Books
Yule, George, The study of language (4th edn). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Pp. xvii + 320. ISBN 978-0-521-74922-0 (pbk).
This best-selling textbook provides an engaging and user-friendly introduction to the study of language. Assuming no prior knowledge of the subject, Yule presents information in short, bite-sized sections, introducing the major concepts in language study – from how children learn language to why men and women speak differently, through all the key elements of language. This fourth edition has been revised and updated with twenty new sections, covering new accounts of language origins, the key properties of language, text messaging, kinship terms and more than twenty new word etymologies. To increase student engagement with the text, Yule has also included more than fifty new tasks, including thirty involving data analysis, enabling students to apply what they have learned. The online study guide offers students further resources when working on the tasks, while encouraging lively and proactive learning.
Moseley, Christopher (ed.), UNESCO atlas of the world's languages in danger. Paris: UNESCO Publishing, 2010. Pp. 218. ISBN 978-92-3-104096-2 (pbk).
This Atlas is intended to raise awareness about language endangerment and the need to safeguard the world's linguistic diversity among policy-makers, speaker communities and the general public, and to be a tool to monitor the status of endangered languages and trends in linguistic diversity at the global level. The latest edition of the Atlas lists about 2,500 languages (including 230 languages extinct since 1950), approaching the generally accepted estimate of some 3,000 endangered languages worldwide. For each language, the Atlas provides its name, degree of endangerment, and the country or countries where it is spoken. A wall chart is included which provides a global pictorial display of the main information in the book.
López, Ángeles Linde & Jiménez, Rosalia Crespo (eds.), Professional English in the European context: The EHEA challenge. Berlin: Peter Lang, 2010. Pp. 374. ISBN 978-3-0343-0088-9 (pbk).
This book presents an overview of professional English in the current academic landscape in Europe. It sheds light on a range of issues, both theoretical and practical, related to ESP, focusing on discourse analysis, corpus analysis, information and communication technologies, methodological approaches, curriculum design, and empirical research into language learning in broad terms. Teachers need to be researchers and inquirers, so this overview makes a contribution to the professional English field, highlighting several important questions for the entire ESP academic mainstream. Scholars from different European universities explore specialized languages and document ESP teaching methodologies at university level from a multidimensional perspective.
Pütz, Martin & Sicola, Laura (eds.), Cognitive processing in second language acquisition: Inside the learner's mind. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2010. Pp. vi + 373. ISBN 978-90-272-3902-0 (hbk).
This edited volume represents state-of-the-art research linking cognition and SLA, reflecting the experience of the learner when engaged in noticing, input/output processing, retrieval, and even attrition of target forms. Contributions are both theoretical and practical, describing a variety of L1, L2 and L3 combinations from around the world as observed in spoken, written and computer-mediated contexts. The book relates conditions of language, task, medium or environment to how learners make decisions about language, with discussions about the application or efficacy of these conditions on linguistic success and development, and pedagogical implications.
Smith-Zima, Veronica, Tertiary language learning: Changing perspectives and practical response. Tübingen: Narr Verlag, 2010. Pp. x + 112. ISBN 978-3-8233-6522-8 (pbk).
This book is about L2 learning by advanced learners in an instructed context, surveying recent developments in SLA and attempting to create a coherent pedagogical framework, Scenario-based Learning, developed as a response to changes in language teaching. Scenario-based Learning integrates insights from genre analysis and skills-based ESP teaching. It aims to help tertiary-level language learners to manage their own learning, master the genres appropriate to their studies and acquire intercultural pragmatic competence.
Cook, Guy, Translation in language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. Pp. xxiii + 177. ISBN 978-0-19-442475-2 (pbk).
A groundbreaking reconsideration of translation in English language teaching, this book is a survey and critical assessment of arguments for and against translation in different teaching contexts. This book argues that translation is one of a number of ways of relating English to students’ own languages. It surveys the contexts of monolingual and bilingual teaching and discusses the different uses and roles of translation and bilingualisation for different stages and ages of learning and for different purposes, e.g. explanation, practice and testing. Establishing a new direction in practice and research, it goes on to suggest and discuss ways in which translation might be incorporated into materials, curriculum development and teacher education. The book presents translation as an aid to language acquisition, pedagogy and testing, offering a contribution to student needs, rights and empowerment, and an educational insight into relationships between languages and cultures.
