Publications Received
Tessa Woodward, UK
Tessa Woodward is a teacher, teacher trainer and the Professional Development Co-ordinator at Hilderstone College, Broadstairs, UK. She edits the Teacher Trainer journal for Pilgrims, UK. She is President of IATEFL. Her most recent book is 'Ways of Working with Teachers' and she will have a new book out soon on thinking frameworks. E-mail: editor@tttjournal.co.uk
The purpose of these notices reprinted from the Teacher Trainer journal is to broadly indicate topic and to point out likely points of interest to mentors, teacher trainers and teacher educators. Print size is noted only if unusual; unless noted otherwise, an introduction, index & bibliography can be assumed to be present. Dimensions are indicated only if relatively small or large.
IATEFL Conference Selections - Cardiff, 2005. B. Beaven, ed. (2005) ISBN 1-901095-02-0. Available from IATEFL, Darwin College, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, CT2-7NY, UK. Divided into ten chapters, most with a detailed introduction, this A5 paperback contains reports of five plenaries, one debate, 12 symposia, 56 presentations or workshops & two conference reviews. It gives an excellent taste of the 39th annual IATEFL conference. Of particular interest to trainers are parts of chapter nine - e.g., online TT & TD (9.4 - 9.7) and all of chapter ten - 'Teaching, Training, Consulting'. Each report gives a quick view of a trainer's professional interest which you could then follow up by contacting them, as email addresses are given.
Learning to Teach English: A practical introduction for new teachers. P. Watkins. (2005) Delta Publishing. ISBN 1-900783-74-6. 144pp. Intended for readers with little or no teaching experience, e.g., in relation to a Cambridge or Trinity College TESOL certificate course. Trainers familiar with these schemes will find that most, if not all, key topics are covered, including also sections on professional development & basic terms in linguistic analysis as well as some photocopiable lesson plans There are 18 chapters, each of which includes reader tasks (mostly questions) & a concluding section in which (for the most part) answers are given & commented on. Each chapter appears to me to be get-throughable by the intended sort of reader in a lot or a little under an hour, depending on the chapter and, of course, the reader. Very practice oriented & relatively unlikely to freak out those for whom 'theory' is the stuff of nightmares.
An Introduction to Teaching: A handbook for primary & secondary school teachers (2nd ed), G. Nicholls, ed. (2004) RoutledgeFalmer. vi+263pp. ISBN 0-415-33531-0. For trainee & newly qualified (UK) teachers; billed as the "generic textbook" of this publisher's Teaching series. 13 chapters + introduction & glossary; the various contributors are all university-based. A good-resolution, fairly wide-angle snapshot of the complex terrain of issues, regulations & inspections that UK teachers are obliged to negotiate. Highly recommended by The Times Educational Supplement.
Starting to Teach in the Secondary School: A companion for the newly qualified teacher, 2nd ed. S. Capel, R. Heilbronn, M. Leask & T. Turner, eds. (2004) RoutledgeFalmer. xiv+290pp. ISBN 0-415-33817-4. Intended to follow on from initial teacher education programmes; 20 contributors, UK based, mostly in university departments of education. Includes "reflective" reader tasks. Parts 1 &2 (chapters 1-7) mainly concern becoming more competent as a teacher; Part 3 (8-15) is about deepening one's knowledge and/or skills in particular areas (e.g., assessment, recording & reporting); Part 4 focuses on continuing professional development (e.g., becoming more "research literate"). For me, the print is rather small & slightly faint.
Preparing to Teach in Secondary Schools: A student teacher's guide to professional issues in secondary education. V. Brooks, I. Abbott & L. Bills, eds. (2004) Open University Press/McGraw-Hill Education. xiv+358pp. ISBN 0-335-21398-7. The 19 contributors are experienced teachers and/or university lecturers (mainly at the University of Warwick). Chapters 1-3 are on becoming a teacher; 4-12, core professional competences; 13-19, secondary schools & the curriculum; 20-25, inclusion. With reader tasks & a key to current acronyms. Thorough & very largely UK-focused although chapter 4 (by D. Muijs) may be of interest to any trainer who does a short module on theories of learning & intelligence.
