly interesting as the non-judgemental approach of the author leads to interesting and objective descriptive insights of a form which is non-standard and socially marked Ruehlemann notes (p 172) that ‘ I says is used as a reporting clause in presentations of extended exchanges involving frequent switches between the presenter’s and a displaced speaker’s utterances Upon closer inspection of contexts, it becomes clear that many of these extended exchanges tend to reveal a point–counterpoint nature, that is, utterances are typically short and speaker standpoints often diverge’ The use of ‘I says’ allows the speaker, then, to maintain the vividness of the present form when reporting the conversation without the need to change the vowel sound or the verb ending when switching between third person and first person While the analysis is most interesting, it leaves unasked and unanswered the question of why, if the form is so well adapted to the conditions of speech, it is not common to most speakers Relation management phenomena, which are the focus of Chapter 8, provide more of the quirky insights which leaven the text In a discussion of familiarizers and endearments in the B NC (p 186), we learn that ‘almost half of all occurrences of baby were not said in conversation but sung as the speakers 190 Reviews were singing along to popular music’ Two narrative devices are closely analysed in this chapter: the use of historic present and introductory ‘this’ in oral narratives as in, for example, ‘This man walks into a pub ’ The use of introductory ‘this’ for a referent not previously mentioned in the conversation is particularly interesting in terms of ‘the adaptedness hypothesis’ Not only does it draw the listener into the story but it also signals the key players in the ensuing narrative The chapter also includes an interesting analysis of third person ‘don’t’ as in ‘he don’t like it’ Here again, the non-judgemental approach permits an objective analysis and the author concludes that the form is particularly common with volitional verbs ‘like’ and ‘want’ In the conclusion, Ruehlemann argues that the balance of probabilities is strongly in favour of his adaptedness hypothesis and expresses the hope that the descriptive approach he has adopted can help free the E FL world from the misconception that speech is an inferior form of writing and an inferior form to writing The conclusion is reasonable and the hope is well founded What is beyond doubt is that the book will be of value to anyone with an interest in spoken language Ruehlemann synthesizes a huge amount of descriptive work on spoken language in a coherent, accessible, and often engaging manner; he also gives valuable guidance to areas which have potential for further research Personally, this book reinvigorated my long-standing interest in the teaching and description of spoken language The reviewer Ivor Timmis is Reader in ELT at Leeds Metropolitan University where he teaches on the MA in E LT and Materials Development course and supervises PhD students His main research interests are in the relevance of corpus findings for ELT, with a particular interest in the teaching and description of spoken language Email: i.timmis@leedsmet.ac.uk doi:10.1093/elt/ccp013 websites for the language teacher The moving image Diana Eastment Cinema The Internet is packed with resources for the cinema and films Most teachers will be familiar with the Internet Movie Database (I M D B), which has been the first point of call for almost 20 years, and in terms of depth and breadth of coverage remains unbeatable Though ideal for the movie buff, it can be over-complex to use with students, however, especially as you have to register to get the full range of information IMDB offers For classroom use, a better choice might be AllMovie.com It is more limited in scope but is much easier to use As far as film reviews are concerned, the two most prominent sites are Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic Both are ‘aggregators’, sites which collect reviews from a variety of sources, rate films, and provide a user-friendly interface Rotten Tomatoes is the more comprehensive and includes reviews from outside the U S A; Metacritic is punchier but more provincial and is limited to films which have come out in the last 20 years or so For an excellent overview of the film resources available, take a look at Ambrose Heron’s Most Useful Movie Websites He lists over 100 key sites, in categories such as news, general information, reviews, blogs, podcasts, etc But what about the films and videos themselves? Where does one go to find original material? Source material One of the Internet’s most important resources is the Internet Archive The Archive hosts thousands of