Reviews

The Practice of English Language Teaching J. Harmer First Edition Longman 1983, 252 pp. isbn: 0 582 74612 4 Second Edition Longman 1991, 296 pp. isbn: 0 582 04656 4 Third Edition Pearson Education 2001, 370 pp., 16.95 isbn: 0 582 40385 5 1. Revisiting the rst and second editions The rst edition of Harmers The Practice of English Language Teaching was published 20 years ago. It quickly and deservedly became a much-used and popular teacher training text on pre-service courses, and a training guide for tutors. Its virtues included comprehensiveness of content, clarity of explanation, a wealth of illustration in the authors own examples and those taken for analysis from contemporary coursebooks and, not least, a condence of style deriving from the authors rich experience as a teacher trainer. The Preface to the rst edition implied as audience the teacher in training or the teacher recently embarked on a career in ELT and it aimed, for these categories of teacher, to draw together many of the theoretical insights of recent years and to put these at the service of a broad theoretical approach, the balanced activities approach. The book did admirably through a three-part discussion. Part A made accessible to novice teachers key aspects of theory, looking in turn at learners, at language, at curriculum, and at language learning. Part B looked at the practice of teaching, focusing largely on grammar and skills, using the traditional division into receptive and productive skills. Part C looked at the planning and management of learning with sections on the teachers roles, student groupings, discipline, and lesson planning. There was no more comprehensive book at the time which integrated

principle and practice in such useful and appropriate ways for pre-service teachers. It became an acclaimed and invaluable resource for teachers and teacher trainers, and with a second edition, a classic in the eld. A younger colleague of mine describes it as his introduction to TEFL , and this must be true for many. The second edition was published in 1991, with audience and aims unchanged, and essentially the same structure, but 44 pages longer. The additional length allowed for inclusion of content which reected developing concerns within the previous decade. Discourse and vocabulary found a place in the consideration of language and in aspects of curriculum design. Task-based learning, humanistic approaches, and self-direction were given space in the consideration of learning. A new chapter was devoted to the teaching of vocabulary, and readers also beneted from the appropriate, if brief, mention of learner training, experiential learning through projects, and discovery techniques in teaching grammar. 2. Reviewing the third edition The new edition is introduced as completely revised and updated, and the Preface presents several reasons for this, which predictably link to changes within the eld of ELT and, in eect, constitute the aims of the book. They thereby provide a framework for review. It seems to be a seven-point framework, and can be set out as: 1. changes in technology: the use of computers and the Internet, and the development of computer corpora 2. new areas of research and innovation 3. modications in attitudes to language study, with serious attempts to improve classroom procedures 4. a growing realization that methodology needs to be culture-specic 5. debate on the role of English in the modern world
401

ELT Journal Volume 57/4 October 2003 Oxford University Press reviews welcome

6. acknowledgement that teacher development is a key to the quality of student experience 7. the need to update and look with a fresh eye at familiar topics. 2.1 Meeting the challenge of internal aims In order to address these challenges, the third edition follows a new format comprising nine parts, in contrast to the three parts of the earlier editions. In Part 1 the rst chapter addresses point 5 above, and gives an account of where English ts into the world, dealing succinctly with issues of cultural imperialism, language variety, and appropriate models. These key issues of globalization provide an appropriate precursor to a second chapter on describing language which addresses points 1 and 2 above. New sections here introduce the grammar of spoken English, the role of corpora in extending our understanding of vocabulary, and recent research on lexical phrases. The chapter provides an up-to-date, rened, summary of exactly what it is that learners need to learn when they set out on the task of learning the English language. Part 2 describes learners and teachers, the former receiving more attention than previously, particularly with regard to our growing knowledge of learning styles, the eect of individual dierences, and dierent motivations. I would have hoped for a little more on task motivation, given that teachers can make a dierence there. Chapter 4, Describing Teachers, is a useful introduction to those who have not experimented with a wide range of roles in their classrooms, though I have to confess to some disappointment that the authors style, which though uent, lucid, and accessible as always, slips into the modal verbs of prescription. The rest of the book keeps to a style which is more neutral, objective, and analytical. Part 3 moves into theories, methods, and techniques, starting with some key background issues such as noticing and discovery learning, reviewing a range of approaches and procedures for the classroom, and ending with issues of feedback in accuracy and uency work. Points 2, 3, and 4 in the framework above are admirably confronted here, though I will take up some reservations later. Part 4 reviews key principles and issues in the management of students and equipmentan odd mixture, given that video is treated separately later in the skills section. Discussion of classroom management is where I felt that familiar topics were being treated with a fresh eye (point 7 above).
402 Reviews