Giving a Lecture: From presenting to teaching. K. Exley & R. Dennick. (2004) Routledge/Falmer. ISBN 0-415-30719-8. xii+175pp; ca. A5. The ten chapters are: Why lecture?; Preparing to lecture; Handling nerves, anxieties & discipline problems; Structuring lectures; Using your voice effectively & presenting materials visually; Active learning in interactive lectures; Handouts; Computing & information technology in lecturing; Student diversity; Evaluating lecturing. The two appendices concern studies with disabilities - a lecturer's legal position & sources of information about disabilities and support organizations. Salted with brief case studies, reading tips, go-to web addresses, and topical quotes from lecturers; not subject-specific; a quick & potentially useful read; could be a useful introduction to the book which follows.
The Lecturer's Toolkit: A practical guide to learning, teaching & assessment, 2nd ed. P. Race. (2001, repr. 2004, 1st ed. 1998) Routledge/Falmer. ISBN 0-7494-3540-2. viii+278pp; crown quarto. With more information than the preceding book (but fewer website tips), this book has six chapters: (1) learning, e.g., theories of learning & motivation; (2) assessment & feedback; (3) refreshing your lecturing; (4) small group teaching; (5) resource-based learning; (6) looking after yourself, e.g., managing your workload. Extensive use of bulleting makes the material readily scannable. Chapters 2-6 consist, to a great extent, of bulleted notices (e.g., 'Assessment should be valid') which are each followed by a few sentences of elaboration. You will find some repetition if you have read this author's 2000 Tips for Lecturers (1999, with S. Brown. Kogan Page) and 500 Tips on Group Learning (2000, Kogan Page). Apparently The Lecturer's Toolkit comes in two versions: a ring bound 'institutional' version which includes tasks & activities (I am not sure who these are for since I don't have that version) and a compact, normally bound version, for individual lecturers, from which the tasks & activities are absent.
The Routledge Falmer Reader in Teaching and Learning. E. C. Wragg, ed. (2004) RoutledgeFalmer. ISBN 0-415-33376-8. xiii+272pp. A collection of 18 papers (reprinted from several journals & two books for the years 1999-2002) grouped as follows: (I) early learning, (II) teaching & learning strategies, (III) teaching the wider curriculum, (IV) education for all, (V) managing teaching & learning & (VI) teaching & teacher education. The three papers in the last group are: 'Student teachers & attitudes towards "race": the role of citizenship education in addressing racism through the curriculum' (C. Wilkins); 'Mentors' perceptions of their roles in school-based teacher training in England & Germany' (M. Jones); and 'Teacher stress: directions for future research' (C. Kyriacou). The editor, a former professor of education, is now perhaps best known as a columnist for The Guardian's Tuesday education supplement.
Apprenticeship: Towards a new paradigm of learning. P. Ainley and H. Rainbird, eds. (1999) Kogan Page. ISBN 0-7494-2728-0. xii+211pp. 13 chapters from 13 UK contributors. In the series 'The Future of Education from 14+'. Parts: 1) Historical approaches to apprenticeship, 2) Theoretical approaches to apprenticeship, 3) Apprenticeship as a model of learning, and 4) Modern apprenticeship. A topically very diverse, uneven collection. Teacher trainers/educators/mentors with a keen interest in apprenticeship are bound to find something of interest; however, the book as a whole seems to me unlikely to become a standard text. Some of the chapters are very UK referenced.
The Learning Strategies Handbook. A. Chamot, S. Barnhardt, P. El-Dinary, J. Robbins. (1999) Addison Wesley Longman. ISBN 0-201-38548-1. vi+249pp, ca A4. An initial flick-through might lead you to think this is a just collection of photocopiable tasksheets (plus teacher's notes) for students in ESL & bilingual learning programmes. In fact, it is an extremely example-rich, clear & comprehensive introduction to the theory & practice of enhancing learning by fostering effective learning strategies. The introductory chapter has sections on: (a) UK National Curriculum Standards (though example activities elsewhere suggest this book originated in Canada), (b) content-based language instruction, (c) portfolio assessment, & (d) the 'cognitive academic language learning approach' (CALLA). Chapter 2 describes both the 'metacognitive model of strategic learning' & individual learning strategies. Chapter 3 deals with factors that facilitate the instruction of good strategies & outlines an instructional framework. Chapters 4-8 describe instructional & evaluative phases in CALLA. Chapter 9 is on theoretical background & relevant research. Chapter 10 comprises ca. 18 lessons, each of which focuses on a different language learning strategy.
