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Rating: 
Summary: That's barely 3 stars...
Review: Essentially an anthology of journal articles from the field of applied linguistics, this book reads like all of those harrowing college texts we were assigned.In any medium, and for every communication goal, there is a "best" way to communicate. This book doesn't get close. There are some good bits hidden in there, like the baby corn in an otherwise unpalateable salad bar, but overall it's not a huge thrill to wade through it in search of them. It's not worthless, just nowhere near as efficient at communicating its message as it could be.
Rating: 
Summary: On second thought, let me give that 2 stars...
Review: I wrote the first review of this book above, but after more consideration, I'm downgrading it to 2 stars.
This book is obviously an attempt to legitimize the TESOL field by the use of lofty language and faux-scholarly writing. TESOL instructors want to be taken seriously, as practitioners of a profession like law, medicine, etc., so they're trying to puff themselves up in the eyes of potential TESOL teachers (like myself).
Often it becomes quite comic. Here's a quote:
"Krashen (1982) claimed that 'comprehensible input' was a necessary condition for language learning...further development from the learner's current stage of language knowledge can only be achieved by the learner 'comprehending' language that contains linguistic items..."
In other words, in order to learn a new language, you have to understand it, and in order to learn more, you have to understand more...
Words of wisdom from on high! Holy crap...talk about disguising the obvious in a cloak of jargon and didactic fog! The book is full of gems like the one I just quoted. Yes, there are some useful little pieces of information peppered throughout the book, but it's so clear that the authors were in effect saying "please, please, take us seriously! We're professionals! We want to be respected! We want you to look up to us! Teaching language is sooooooo amazingly complicated! Oh, you pathetic little potential teachers would be lost without our wisdom."
Rating:
Summary: On second thought, let me give that 2 stars...
Review: I wrote the first review of this book above, but after more consideration, I'm downgrading it to 2 stars. This book is obviously an atttempt to legitimize the TESOL field by the use of lofty language and faux-scholarly writing. TESOL instructors want to be taken seriously, as practitioners of a profession like law, medicine, etc., so they're trying to puff themselves up in the eyes of potential TESOL teachers (like myself). Often it becomes quite comic. Here's a quote: "Krashen (1982) claimed that 'comprehensible input' was a necessary condition for language learning...further development from the learner's current stage of language knowledge can only be achieved by the learner 'comprehending' language that contains linguistic items..." In other words, in order to learn a new language, you have to understand it, and in order to learn more, you have to understand more... Words of wisdom from on high! Holy crap...talk about disguising the obvious in a cloak of jargon and didactic fog! The book is full of gems like the one I just quoted. Yes, there are some useful little pieces of information peppered throughout the book, but it's so clear that the authors were in effect saying "please, please, take us seriously! We're professionals! We want to be respected! We want you to look up to us! Teaching language is sooooooo amazingly complicated! Oh, you pathetic little potential teachers would be lost without our wisdom."
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