REVIEW OF LANGUAGE IN LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION

Hugh Trappes-Lomax and Gibson Ferguson, eds. 2002: Language in Language Teacher
Education. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 250 pp.
Carmen Pérez-Llantada Auría
Universidad de Zaragoza
[email protected]
Learning to be a teacher and learning to teach other teachers are very complex topics
which entail considerable reflection and hence they often become neglected as issues in
current literature. However, Trappes-Lomax and Ferguson’s book Language in Language
Teacher Education (henceforth LLTE) stands as an invaluable and enriching source for
reflecting on recent trends about the role of language in language teacher education.
The book focuses on a variety of ground-breaking approaches seeking reflection on
theoretical and applied perspectives, and attempts to resolve the complexity underlying
what to teach and how to teach in language teacher education. The reader cannot escape
noticing the intricacies of teaching a language which evolves differently in different social
contexts of use. Gradually, one becomes more aware of the advantages entailed in raising
trainees’ awareness of language variation in modern language education. In this sense, the
great merit of LLTE lies in the special emphasis that the contributions place on developing
educators’ awareness of a social component of the language. The edition seeks support for
a new educational trend that puts forward the role that a greater consciousness of language
plays in the language learning process and provides an authoritative overview of applied
linguistics and language teaching methodology.
With this view in mind, the editors Trappes-Lomax and Ferguson have successfully
gathered a fruitful collection of approaches and teaching experiences, which call for a
reconceptualisation of traditional models of language teaching methods. Based on an
overall perspective of language as social discourse (Biber and Finegan 1994; Berkenkotter
and Huckin 1995; Fairclough 2003), the articles in the collection offer ample detail on
current research in language teaching, and attempt to explain how to combine language
proficiency, and methodology for the successful training of prospective teachers. The
edition comprises the core of different subject areas of language teaching, which enables
readers to contextualise each particular approach and gain a wider insight into all of them.
In their examination of current trends of language teaching, the contributors discuss
the value of language awareness as a crucial factor in language acquisition processes
(Biber, Conrad and Reppen 2000; Simpson and Swales 2001; McEnery and Wilson
2001; Hunston 2002). Drawing on a functional and pragmatic view of language
(Halliday and Martin 1993; Martin and Veel 1998), the in-depth pedagogical
implications of the collection encourage a growing trend of teaching which relates the
learning of linguistic contents to real language use. The authors stress the relevance of
developing a consciousness of language in the process of language teaching education,
thus favouring a balance between communicative proficiency on the one hand, and on
the other, consciousness raising activities on the nature of language as social discourse
practice.
In the introduction to the collection, Trappes-Lomax accurately describes LLTE as
covering “pedagogical description of language systems and skills within a comprehensive
discourse framework, but also [offering] guidance on discourse training for teachers and
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learners” (18). This introductory background provides concise summaries and helpful
guidelines for the areas covered in the two parts of the collection. As previously stated, the
scope of the book mainly addresses the debate surrounding whether learners should be
exposed to real language usage by means of pedagogical approaches of linguistic and
learner corpora-driven research, and perhaps it would also have been interesting to have
found some references regarding other feasible electronic applications in foreign language
teaching, such as computer-assisted instruction (compare Granger 1998 or Granger et al.
2002, which a few months later was also published in the series of Language Learning and
Language Teaching as Trappes-Lomax and Ferguson’s volume).
Part 1 of the collection represents a coherent empirical framework which is mirrored
in the applied research of the second—more practical—part of the book. The reader thus
finds a sustained balance between a theory of language and its pedagogical applications,
a double challenge perspective for those who need expertise as teachers and proficiency as
language users. The main contention of the articles is that language teacher education
should take into consideration the implications of a social theory of language in current
educational programmes.
Drawing his argument on Saussure’s distinction between langue and parole, and
Chomsky’s universal grammar, Joseph’s “Is Language a Verb? Conceptual Change in
Linguistics and Language Teaching” examines traditional concepts of linguistics and
language teaching disciplines and puts forward the idea that language is a dynamic rather
than a static object of study. The article becomes a thought-provoking source that draws
on the advantages of exposing learners to language in use. From this theoretical background, Joseph leads the readership to interesting conclusions regarding language teaching
contexts, with particular reference to English in Hong-Kong.