audio recordings and has a collection of over a million books, articles, and other texts; but of particular interest is the Moving Image Archive This is a seriously large collection: 1,200 cartoons and animations, over 3,000 full-length movies, plus ‘ephemeral films’, open source movies, and non-English language material What makes this such an important resource for teachers, other than its sheer size, is the fact that the material is not just available for viewing over the Web, but can be downloaded At the opposite end of the spectrum is the Bafta ‘60 Seconds of Fame’ site This archives the entries of a recent competition to produce a film exactly 60 seconds long There are a few hundred films; but it is worth having a look at the overall winner and the regional winners They have the same sort of appeal as the ‘mini saga’: the tightly defined format produces some work of real depth and imagination E LT Journal Volume 63/2 April 2009; doi:10.1093/elt/ccp015 ª The Author 2009 Published by Oxford University Press; all rights reserved 191 The best-known resource for videos is of course YouTube With its millions of clips, it eclipses in terms of quantity anything else on the Web The problem is, though, that the quality sometimes leaves a lot to be desired There is certainly good language learning material on YouTube, but tracking it down can be a chore This is where sites such as Expert Village or VideoJug come into their own Both aim to provide short, factual videos, mostly of the ‘how to’ variety Expert Village (which boasts over 130,000 videos) features mainly Americans, many of whom are non-professional presenters and have a tendency to babble VideoJug has a less amateur feel to it and usefully includes the scripts for almost all the material You cannot read the text as you watch the video, but at least it is there to refer to VideoJug has expanded greatly in the past two years Unfortunately, some of its new categories (Love and Sex is a good example) will not be suitable in all situations, and it is unlikely that you would wish to give your students unfettered access A good deal of effort has gone into setting up Yappr It has been designed as a social networking site: students around the world chat to each other, find interesting video material on YouTube, and submit it to the folks at Yappr, who then provide subtitles and support materials for ‘the community’ There are hundreds of videos, sorted according to language difficulty The only real problem for me is that the subtitles are in fact ‘side titles’, in a large box to the right of the video window Perhaps, it is simply something that you get used to Less satisfactory is Lingual.Net The site has the tagline ‘Learn English through Movies’, but has no full-length films Instead, there are trailers, mini documentaries, advertisements, etc., with most of the material limited to only a few minutes Moreover, the material tends to be rather dull when compared with what is available on Yappr Lingual.Net promotes its ‘tri-view method’, but this is no more than watching without subtitles, watching with subtitles, and then watching and answering a few comprehension questions Also worth a mention are the UK government’s Public Information Films They cover the period from 1945 to 2006 and deal with such topics as smoking, pedestrian crossings, why we should pay income tax, and how to vote at a General Election They provide a fascinating social insight and are short enough to make good teaching material All of them come with a transcript, plus background notes, and a timeline And most are very entertaining Exploiting online video There is a useful article by Delina Moobin on exploiting online video at the British Council’s Teaching English site The article points out some pros and cons and lists some mainstream sources for video material, including the BBC and C NN But the most useful practical resource is Russell Stannard’s Teacher Training Videos Russell has a large section of his own videos covering how to use some popular software packages; but scroll down the page and you will find a section on E LT teacher training ideas with links to ‘A great dictation site’ or ‘An unusual vocabulary site’ and similar material Key reading for anyone interested in using internet-based video 192 Diana Eastment The I M DB http://us.imdb.com Allmovie.com http://www.allmovie.com Rotten Tomatoes http://www.rottentomatoes.com Metacritic http://www.metacritic.com The Most Useful Movie Websites 2.0 http://www.filmdetail.com/ archives/2008/05/12/the-mostuseful-movie-websites-20/ The Internet Archive: Moving Image Archive http://www.archive.org/ details/movies Bafta 60 Seconds of Fame http://www1.orange.co.uk/ 60secondsoffame/home/ YouTube http://www.youtube.com Expert Village http://www.expertvillage.com VideoJug http://www.videojug.com Yappr http://en.yappr.com Lingual.Net http://www.lingual.net The National Archives: Public Information Films http://www.nationalarchives gov.uk/films Teaching English: online video for ELT http://www.teachingenglish.org uk/think/articles/online-video-elt Teacher Training Videos http://www.teachertrainingvideos com Diana Eastment is author of The Internet and E LT (Summertown Publishing) and co-author (with Scott Windeatt and David Hardisty) of The Internet (Oxford University Press) She is currently freelancing in Cambridge Email: deastment@gmail.com Moving image 193 [...]