33.2059, Review: English; Applied Linguistics; Language Acquisition: Reynolds, Dikilitaş, Close (2021)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-33-2059. Fri Jun 17 2022. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 33.2059, Review: English; Applied Linguistics; Language Acquisition: Reynolds, Dikilitaş, Close (2021)

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Date: Fri, 17 Jun 2022 20:11:23
From: Clay Williams [williams at aiu.ac.jp]
Subject: Introduction to TESOL

 
Discuss this message:
http://linguistlist.org/pubs/reviews/get-review.cfm?subid=36787837


Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/32/32-3882.html

AUTHOR: Kate  Mastruserio Reynolds
AUTHOR: Kenan  Dikilitaş
AUTHOR: Steve  Close
TITLE: Introduction to TESOL
SUBTITLE: Becoming a Language Teaching Professional
PUBLISHER: Wiley
YEAR: 2021

REVIEWER: Clay Hunter Williams, Akita International University

SUMMARY

The monumental spread of English-language learning – especially in the post
WWII era – has had the resultant effect of spurring an equally monumental
industry of English language teacher training. From English as a Second
Language activities in historically English-speaking countries to English as a
Foreign Language teaching and learning in other countries, from small children
to adult learners, from general conversational language to specific purposes
such as aviation or pharmacy, English language teaching activities span a
multitude of continents and subjects. It is into this virtual kaleidoscope of
frenetic language-learning activity that Reynolds, Dikilitaş, and Close offer
their manuscript – both as an introduction to the field and as a roadmap to
the newcomer to the English-language teaching profession. 

The book is divided topically, covering an introduction to the professional
field, a basic overview of second language acquisition and linguistic
theories, practical implementation of such theory into pedagogy across the
four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing, as well as an
up-to-date guide to modern teaching tools and techniques (technological and
otherwise), and, finally, a call for teachers to help in the professional task
of becoming producers of linguistic knowledge and guiding the development of
the English-teaching profession. Each chapter begins with a “TESOL Voices”
section, wherein TESOL professionals give first-hand accounts of work
experiences relating to the chapter. This provides a maximally readable
chapter preview for readers, enabling those new to the profession to better
see how the technical content within the chapter might relate to actual
practical use in the day-to-day practice of teaching. Chapter sections are
also marked off with reflection questions, and each chapter ends with a list
of discussion questions, tasks, and a suggested reading list.

The first chapter, “What is TESOL?”, provides an overview of the staggeringly
large scope of the global TESOL industry, while also seeking to cut through
the many acronyms which have sprung up in the profession to distinguish
ever-increasingly nuanced forms of teaching activity (e.g., TESOL, ELT, ESL,
EFL, etc.). It investigates varying measures for proficiency in use in the
field (e.g., ACTFL, CEFR, etc.), and finally outlines the various types of
professional roles and industries in which TESOL professionals often work.

Chapter 2, “How is TESOL an Academic Profession?”, traces the roots of the
language-teaching profession and looks at the types of professional activity
that practitioners are engaged in. It also explains the types of professional
training required for the various types of institutions where TESOL
professionals typically work – in K-12 environments, tertiary education
providers, private language schools, etc. The authors’ focus then shifts to
professional development in the TESOL industry, looking especially at
professional organizations such as the TESOL International Association and the
British Council. The chapter argues for TESOL practitioners to develop a
purposeful plan for professional development, to be service minded in the
TESOL community, and to use their professional skills and position to advocate
for the profession and ultimately for students.

The third chapter, “With Whom and Where do Those Prepared in TESOL Work?”,
delves into the variable national and pedagogical contexts of TESOL work, and
how that (inevitably) affects pedagogy. It gives a broad overview of how
culture impacts the effectiveness of various teaching approaches and looks at
critical pedagogy and social justice in classroom practice. The authors divide
their focus between inner circle (Kachru, 1988) country contexts vs. teaching
in contexts where English has a “foreign” language status, as well as the
impact of school and classroom contexts on learning. The chapter then shifts
to specific instructional models, providing an overview of program styles such
as EAP, CBI, EMI, English Immersion, and a longer, more in-depth look at the
types of bilingual/dual-language education.

Chapter 4, “What Are the Five Areas of Linguistics and How Do They Help TESOL
Educators? Why Do TESOL Educators Need a Working Understanding of
Linguistics?”, looks at the sorts of specific language-focused knowledge which
it is incumbent upon TESOL professionals to be aware of, and provides a
rationale for such training for TESOL practitioners. The chapter performs a
very brief overview of basic linguistic theories, including the structure of
language itself, theories of universal grammar, language acquisition, etc. The
treatment of linguistics investigates basic phonology, syntax, morphology,
semantics, and pragmatics. A brief introduction to sociolinguistic issues and
functional linguistics is also included. 

