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Book review: Second Language Acquisition in Action: Principles from Practice (2018)

This book, aimed at language teachers either in training or those wishing to further their knowledge, is written by Andrea Nava and Luciana Pedrazzini who teach English and Second Language Acquisition at the University of Milan. It is a detailed account of some of the "big themes" in classroom second language acquisition, presented alongside examples of lesson extracts and videos of teachers at work (on an accompanying website).

Areas covered in the six main chapters are form, meaning and use; comprehensible input; input processing; implicit and explicit knowledge; interaction and corrective feedback and output production. Each concept is clearly explained with reference to the main research sources, then put in a classroom context with examples of teacher-pupil interactions, lesson ideas and discussion questions to consider.

The clarity of the exposition is admirable, with each area being described and critically analysed. There is something of a chronological feel to the book as the discussion ranges from the the role of input (Krashen) through to Input Processing (VanPatten), to output (Swain) and eventually to Task-Based Learning (Ellis, Long, Willis and Willis). The discussion never becomes too erudite (at least for me), though some teachers might find it goes too far for their taste.

I found the chapter on Input Processing among the more practical, with its examples of how to frame exercises to make features more salient than others. The final chapter on task-based teaching also gets into the detail of how to design tasks to generate practice of the lexicogrammatical features you want to focus on. Teachers might find topics such as the precise definition of what is a "task" a little unnecessary. But this is just a reflection of what's in the research literature and there is no doubting that the authors are very well-informed.

This is not a "grab-and-go" book with loads of ready-made activities to take away and implement, but it does provide some sound underpinnings to any teacher's thinking and practice. I was able to supplement my existing knowledge with plenty of new information Never does the book become polemical and you are left with a clear idea of where the current consensus (if there is one) lies: input is paramount, but explicit learning and output have a strong role to play. Overall: recommended, but get the print copy if you can. The number of tables makes the use of a Kindle awkward.

The book is published by Bloomsbury and is available on Amazon.

Here is the video clip companion website:

https://www.bloomsbury.com/cw/second-language-acquisition-in-action/video-clips/

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