Teaching English As a Second Or Foreign Language

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March 2002 — Volume 5, Number 4 Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language (3rd Edition) Marianne Celce-Murcia, Editor. (2001) University of California, Los Angeles. Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle. Pp. xii + 584 ISBN 0-8384-1992-5 (paper) US $45.95 Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language in its third edition, was primarily designed as a textbook for pre-service TESL/TEFL courses. The book can also be used in other ways, for example as a reference book and handbook for individual teachers to explore on their own and a sourcebook for teacher trainers. I would select this text as the essential starting point for teachers new to the field who wish to gain an overview of theory and practice. It has several features that I feel make it an excellent text for teacher trainers who want to keep up with developments in the field, and stay informed about predominant theories. Its main use is likely to be as a core textbook on formal pre-service and in-service training courses. Throughout, it encourages teachers to reflect on issues in language teaching and learning on the basis of the specialists’ research in the field. Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language, also known as “The Apple Book”, is an anthology book; personal contributions from more than forty acknowledged specialists in the field provide a variety of perspectives. This third edition covers more topics and has more contributors than the previous ones. As the editor states, “sixteen of the chapters appearing in this third edition are revised and updated versions of chapters in the second edition¹ and the revisions have been substantial. . . ten chapters have been completely rewritten and the remaining ten chapters¹ appear for the first time in this edition” (vii). All this contributions primarily are focused on the learner, but none of them avoids the fact of socio-cultural,

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