Books

Buckley, Sandra (ed.), The encyclopedia of contemporary Japanese culture. Oxford: Routledge, 2009. Pp. xxxvi + 672. ISBN 978-0-415-48152-6.

With more than 700 alphabetically arranged entries, this volume offers extensive coverage of Japanese culture spanning from the end of the Japanese Imperialist period in 1945 up to the present day. Entries range from shorter definitions, histories or biographies to longer overview essays giving an in-depth treatment of major issues. Culture is defined in its broadest sense to allow for coverage of the diversity of practice and production in a country as vibrant and rapidly changing as Japan. Articles range in length from a paragraph to several pages, and each is followed by a list of references for further reading. There are ‘see also’ references at the end of many articles, cross-references between articles, and boldfaced words within articles to indicate topics with main entries. Articles cover the period from 1945 through to the end of the century, adding historical perspective where necessary. Romaji (romanized transliteration of Japanese) is used throughout, and Japanese names are given in Japanese order (i.e. family name first).

long, Michael h. & doughty, Catherine j. (eds.), The handbook of language teaching. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell, 2009. Pp. xix + 824. ISBN 978-1-4051-5489-5.

Bringing together an international and interdisciplinary team of contributors, this volume is a wide-ranging and invaluable reference guide to language teaching, which combines the latest research findings, coverage of core topics, and examples of teaching experience from a variety of languages and settings. It provides a unique breadth of coverage, including the psycholinguistic underpinnings of language learning; social, political, and educational contexts; program design; materials writing and course design; teaching and testing; teacher education; and assessment and evaluation. An international and interdisciplinary group of authors from a dozen different countries offer a balanced evaluation of the major positions and approaches, including examining the increasingly important social and political context of language teaching.

Muñoz-Basols, Javier, David, Marianne & Piñeiro, Olga Núñez, Speed up your Spanish. Oxford: Routledge, 2009. Pp. xii + 272. ISBN 978-0-415-49333-8.

Learning how to avoid common errors is an essential step for successful language learning. This book is an innovative resource that aims to identify and explain areas that cause confusion for students of Spanish, including false friends, idiomatic expressions, gender and capitalization, thereby enabling students to learn from their mistakes while enhancing their understanding of the Spanish language. Each of the nine chapters focuses on a grammatical category where English speakers typically make mistakes in Spanish and is divided into sections that classify the concepts and errors into subcategories. Full explanations are provided throughout with clear, comprehensive examples and exercises to help the learner gain an in-depth understanding of Spanish grammar and usage.

Pyun, Danielle Ooyoung & Kim, Inseok, Colloquial Korean: The complete course for beginners. Oxford: Routledge, 2009. CDRom. ISBN 978-0-415-44478-1.

Specially written by an experience teacher for self-study or class use, this course offers zero beginner students a step-by-step approach to written and spoken Korean. Each unit features interactive exercises and concise grammar notes, and a useful vocabulary and pronunciation guide. An answer key and reference section complete the volume. Audio material on CDs or in MP3 format is available to complement the course.

tawa, Wako, The Japanese stage-step course: Grammar textbook. Oxford: Routledge, 2009. Pp. xiv + 536. ISBN 978-0-415-77605-9.

This fully integrated language course takes students from beginner through to intermediate level combining cohesive grammar instruction with functional examples and practice to build a solid foundation in the four key skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking. The course includes the core text, The Grammar Textbook, Workbooks 1 and 2, Writing Practice Book, audio material on CDs or in MP3 format, and a companion website. Clear, accessible explanations and relevant examples put each grammatical point into context.