Chapter 5, “What Are the Various Areas of Second Language Acquisition Theory
and How do They Guide Instruction?”, focuses squarely on SLA, giving an
overview of the more common and impactful theories of how second languages are
acquired and/or how they should be taught. Under the header of cognitive
theories, the authors explain information processing models and interlanguage
(e.g.., Selinker, 1972) and, under the category of innatist theories, they
delve into Krashen’s monitor model (1985). Finally, they group the interaction
hypothesis and sociocultural theory under the label “interactionist theories.”
The authors then turn their attention to social and cultural variables and
their impact on SLA, looking at personal factors such as age, aptitude,
motivation, etc., and how that would likely impact eventual attainment in
language acquisition attempts. 

Chapter 6, “How Does Theory Inform and Guide Instructional Practice?”,
attempts to tie the previous “theory” chapters to practical pedagogy. The
authors point out Kumaravadivelu’s (1994) 10 macrostrategies for second
language teaching, as well as Ellis’s 12 principles of instructed SLA (2014)
as guides to responsible teaching practice. They then shift to introducing
specific pedagogical models, including communicative language teaching,
task-based instruction, project-based instruction, and skills-based/integrated
skills instruction. 

Chapter 7, “What Do Educators Need to Know About Teaching the Language Skills
of Listening and Reading When Using Integrated Language Skills?”, takes a more
in-depth look at the marriage of theory and practice covered in Chapter 6, but
this time concentrating on the teaching of receptive skills (i.e., listening
and reading). After a brief overview of the four skills and the
differentiation of receptive and productive skills, the authors delve more
deeply into the issues of teaching listening skills, including how to sequence
listening materials, as well as presenting the total physical response (TPR)
and total physical responses storytelling (TPRS) pedagogical methodologies.
They then turn their attention to teaching reading, looking at issues of
phonemic awareness and vocabulary building. They overview basic reading
strategies for learners and how to organize a reading lesson. 

Chapter 8, “How Do TESOL Educators Teach Speaking and Writing in Integrated
Language Instruction?”, turns the attention from receptive skills to
productive ones. The authors first look at teaching speaking skills, including
issues of appropriateness of language use, the push/pull dynamic of fluency
vs. accuracy in learner L2 production, and lesson organization and activities.
They then look at specific methodologies, including the Audiolingual Method,
the Silent Way, and the Direct Method. Changing the focus to teaching L2
writing, they look at the process of writing and how that translates to
skills-building at various levels of proficiency, from learning letters and
spelling words to essay writing.

Chapter 9, “Tools: Grammar, Vocabulary, Pronunciation, and Spelling”, as the
title implies, looks at the teaching of individual language skills. The
section on teaching grammar looks at what grammar is and differentiates
explicit and implicit grammar instruction. Tips on sequencing grammar lessons
and even when/why to focus on grammatical form are presented, distinguishing
errors and mistakes in teacher feedback to student production. The vocabulary
section investigates how vocabulary schema vary between languages, making it
incumbent upon teachers to give careful thought about how to present new words
to learners. Data on the number of words needed for effective understanding
and the number of presentations required to acquire vocabulary are presented,
along with recommended techniques for word presentation. The section on
pronunciation provides recommendations for effective teaching practices for
lessons focused on L2 phonology and diction, including tips for giving
pronunciation feedback. Finally, the spelling section gives some guidelines
for teaching effectiveness as well as specific activity recommendations for
teaching English spelling.

Chapter 10, “What Themes, Topics, and Content Can I Employ?”, delves into more
specialized teaching, such as that encountered in English for Specific
Purposes (ESP) or Content Based Instruction (CBI) courses. The chapter gives
an overview of CBI’s history, calling attention to the inherent difficulty of
finding a balance between focus on language vs. content. It looks at more
models of content and language instruction, such as SIOP, SDAIE, and ESP, all
of which are defined by the language content acting to access the course
content. 

Chapter 11, “How has Digital Technology Changed Language Teaching and
Learning?”, investigates the effect of modern technologies on the language
teaching profession. The use of computer and other information technology
enables real-time L2 interaction, something which could not have even been
dreamt of in other eras. The chapter looks at the technological divide among
learners globally, based on the availability of internet hardware, as well as
digital literacy. Pedagogical methods employing digital technologies, such as
blended learning, flipped learning, and online instruction are also covered.

Chapter 12, “What Are Ways of Planning for Second Language Instruction and
Assessing Learning?”, expands the scope of inquiry to curriculum design.
Looking at student needs, planning a curriculum and a syllabus, textbook
selection, and lesson planning are all reviewed. The authors then focus on
assessment issues, defining the various types of language assessment in use in
the profession, from teacher-made tests to standardized examinations. 

Chapter 13, “How Does TESOL Develop Its Body of Knowledge and Share
Professional Knowledge?”, functions as a practical call to action to TESOL
professionals to take charge in the production and dissemination of knowledge
on language acquisition. It introduces and justifies the importance of teacher
research, and gives practical examples of how TESOL professionals might share
their knowledge within relevant communities of practice, as well as through
more traditional means (i.e., journals, etc.). 

Chapter 14, “What Are the Current Situations in TESOL and New Directions to be
Taken?”, concludes the text with a call for TESOL professionals to be
empowered, autonomous, critical consumers of professional information, as well
as active in research and the proliferation of our collective knowledge of
language teaching and learning. 

