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Key Issues in Language Teaching: Jack C. Richards

The book provides an encyclopedic account of key issues in teaching English as a second or foreign language, organized into four main themes. It discusses theoretical traditions, teaching methods and approaches, and factors that influence learning. The book also focuses on teaching language skills and systems, and the teacher's professional role and development.

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987 views4 pages

Key Issues in Language Teaching: Jack C. Richards

The book provides an encyclopedic account of key issues in teaching English as a second or foreign language, organized into four main themes. It discusses theoretical traditions, teaching methods and approaches, and factors that influence learning. The book also focuses on teaching language skills and systems, and the teacher's professional role and development.

Uploaded by

Yaser
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Key Issues in Language Teaching

Jack C. Richards

Cambridge University Press, 2015

R e v i e w e d b y L e Va n C a n h

The elevation of English to the status of an international language has brought with
it the reconceptualisation of many traditional issues as well as the emergence of
new insights in the language-teaching profession. All of these happened so quickly
that busy practising teachers may find it hard to keep abreast of all the significant
developments in the field. Luckily, Jack C. Richards, a notable scholar in applied
linguistics, has helped to put everything together neatly in this weighty book of 826
pages. As the title suggests, the book provides the most up-to-date encyclopedic
account of the central issues that are both historically grounded and recently
emerging in the field of teaching English as a second or foreign language.
Those issues are organised in four main themes: ‘English language teaching today’,
‘facilitating student learning’, ‘language and the four skills’, and ‘the teacher’s
environment’. Each main theme is discussed in one part; each part is composed of
several chapters, addressing separate topics relevant to the theme. Throughout each
chapter are reflective questions and vignettes provided by practising teachers in a
variety of different educational settings. These questions and vignettes on the one
hand, situate the topic in diverse contexts, and on the other, stimulate teachers-as-
readers to examine their existing knowledge and beliefs. Chapters are followed by
engaging discussion questions, which encourage teachers to reflect on their relevant
experience so that the in-chapter ideas and teachers’ hands-on experience become
mutually informed. In addition, teachers can see how the ideas in the chapter are
translated into practice through case studies, lesson plans, and textbook lessons
appended to the chapter. The Glossary at the end of the book defines in an easy-to-
understand manner the most common terminologies that are used throughout the
book and also in professional discourse.

Volume 32 No 1 English Australia Journal 113


The first part – ‘English language teaching today’ – serves as a platform for the book
as a whole. Readers can find an overview of the role of English as an international
language and its pedagogical implications, as well as different theoretical traditions
in second language learning including behaviourism, cognitivism, and sociocultural
theory. This is followed by an account of various language teaching methods and
approaches ranging from the oldest – Grammar-Translation – to the most current
variations of the Communicative Approach such as Task-based Language Teaching
(TBLT), Content-based Instruction (CBI), and Content and Language Integrated
Learning (CLIL). The last chapter of this part (Chapter 4) explores what competencies,
knowledge and skills every language teacher needs to acquire and how to acquire
and develop them. One of these issues, which is the current concern in many
countries, is the role of teachers’ target language proficiency as a component of
teaching competence. In this regard, Richards raises two questions: (i) how much
a language does a teacher need to know to be able to teach it effectively; and (ii)
how does proficiency in a language interact with other aspects of teaching? (p. 113).
His answer is, ‘Language proficiency is one component of teaching English, but it is
only one factor involved’ (p. 113). The most important message carried by this part
is that teachers need to constantly reconstruct their professional identity through
their full engagement in exploring their own teaching practices and the belief system
underlying those practices.
The second part is composed of four chapters centering on learner factors that
influence language learning. The factors, which include beliefs about language
learning, learning styles, motivation, identity, age, language aptitude, confidence and
anxiety, are discussed holistically from both a cognitive and sociocultural perspective.
For those who have been, or wish to be, advocates of learner-centered pedagogy,
the chapters in this part are of great value. For example, teachers can find useful and
practical guidelines on how to take into account learner factors in planning, delivering
lessons and managing the classroom for greater impact on student learning. Similarly,
in Chapter 8 they can find different course-design options for different groups of
learners such as young learners, teenagers, and adults, as well as the principles for
teaching these groups of learners.
The third part consists of eight chapters and focuses on issues related to the teaching
and assessing of language systems (grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, discourse
and pragmatics) and the four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing). The
chapters reflect how the pedagogical views on language systems and language
skills develop over time, providing a solid ground on which the current views can
rest. For example, the approaches to grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation are

114 English Australia Journal Volume 32 No 1


developed out of the recent research findings of corpus linguistics, discourse analysis,
conversation analysis, and the interrelationships between grammar and lexis, while
the pedagogy of language skills is based on the sociocognitive theories of language
learning. The lesson plans, which are prepared by real classroom teachers or teacher
educators in diverse teaching settings and appended to each chapter, illustrate how
the ideas presented in the chapter can be operationalised in the real classroom.
While discourse and pragmatics – the two components of verbal communicative
competence – are more often than not excluded in most second language teaching
literature, these components are included in this volume. Richards states that
understanding of discourse analysis and pragmatics helps teachers to ‘better prepare
learners to become effective users of English as an international language’ (p. 545).
Since the 1990s, there has been a growing recognition of the demand for context-
informed pedagogy in second language teaching to meet the diverse needs and
contexts of language learners. Accordingly, teaching is no longer viewed as a self-
contained activity that does not need to look much beyond itself. Instead, effective
language teaching today is seen both as a pedagogical problem and an organisational
one. In response to such a profound change, Part IV covers issues that focus on
language teachers’ new roles as course and materials developers, classroom
researchers, learning assessors, learner-based innovators, etc. Although I am not
keen on the title of this part, ‘The teacher’s environment’, because it sounds rather
ambiguous, I find the content really helpful to inform teachers’ development of
effective context-specific pedagogy. In particular, Chapter 19 introduces a balanced
view of both the upside and the dark side of technology in language teaching whether
used to assist classroom teaching and learning, to bridge in-class learning with
out-of-class learning (blended learning), or to complete a language learning course
off-site. Teachers who are aiming for continuous improvement will find Chapter 21
on professional development strategies practical and motivating.
Richards writes in the Introduction that this book is intended ‘to provide teachers and
teachers in training with a foundation of essential knowledge and skills to support
their teaching and ongoing career development’ (p. xxii). No doubt, this goal has
been satisfactorily achieved. If I could have one wish about the book, I would like
to see one full chapter on teaching large and heterogeneous classes, which is a way
of life in most EFL, and some ESL contexts. Regrettably, this issue is not adequately
addressed in the book.
To conclude, Key Issues in Language Teaching is really a valuable asset. If you, either
as a practising or prospective English language teacher, find yourself in an EFL book
store having enough money for only one book, this is the book to buy.

Volume 32 No 1 English Australia Journal 115


Le Van Canh is a senior lecturer in applied linguistics and second language
teacher educator at Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

[email protected]; [email protected]

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If you work for an English Australia member college and have an


institutional email address, sign up for regular English Australia ‘PD
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or contact [email protected] for more information.

116 English Australia Journal Volume 32 No 1

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