Teacher educators, students, and in-service teachers alike will find this to be a valuable resource. This text provides a clear and concise review of SLA research, effective approaches to language teaching, and numerous practical activities for the classroom. Although the book is written mainly from the foreign language classroom perspective, English as a second language specialists will also find it relevant.

The book is based on the premise that language teachers can best aid students to acquire a second language (L2) by focusing on meaning while providing comprehensible input and numerous opportunities to practice communicating. The importance of developing reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills simultaneously from the beginner stages is emphasized and demonstrated throughout the sample activities and explanations in the volume.

Those familiar with the first edition of this book will notice a few changes—mainly in the order of the chapters and the addition of new research on SLA and the learning and teaching of grammar. Chapter 1 explores how the classroom dynamic is changed by a focus on meaning and student communication. Chapter 2 examines the concept of input and what makes good input. Chapters 3–5 focus mainly on listening and speaking skills, progress toward proficiency goals, and assessing oral skills. The authors deal extensively with teaching grammar through a focus on form within a communicative (meaning based) context. Chapters 6–9 focus on teaching and assessing grammar through an approach the authors call “processing instruction,” which includes structured input and structured output. An appendix provides a sample processing instruction lesson in entirety. Chapter 10 looks further into listening comprehension, whereas chapter 11 examines the reading process and how to support language learners in developing reading skills. Chapter 12 focuses on writing and composing in an L2. Educators who are aware of reading schema, brain-based learning, and process writing approaches will find most ideas familiar. The final chapter reviews issues in testing comprehension and evaluating writing.

The book itself models sound, contemporary educational theory by including a preview at the beginning of each chapter, “Pause to consider” boxes interspersed in the text to help the reader process and extend the information they have just read, listing of key terms, concepts and issues, and three different types of activities at the end of each chapter: discussion questions, research activities, and portfolio activities. Many of the activities from the workbook accompanying the first edition have been incorporated into this text. A Web site for the book is also provided, which features additional exercises, assignments, and resources.

Readers should find the book easy to understand. The extensive examples of activities for each aspect of teaching not only clearly demonstrate the authors' points but also make it easy for readers to use and adapt the desired teaching practices in their own classes. Furthermore, the same example is often carried through from classroom activity to assessment task to clearly link assessment to teaching practice—one of the central tenets of the book.

The issue of teaching culture is handled particularly well. The authors differentiate “Culture” (capital C) from “culture.” They contend that it is out of the classroom teacher's scope to teach all culturally appropriate behavior, but it is in their power to use culture as informational content. They proceed to point out relevant opportunities for language teachers to focus on culture and cultural differences throughout the book. This approach makes it possible to increase awareness of cultural difference within cultures and to raise learners' awareness of their own cultural assumptions and habits.

This volume is a smooth yet informative read that inspires one to improve communicative language teaching in the classroom. Neither preservice nor in-service teachers should miss it.