In the same trend, Davies’s “The Social Component of Language Teacher Education”
takes as its starting premise the fact that language use and, subsequently, language learning
share both social and cognitive/psychological components. He further explains that
sociolinguistics and cognitive theory should be drawn on interactively in the process of
teaching a language. He argues that whereas the former contributes to a better understanding of the sociocultural and contextual uses of the language, the latter helps develop
those mental and conceptual schemas that favour understanding. In his view, language
teacher educators should become the advocates of a language always constrained by the
established practices of specific communities of discourse.
A similar view is that shared by Widdowson in “Language Teaching: Defining the
Subject.” As a highly experienced educator he attempts to demonstrate that the broad view
of language teaching does in no way lead to vagueness, but rather enables teachers and
learners to approach the social aspects of language for the sake of a coherent and realistic
teaching process. Widdowson argues that these social aspects can provide students with
a better understanding of discourse production and interpretation within social
interaction. Offering sociological discussion on the role of discourse analyses, he also
advocates the use of corpora as the basis of observation of real language use.
Grundy’s “Reflexive Language in Language Teacher Education” covers a more
particular—fresh and thoughtful—area of linguistic and pedagogically-oriented research,
namely, the role of reflexivity as a core property of language with a potential to be
exploited for successful linguistic production and processing. His most outstanding
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argument is that by exposing learners to talk rich in reflexive features and not simply in
grammatical features, teachers will provide trainees with a more favourable language input
comprehension, thereby facilitating learners’ language acquisition.
Opposing traditional grammar-based approaches to spoken language learning, the
chapter by Thornbury, “Training in Instructional Conversation,” raises a very interesting
issue of language and pedagogy: the need for developing metadiscourse in the classroom.
His article is targeted at raising awareness of the language of metadiscourse—from
reconstruction tasks or reformulation to interactive learners’ diaries—as effective
pedagogical tools for learners. Offering this innovative approach to English language
teaching, the author reflects on the need to adapt language learning to current pedagogical
trends and encourages both prospective and expert teachers to meet the needs of the
contemporary curriculum.
The applied analyses found in part 2 of LLTE address how language awareness becomes
crucial in current language teaching trends. The contributors explore a variety of
refreshing pedagogical descriptions concerning language teacher education, and pay
special attention to learners’ awareness of those linguistic variables subject to language use,
while making them pedagogical reflections on the teaching methods and materials. The
articles are fully documented reflections on practice, including classroom research, applied
methodology, exercises, and examples throughout.
Wright’s “Doing Language Awareness: Issues for Language Study in Language Teacher
Education” puts forward a kind of collaborative, exploratory and inductive learning, based
on language awareness activities. He purports the need for classroom methodologies and
materials that allow learners to establish connections between what they learn of the
language and how they learn it. His becomes a rich and challenging reflection upon the
role of teachers in three overlapping domains—as language users, as discourse analysts
and as pedagogically-oriented teachers.
The chapter by Ferguson, “Language Awareness in the Preparation of Teachers for
ESP,” takes as a starting point the current debate of explicit grammar teaching as a suitable
methodology in English for Specific Purposes (ESP). His invaluable contribution
thoroughly revises classroom approaches, procedures and materials targeted at raising
students’ awareness of the social aspects entailed in real contexts of communication.
Ferguson illustrates a variety of language awareness activities based on Swales’s wellknown concept of genre in ESP studies, and argues in favour of realistic, profesionallyoriented teaching approaches. Like Widdowson, he stresses the need for corpus-based
analyses as a means to adapt pedagogic curricula to the real uses of the language.
A similar approach is that of Pennington’s in “Examining Classroom Discourse
Frames,” a rigorous descriptive and evaluative analysis that assesses the real dynamics of
classroom interaction through the use of classroom discourse data. Despite the fact that
the author acknowledges the time-consuming task of gathering quantitive classroom data,
her challenging approach becomes an insightful tool for teachers, as it encourages the way
classroom corpora can allow an exhaustive analysis of individual learning processes. As
such, the article contains a splendid evaluation of the advantages of making learners take
an active part in the process of language acquisition.
