Skip to main content

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/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What is skill acquisition theory?

For this post, I am drawing on a section from the excellent book by Rod Ellis and Natsuko Shintani called Exploring Language Pedagogy through Second Language Acquisition Research (Routledge, 2014). Skill acquisition is one of several competing theories of how we learn new languages. It’s a theory based on the idea that skilled behaviour in any area can become routinised and even automatic under certain conditions through repeated pairing of stimuli and responses. When put like that, it looks a bit like the behaviourist view of stimulus-response learning which went out of fashion from the late 1950s. Skill acquisition draws on John Anderson’s ACT theory, which he called a cognitivist stimulus-response theory. ACT stands for Adaptive Control of Thought.  ACT theory distinguishes declarative knowledge (knowledge of facts and concepts, such as the fact that adjectives agree) from procedural knowledge (knowing how to do things in certain situations, such as understand and speak a langua...
Post a Comment
Read more

The 2026 GCSE subject content is published!

Two DfE documents were published today. The first was the response to the consultation about the proposed new GCSE (originally due in October 2021) and the second is the subject content document which, ultimately, is of most interest to MFL teachers in England. Here is the link  to the document.  We are talking about an exam to be done from 2026 (current Y7s). There is always a tendency for sceptical teachers to think that consultations are a bit of a sham and that the DfE will just go ahead and do what they want when it comes to exam reform. In this case, the responses to the original proposals were mixed, and most certainly hostile as far as exam boards and professional associations representing the MFL community, universities, head teachers and awarding bodies are concerned. What has emerged does reveal some significant changes which take account of a number of criticisms levelled at the proposals. As I read it, the most important changes relate to vocabulary and the issue ...
5 comments
Read more

La retraite à 60 ans

Suite à mon post récent sur les acquis sociaux..... L'âge légal de la retraite est une chose. Je voudrais bien savoir à quel âge les gens prennent leur retraite en pratique - l'âge réel de la retraite, si vous voulez. J'ai entendu prétendre qu'il y a peu de différence à cet égard entre la France et le Royaume-Uni. Manifestation à Marseille en 2008 pour le maintien de la retraite à 60 ans © AFP/Michel Gangne Six Français sur dix sont d’accord avec le PS qui défend la retraite à 60 ans (BVA) Cécile Quéguiner Plus de la moitié des Français jugent que le gouvernement a " tort de vouloir aller vite dans la réforme " et estiment que le PS a " raison de défendre l’âge légal de départ en retraite à 60 ans ". Résultat d’un sondage BVA/Absoluce pour Les Échos et France Info , paru ce matin. Une majorité de Français (58%) estiment que la position du Parti socialiste , qui défend le maintien de l’âge légal de départ à la retraite à 60 ans, ...
1 comment
Read more