... improvement in the accuracy and fluency of L2 student writing’ Journal of Second Language Writing 12: 267–96 Cohen, A 1989 ‘Reformulation: A technique for providing advanced feedback in writing’ Guidelines 11/2: 1–9 Fazio, L 2001 ‘The effect of corrections and commentaries on the journal writing accuracy of minority- and majority-language students’ Journal of Second Language Writing 10: 235–49 Ferris, D 2006... to be?’ Journal of Second Language Writing 10: 161–84 Guenette, D 2007 ‘Is feedback pedagogically correct? Research design issues in studies of feedback on writing’ Journal of Second Language Writing 16: 40–53 Hyland, K and F Hyland 2006 ‘Feedback on second language students’ writing’ Language Teaching 39: 83–101 Lalande, J F 1982 ‘Reducing composition errors: An experiment’ Modern Language Journal. .. feed the source of the River Akademika, which runs through the country from north to south, fertilizing the leafy groves of the Lernasentrd Country Park and providing an 108 E LT Journal Volume 63/2 April 2009; doi:10.1093 /elt/ ccn037 ª The Author 2008 Published by Oxford University Press; all rights reserved Advance Access publication July 3, 2008 figure 1 Methodologia island important artery for the... truism that no linguistic utterance can be definitively understood without referring to the social and communicative context in which it was uttered (Goodwin and Duranti 116 E LT Journal Volume 63/2 April 2009; doi:10.1093 /elt/ ccn018 ª The Author 2008 Published by Oxford University Press; all rights reserved Advance Access publication May 23, 2008 1992) With the advent of CLT, this realization can be... learner (ibid.: 92) One problem, of course, with using such texts is their inherent difficulty, marked as they are by syntactic and lexical complexity, as well as a high 126 E LT Journal Volume 63/2 April 2009; doi:10.1093 /elt/ ccn022 ª The Author 2008 Published by Oxford University Press; all rights reserved Advance Access publication May 22, 2008 ... young learners’ E LT Journal 56/4: 389–96 Clark, J L 1987 Curriculum Renewal in School Foreign Language Learning Oxford: Oxford University Press 114 Alan Waters Ellis, R 2003 Task-Based Language Learning and Teaching Oxford: Oxford University Press Holliday, A 1994 ‘The house of T E S EP and the communicative approach: the special needs of state English language education’ E LT Journal 48/1: 3–11 Hutchinson,... Benjamins Nunan, D 1999 Second Language Teaching and Learning Boston, MA: Heinle and Heinle O’Neill, R 1991 ‘The plausible myth of learnercentredness: or the importance of doing ordinary things well’ ELT Journal 45/4: 293–304 Richards, J C and T S Rodgers 2001 Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching New York: Cambridge University Press Spratt, M., G Humphreys, and V Chan 2002 ‘Autonomy and motivation:... with a new metropolis, to be named ‘Integrationia’ To guide its development, the following design principles have been formulated Conservation First of all, despite wishing to make a new start, it is felt important to acknowledge that many Methodologians have a strong attachment to A guide to Methodologia 113 a number of the principal attractions of Methodsville Therefore, rather than simply pulling... 245–66 A guide to Methodologia Swan, M 2005 ‘Legislation by hypothesis: the case of task-based instruction’ Applied Linguistics 26/3: 376–401 Waters, A 1998 ‘Managing monkeys in the E LT classroom’ E LT Journal 52/1: 11–18 Willis, J 1996 ‘A flexible framework for task-based learning’ in D Willis and J Willis (eds.) Challenge and Change in Language Teaching Oxford: Macmillan Heinemann The author Alan Waters... study and appreciation of the preferred styles of architecture, domestic arrangements, customs, habits, and so on of the average citizen of Methodologia Forward-looking Thirdly, at the same time, it is felt that some of the benefits that can accrue from the modern developments in various parts of Methodologia should also be incorporated into the design Thus, following the example of the Lernasentrd Country

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