The article “What Was That You Said? Trainee Generated Language Awareness,” by
O’Donoghue and Hale, is more specifically targeted at describing pedagogical models of
a course component. The authors assess the need for a redefinition of prescriptive
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syllabuses and, drawing on experimental data, they support the inclusion of language
awareness in teacher education courses. Their main argument is that language teaching
should focus on what is really useful in real language. They suggest that future trainers go
more deeply into the quantitative and qualitative descriptions of the language in order to
offer students more accurate descriptions of language.
Murray’s “Developing Language Awareness and Error Detection: What Can We Expect
from Novice Trainees?” represents a comprehensive and detailed account of how teachers
should carry out feedback of language learners’ errors successfully. This chapter
foregrounds the need for a close examination of the particular course specifications of
teacher training courses—from the data from participants and procedures to the results
obtained from the learning process. As such, Murray’s work becomes a rich source of
error-detection training activities, which prove very useful both for prospective and
experienced teachers.
Barnes’s “Maintaining Language Skills in Pre-Service Training for Foreign Language
Teachers” also aims to establish pedagogical links betweeen developing language
proficiency and pedagogical competence in LTE. She offers a concise coverage of language
learning activities and stresses the need to develop not only a suitable methodological
repertoire of techniques for future language teachers but also subject knowledge and
language skills. Relying on her own experimental research carried out in a specific trainee
course, Barnes proposes a carefully structured programme as a model for encouraging
language proficiency in combination with sound advice on language methodogy.
Echoing Grundy’s and Thurnbury’s theoretical approaches to language awareness
through classroom metadiscourse, Cullen’s “The Use of Lesson Transcripts for Developing
Teachers’ Classroom Language” contains an outstanding proposal for a language
education methodology based on language awareness. The author argues that realistic
classroom interaction enhances teachers’ language fluency while they develop a successful
command of classroom management. Like Barnes, Cullen’s premises lead him to a broader
reflection upon the need for a harmonious combination of language proficiency and
language methodology in teacher education programmes.
In the last chapter of the collection, “Towards a Framework for Language Improvement within Short In-Service Teacher Development Programmes,” Lavender describes her
own research approaches and methods implemented in a short course of Korean primary
and secondary school teachers. Like those of the other contributors, Lavender’s experience
brilliantly illustrates an attempt to bridge the gap between linguistic improvement and
methodological abilities in language teacher education. The article thus stands as a
significant reference source for developing effective syllabuses, materials and teaching
approaches.
Undoubtedly, LLTE represents an inspiring and thought-provoking work for both
aspiring teachers and experienced teacher trainers. It is filled with useful ideas and
pedagogic suggestions, as well as brilliant in its thematic coherence, clarity of exposition
and analytical depth. The sound scholarship of this collection offers a heightened
understanding of how real language works in different educational contexts, and
incorporates authoritative discussion on current work in language teacher education. The
book is essential reading and an invaluable companion for everyone interested in new
trends in language educational developments.
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Works Cited
Berkenkotter, Carol, and Thomas N. Huckin 1995: Genre Knowledge in Disciplinary Communication:
Cognition/Culture/Power. Mahwah: Erlbaum.
Biber, Douglas, and Edward Finegan, eds. 1994: Sociolinguistic Perspectives on Register. New York and
Oxford: Oxford UP.
Biber, Douglas, Susan Conrad, and Randi Reppen 2000: Corpus Linguistics: Investigating Language
Structure and Use. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.
Fairclough, Norman 2003: Analysing Discourse: Textual Analysis for Social Research. London:
Routledge.
Granger, Sylviane 1998: Learner English on Computer. London and New York: Longman.
——— Joseph Hung, and Stephanie Petch-Tyson, eds. 2002: Computer Learner Corpora, Second
Language Acquisition, and Foreign Language Teaching. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John
Benjamins.
McEnery, Tony, and Andrew Wilson 2001: Corpus Linguistics: An Introduction. Edinburgh:
Edinburgh UP.
Halliday, M. A. K., and James R. Martin, eds. 1993: Writing Science: Literacy and Discursive Power.
London and Washington: Falmer.
Hunston, Susan 2002: Corpora in Applied Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.
Martin, James R., and Robert Veel, eds. 1998: Reading Science: Critical and Functional Perspectives on
Discourses of Science. London and New York: Routledge.
Simpson, Rita C., and John M. Swales, eds. 2001: Corpus Linguistics in North America: Selections from
the 1999 Symposium. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P.