Book Reviews
Problem Solving in a Foreign Language: A Study in Content and Language Integrated Learning
The aim of the book, 11 chapters based on Lena Heine’s PhD thesis, is to investigate how learners mentally deal with content-focused activities in a foreign language by using the concept of problem solving tasks for which subjects do not have any immediate solutions.
Teaching and Researching Autonomy (second edition)
Phil Benson’s Teaching and Researching Autonomy (Second Edition) is a fully revised and updated follow-up to his widely read 2001 first edition, which proved to be an invaluable tool to introducing language teachers and learners to the concept of autonomous learning.
Collocations Extra: Multi-level Activities for Natural English
Elizabeth Walter & Kate Woodford. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Pp. 1-126 Reviewed by Esmaeel Hamidi The Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch Tehran, Iran Collocations Extra is one of the recent volumes of work within the field of vocabulary instruction that aims at developing language learners’ competence of collocations. The book, primarily published […]
An Introduction to Conversation Analysis
An Introduction to Conversation Analysis by Anthony Liddicoat is an excellent source which provides a comprehensive overview of conversation analysis (CA).
Language Teacher Research in Africa
Thomas S. C. Farrell and Leketi Makalela (Eds). Virginia: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc., 2009. Pp. viii + 124. Reviewed by Iris F. Levitis Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research Rostock, Germany Of interest to English teachers, preservice teachers, and TESOL students and professionals, Language Teacher Research in Africa brings together […]
Diagnosing Foreign language Proficiency: The Interface Between Learning and Assessment
Alderson, Charles J. Great Britain: Continuum, 2006. Pp. xii + 284. Reviewed by Deepti Gupta Panjab University Chandigarh, India This volume is mainly an account of the DIALANG project. Its description of the project is very thorough and, in places, quite critical and objective. The reader gets acquainted with the project while getting updated on […]
Feedback in Second Language Writing: Contexts and Issues
Ken Hyland & Fiona Hyland (Eds). Feedback in Second Language Writing: Contexts and Issues. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Pp. xi + 291. Reviewed by Aysha Viswamohan Indian institute of Technology Madras Chennai, India. ESL teachers of writing often face several challenges in their work, and providing the appropriate feedback is a major issue. Feedback […]
Spelling and society: The culture and politics of orthography around the world
Mark Sebba. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Pp. xix + 189. Reviewed by Jing Zhao Sun Yat-sen University Guangzhou, China Spelling and Society by Mark Sebba provides a systematic and coherent socio-cultural conceptual framework within which research on spelling can be conducted. The purpose of the book is to introduce new ways of looking at […]
Writing in the Devil’s Tongue: A History of English Composition in China
Xiaoye You. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2010, Pp. xi + 237. Reviewed by Jamie Elizabeth Marko State University of New York at Buffalo, New York, U.S.A English instruction has long been part of a global love-hate relationship, and perhaps nowhere is this more evident than in China. Colonialism, Maoist thought, national pride, economic growth, […]
ESL Writers: A Guide for Writing Center Tutors
Reviewers: M.A. Nashwa Ezzat Badr Indiana University of Pennsylvania Email: vwhl@iup.edu and M.A. Mai Amin Hassan Indiana University of Pennsylvania Email: vrhl@iup.edu Book Title ESL Writers: A Guide for Writing Center Tutors Edited By Shanti Bruce and Ben Rafoth Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook Publishers Inc., 2004. Pp. vii +173 In ESL Writers: A Guide for Writing […]
