Jack C Richards and Willy A Renandya (eds). Methodoly in Language Teaching: An Anthology of Current Practice. Cambridge University Press. 239pp

Abstract

According to the authors, '[t]his book seeks to provide an overview of current approaches, issues, and practices in the teaching of English to speakers of other languages (TESOL). It has the following goals: • to provide a comprehensive overview of the field of second and foreign language teaching, with a particular focus on issues related to the teaching of English • to provide a source of teaching principles and classroom activities which teachers can refer to in their work • to provide a source of readings and activities that can be used in TESOL teacher-education programs, for both preservice and in-service courses' (p. 1). Unlike another recent Cambridge publication (Carter and Nunan, 2001), the focus is on practical and planning issues rather than academic issues. In doing so it sets its net as widely as possible to cover the needs of teachers, whether native speakers of English or not or teaching in formal or informal settings in the many and varied settings in which English is taught throughout the world. For the authors the key issues centre on • understanding learners and their roles, rights, needs, motivations, strategies, and the processes they employ in second language learning • understanding the nature of language teaching and learning and the roles teachers, teaching methods, and teaching materials play in facilitating successful learning • understanding how English functions in the lives of learners, the way the English language works, the particular difficulties it poses for second language learners, and how learners can best achieve their goals in learning English • understanding how schools, classrooms, communities, and the language teaching profession can best support the teaching and learning of English. (p2) Only three of the articles have not been published previously. What Richards and Renandya have done is to compile recent seminal articles (70% published since 1996) that cover the range of issues which normally forms part of TESOL methodology courses. There are nine topics: the nature of teaching, classroom interaction and management, teaching the skills, understanding learner variables, addressing linguistic competence, curriculum factors, assessment of learning, the role of technology, and teacher development. The sixteen sections contain 41 chapters, with at least two chapters in each of them. These attempt to address theory and practice in an interactive way: the ways in which theory can shape and inform practice and the ways in which the realities of the classroom can inform theory and research. The articles also challenge established practice and even new orthodoxies. For instance, in Per Linguam 2002 18(2):55-57 http://dx.