Introducing Language in Use: A coursebook. A. Bloomer, P. Griffiths & A. J. Morrison. (2005) Routledge. ISBN 0-415-29179-8. xviii+492, ca 3/4 A4. This has been conceived as a comprehensive coursebook for "students new to the study of language and linguistics" (back cover). It includes tasks for readers & a glossary, and is supported through the Routledge website: www.routledge.com/textbooks/0415291798 (although the site didn't respond when I tried to access it). The 16 chapters include ones on relatively traditional topics (e.g., pragmatics, words, semantics, grammar, phonetics, variety in language, child language acquisition, psycholinguistics, and the history of English) as well as ones which address more recent concerns (e.g., conversational analysis, power and politeness, multilingualism, and world Englishes). Tutors looking for material to use on courses for pre- and early in-service teachers, might wish to pick and choose among chapters. For instance, the one on conversational analysis seems to me (SL) to be a good, in-a-nutshell introduction, ditto the introductory chapter on language, communication and semiotics. However, tutors who wish to familiarize their student teachers with theories which figure prominently in recent & current psycholinguistic research (e.g., usage-based theories such as cognitive-functional linguistics & construction grammar - or generative linguistics as updated by, e.g., Ray Jackendoff), are likely to find the chapter on grammar (which is strongly influenced by writings of M.A.K. Halliday) and the one on semantics to be in very considerable elaboration and commentary. To give, one example, the discussion of semantic and encyclopaedic knowledge (pp 157-58) should include the information that this distinction has been shown (by John Haiman & Ronald Langacker) to be impossible to maintain with respect to lexical meaning, either in principle or in practice.
Vocabulary in Language Teaching. N. Schmitt (2000) Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-66938-3. ix+224pp. This book is a comprehensive introductory survey of issues pertaining to a learner's encounter with vocabulary. TESOL focus; presentation of theory and research findings is notably clear and readable. In a nutshell, the chapters are: introduction (e.g., the size of the English word hoard), the history of vocabulary in language learning, aspects of knowing a word, the uses of corpora, vocabulary in discourse, vocabulary acquisition, teaching and learning vocabulary, assessing vocabulary knowledge. Good to read after J Aitchison's superb Words in the Mind (2003, 3rd ed. Blackwell) and before I.S.P. Nation's much longer Learning Vocabulary in Another Language (2001. Cambridge University Press).
Language in Action: Psychological models of conversation. W Turnbull (2003) Psychology Press. ISBN 0-415-19868-2. viii+240pp. Applied linguistics. A key premise is that talk is most fruitfully viewed as social interaction. Characterised are: the 'code', speech act, and inferential models as well as the interpersonal 'dimension'; conversational analysis, and social pragmatics, the latter being the favoured account of how conversation works. Potentially useful background reading for educators of language teachers but should, in my opinion, be complemented by some reading of arguments against leaving linguistic analyses too much out of account—e.g., pages 3 to37 (at least) of Ray Jackendoff. Foundations of Language: Brain, meaning, grammar, evolution. (2002. Oxford University Press).
Language Activities for Teenagers. S. Lindstromberg, ed. (2004) Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-54193-X. xi+225pp. TESOL focus; a teachers' resource book especially for teachers of pupils aged 11 to 16. Ninety-nine activities by seven contributors (including the author of this little precis [SL] and the founding editor of this journal, Tessa Woodward). An unusual collection, I believe, for the attention given to maintaining and building discipline and to developing the skills needed for formal presentations and debates. Chapters also on short auxiliary activities, speaking, listening, reading, writing, learning and reviewing vocabulary, and literature.
Language Gardening. D. Warr (2003) Language Garden. ISBN 0-9544785-0-9. A4, ca 150 pp. Uses terms (and colours) of plants to teach about language—i.e., what are prefixes, vowels, and so on. Seems to be for would-be TESOL teachers who have not learned about grammar in school. On account of the utter uniqueness of this book, prospective readers are encouraged to look at it up close & personal: www.languagegarden.co.uk
Please check the Creative Methodology for the Classroom course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Humanising Large Classes course at Pilgrims website.
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