EVALUATION
 
The book is well-written and engaging, and one can easily imagine that
first-year university students would find the manuscript to be refreshingly
approachable compared to the dry, theoretically focused tomes which are so
common in our field. Overall, the book succeeds in its professed goal of
acting as a primer to the field of TESOL; however, this goal, itself, sets up
an inevitable problem which ultimately hinders the usefulness of the
manuscript as a course text. The undeniable immensity of the field effectively
precludes any in-depth discussion of the topics treated within this book.
While I applaud the authors’ attempt to encompass as much of the field as
possible, the unfortunate result is that discussion of any particular
subsection of the book becomes so cursory as to render the manuscript
ineffective as a textbook for most of the courses one would find in TESOL
preparation programs. In its current form, the book would be largely
inappropriate for use in any type of applied linguistics class or pedagogical
methods class, as, at a minimum, each section would require the teacher to
supplement so much material to bring depth to discussions on content that it
would behoove the instructor to simply consider using a different text with a
narrower focus. This problem is fortunately less prominent in the latter half
of the book, where the authors focus on a more granular level (e.g., teaching
receptive or productive skills), but it is quite prevalent early on in the
book – to the point of limiting the usefulness of some chapters and sections.
The most prominent example of this is in the third chapter. While the authors
have my absolute sympathy regarding the innate limitations trying to give an
account of the myriad contexts in which the TESOL profession is exercised, the
result is to make the chapter cursory, largely unnecessary, and utterly
forgettable from the reader’s point of view. The subsection on critical
pedagogy and social justice feels “shoehorned in,” and excising it entirely
would not have changed the chapter in any way. Essentially, the reader gets
the distinct impression of the authors feeling the need to point out their
liberal bona fides before talking about national/cultural educational
contexts, and this section is likely to age poorly. 

The linguistics section of the book (Chapter 4) is also of questionable
usefulness due to its rushed treatment. While one cannot reasonably expect a
full breakdown of the linguistic features of the English language in a mere
chapter, here the uneven treatment of features is jarring, and readers
previously unacquainted with linguistic science would be left scratching their
heads in many of the subsections. For example, phonology is explored in some
depth, and semantics is given multiple pages of surprisingly in-depth (given
the length limitations) analysis of sub-categories, but treatments of syntax
and morphology barely scratch the surface and explanation is so sparse that I
doubt anyone new to the field would find the information to be illuminating.
Given the foundational importance of linguistic knowledge to TESOL
practitioners, a case could be made for expanding the chapter to give more
even treatment to sections.

As we move through the theory-focused mid-section of the book, the explanatory
quality improves markedly, and it’s likely that beginning learners would
benefit from the write-ups on theories/hypotheses such as the Monitor
Hypothesis. Personally, I did feel that such sections could have been improved
by (briefly) introducing negative evidence and arguments, as well, just to
show to people new to the field that these sorts of theories are not settled
(and that, as a field, we are still open to input on all areas of SLA
research). Generally, the text seemed to avoid airing disputes and arguments
within the field (e.g., theory and practiced-based concerns over bilingual
education are ignored), and while this may have been purposeful to avoid
potentially overwhelming readers, at the same time this has the unfortunate
side-effect of projecting the presented hypotheses and theories as “settled
science.” The latter chapters, which are more practice-based in nature, were
generally found to be much more clearly presented than the earlier chapters
and, if split from the early book, would make for a great introductory primer
to TESOL teaching practices. 

In summary, the manuscript, while having some excellent individual sections,
suffers greatly from trying to take on an impossibly large task (i.e.,
describing the entire TESOL field), which would have been better suited to a
multi-volume encyclopedia or something similar. While the authors made an
heroic attempt at covering the topic, ultimately, the overly broad focus
limits the usefulness of the book in a classroom context. I would, however,
look forward to seeing what the authors could produce on a narrower, more
focused topic.

REFERENCES

Kachru, B.B. (1988). The sacred cows of English. English Today, 4(4), 3-8.

Krashen, S. (1985). The input hypothesis: Issues and implications. Longman.

Kumaravadivelu, B. (1994). The postmethod condition: (E)merging strategies for
second/foreign language teaching. TESOL Quarterly, 28(1), 27-48.

Selinker, L. (1972). Interlanguage. International Review of Applied
Linguistics, 10(3), 219-231.


ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Clay Williams is a professor in the English Language Teaching Practices
program in the Graduate School of Global Communication and Language at Akita
International University in Japan. His primary areas of research include
cross-script effects on L2 literacy development, lexical access in
non-alphabetic script reading, and adapting L2 teaching methodologies to East
Asian classroom contexts. He has authored/edited such books as “Teaching
English Reading in the Chinese-speaking World: Building Strategies Across
Scripts”, “Teaching English in East Asia: A Teacher’s Guide to Chinese,
Japanese, and Korean Learners”, and “Teaching English for Academic Purposes in
Japan: Studies from an English Medium University.”





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