Page 19 - ELG1601 Apr Issue 435

ELreviews
April 2016 Page 19

Clear and concise

Wayne Trotman welcomes a title that provides Book of the month
some much-needed clarity in a complex area

Get ready for IELTS, Pre-Intermediate to exam strategies. The teacher’s book is
Key Concepts in Second the number of people involved concise account of apperceived Intermediate Student’s Book essential, providing spot checks to clarify
Language Acquisition in teaching additional languages input – the input subliminally Fiona Aish, Jane Short, Rhona Snelling, Jo students’ understanding of language
Shawn Loewen and Hayo worldwide has necessitated a title registered by the on-task learner, Tomlinson and Els Van Geyte, Collins; points, and extension activities. Each of the
Reinders, Palgrave Macmillan; such as this. Following this, each which supported my own long- 978-0-0081-3917-9 twelve units finishes with exam practice
978-0-2302-3018-7 of the items making up the term held theory (based largely, I must tasks, which can be done for homework.
SLA is considered in turn. The admit, on the work of Susan This new exam preparation course takes a The book is full of useful exam tips. I think
t says a good deal about the authors point out how, although Gass) that noticing tasks involv- ‘flipped learning’ approach, which means teachers will need to spend some time
growth of the field of second there are examples of trilingual ing input prior to uptake are a students receive language input before getting familiar with the self-study content.
Ilanguage acquisition (SLA) and even multilingual acquisition, key means of student language their face-to-face class. This pre-class The innovative flipped approach is ideal for
that such a title is required – and ‘second’ is still commonly used to acquisition. ‘Code-switching’, preparation can be done online or using the an exam preparation course; this suite of
will certainly be warmly wel- refer to an additional language. ‘cognitive theories’ and ‘commu- excellent 112-page workbook. Class time is material for Ielts 3.5 candidates currently at
comed – in order to tread a path The complexity of defining nicative competence’ all brought then spent developing language skills and A2+ is worth investigation.
through what can be an over- what is meant by ‘language’ is back memories of long Sunday
technical minefield. No longer illustrated by the authors point- afternoons beavering away on
will previously perplexed students ing out how, due to such factors essays on SLA, while ‘connec-
meeting such concepts as accept- as regional and social variation, tionism’, ‘dynamic assessment’ Learn English A–Z designed to be used alone, with sixteenth to the twentieth
ability judgement tasks and the this is becoming increasingly and ‘emergentism’ were, I must Elementary Level, Meet the a ‘small dictionary’ and a pen; century, and cover well-known
acculturation model need to be problematic. Can Mandarin, Can- admit, completely new to me. British! students are encouraged to read works by Shakespeare, Dickens
alarmed. These and all others are tonese and Hakka all – as they In terms of my own SLA in Katie Barron, Liberal sentences aloud. The hand- and Byron. The introduction is
alphabetically arranged in fully currently appear to be – really Turkish, I noticed how ‘backslid- Publications, Cambridge drawn illustrations in a range of excellent, providing much-
cross-referenced entries, while be regarded as Chinese if they ing’ aptly described my linguistic English; styles add interest and variety. needed input on literary terms
explanations of all key concepts are mutually unintelligible. And regression, caused primarily by 978-0-9931-4683-1 A deliberately simplified, like simile, hyperbole and
relating to SLA are given in admi- when it comes to ‘acquisition’, lazy efforts resulting in a lack of quirky alternative to the alliteration. There are
rably concise definitions. Adding what does it mean to acquire a internalisation of key structures. The contents of this slim traditional beginners’ book. opportunities to listen to and
to the clarity are the many figures language? As the authors put it on However, I was encouraged to 106-page volume are laid out in read extracts at the same time.
and tables that outline, for exam- page xii, ‘What level of mastery notice how my BICS – basic an original A–Z format. Each Pathways to Literature The book is lavishly illustrated.
ple, Krashen’s affective filter is necessary to say that a lan- interpersonal communication of the 26 units looks at an Virginia Evans and Jenny Tennyson’s poem ‘Ulysses’ is
hypothesis’and ‘stages of English guage has been acquired?’ skills – enabled me to function essential language item, such as Dooley, Express Publishing; highly challenging;
question development’. Follow- Bearing all the above in mind, I socially, although I was reminded the verb ‘to be’, ‘can’ and 978-1-4715-3351-8 nevertheless, the accompanying
ing each entry is a short list of was keen to revisit terminology I of how far off I was in terms of my question forms. There are exercises help students’
references to further reading. had struggled with on my masters development in CALP – cognitive regular opportunities to This book is probably most comprehension. This
In the Introduction, the authors courses; as with many of the titles academic language proficiency. self-test. The book provides suitable for teachers already innovative 232-page book
outline parameters and carefully I’ve had the pleasure of review- Maybe next year, eh! n useful phrases and a simple knowledgeable about literature. should be useful in helping
place SLA within the much larger ing over the years, I found myself guide to basic grammar, The three parts focus on poetry, students analyse and appreciate
field of applied linguistics, point- wishing this one or something Wayne Trotman teaches pronunciation and spelling. It is prose and plays from the the selected works.
ing out how the formalisation similar had been available at that EAP at Izmir Katip Çelebi
of SLA and the huge increase in time. I was delighted to read a University, Turkey Reviews by Pete Sharma for the Bournemouth English Book Centre: www.bebc.co.uk

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