Dierent student groupings are handled systematically with lists of advantages and disadvantages of pair work, group work, etc., though some reections from students and teachers on their own experiences would have provided lively illustration. The expanded section on problem behaviour is especially welcome. Even very experienced teachers often want to discuss this aspect of classroom management. It is an area in which ELT seems to isolate itself from mainstream education where discussion on disruptive behaviour exists, and could provide bridges into ELT literature. The management of equipment is handled in an equally systematic way, and discussion of the role of computers is followed by very useful references to literature on computer technology, and how teachers can make use of it. Parts 5, 6, and 7 cover the traditional content of a handbook, teaching grammar, vocabulary, receptive skills, and productive skills, and the planning of learning in lessons and courses. All of these contain a judicious selection of information and discussion on matters of current concern, for example, the management of interaction and the role of extensive reading/listening. A new chapter on researching language brings together ideas for encouraging students to exploit a range of resources, including language corpora, and will provide teachers with interesting ideas for innovation. Part 8 is an accessible introduction to testing students. There are several positive features about these chapters. They include a focus on what learners bring with them to the process of learning, and how teachers can build on their existing skills and knowledge. This will certainly help teachers to be more aware of what they are asking their students to do. The link between learner needs and teacher response in the sequencing of activities is powerfully made. And there is material in these chapters for more recently qualied students through to the more experienced, even in the chapter on lesson planning. Part 9, entitled Looking Further, which includes discussion of learner autonomy and teacher development, deals with point 6 in the framework above. This, unfortunately, is the only part of the book about which I had serious reservations. Teacher development is a dicult subject to condense into a few well-chosen principles and examples. Action research, for example, deserves a consideration of the tension experienced by the teacherresearcher (Baumann 1996) and the need for some training in procedures such as interviews and questionnaire design for these to be eective.
reviews
welcome

The space might have been better devoted to greater depth of explanation or illustration in other chapters. It also struck an odd note with me that I should come to learner autonomy at the end of the book, when earlier chapters made reference to procedures which aim to develop it, such as discovery learning, researching language, and extensive listening. Perhaps the fourth edition could put something more substantial near the beginning of the book, and create an ongoing theme throughout the chapters on learner training and the development of autonomy. However, reading the new edition was a hugely enjoyable experience, and I have few reservations. It will give teachers the reassuring sense that they are being taken through the key issues by a supportive colleague. It has the strengths of the earlier editions, i.e. principled common sense in its advice, clarity of explanation, a reader-friendly style, a contemporary position with careful selection of content, a well-ordered structure, and an impressive comprehensiveness. I chose 20 topics to look up, and found clear and concise information on all but onecritical language pedagogy. So there will be something to look forward to in the fourth edition. There is ample evidence that the book addresses the points it sets out to confront in the Preface, and meets the challenges of new ideas, new technology, and new concerns. This is done within a coherent framework which allows for discussion of the existing body of knowledge within ELT , the received wisdom of the profession, an important element in what Widdowson (1990) has called the principled development of pedagogic thinking. However, in making interesting links within that framework, such as the use of music, or student use of language corpora, the book also encourages creativity. 2.2 Meeting the needs of in-service teachers Oddly, it is not until the end of the Preface that the reader is given the intended audience for the book, and discovers that this has changed radically from that of the earlier editions. This third edition is aimed at practising teachers and those studying on in-service programmes and postgraduate courses. So I found myself reading with quite a dierent set of expectations from those with which I approached the earlier versions. In fact, I was, and remain grateful to the author for the opportunity to revisit a long-standing internal dialogue and recurrent discussion with colleagues about the
Reviews

ideal characteristics of a handbook for in-service teacher education. It is a debate complicated by the diculty of dening the practising, in-service teacher. This is a loose category which covers widely diering cultural backgrounds, institutions, systems, and career experiences. Needs can dier from purely self-generated development to institutionally funded academic study on long courses. As I read I found myself slipping into the shoes of one or another in-service teacher with whom I currently work, trying to view the content through their eyes. So, having reviewed some aspects of the book in terms of its own implied aims, it would also be useful to consider what characteristics a teacher educator would be looking for in a book to recommend for individual reading, to serve as a reference for the working teachers bookshelf or to use as a class text on in-service courses. I would like to take ve possible principles which could usefully provide appropriate review criteria, and judge the book against these. A key principle one might look for is that the author moves from the approach of the earlier editions to a broader perspective of approaches. This is not to suggest that the style of the earlier versions was dogmatic, but that the content was judiciously selected to present a unied view of what constitutes eective practice. In contrast, a book for working professionals or teacher education courses would hopefully view ELT as a eld in which competing paradigms exist, and would raise awareness of various solutions available for the sorts of problems that the professional may be asked to solve (Kuhn 1963). The third edition certainly holds to this principle in important respects. Chapter 6 contains good examples. The PPP procedure is carefully contrasted with others; Scriveners ARC , Lewiss OHE , McCarthy and Carters III , and Harmers own ESA . The same chapter also gives comment on Community Language Learning, Silent Way, Suggestopaedia, and Total Physical Response, as well as Communicative Language Teaching, Task-based Learning, and The Lexical Approach. All of these accounts are accompanied by notes on further reading, and some contain useful cross-referencing to practical tasks in other chapters which demonstrate the principles discussed. However, as I read Chapter 6 I began to appreciate a substantial dierence in this edition: that it provides the breadth and comprehensiveness of a compendium but, in doing so, loses the highly illustrative presentation of the earlier editions. Breadth of
reviews
welcome

403

content versus depth of discussion and illustration is an issue for all teachers handbooks, and the author must have had some very dicult choices. The solution chosento go for breadth and to point the way towards further literatureis an understandable one, but there are risks. One is that, without further explanation or example in the form of tasks or lesson plans, it will be hard for teachers to appreciate signicant dierences. And without a more developed critical perspective, it is dicult for teachers to appreciate the extent of inuence of each method/procedure, any links between them, and the degree to which they are considered mainstream or alternative. The author is generally careful in this edition not to impose his own views, but this chapter in particular would benet from a more critical approach. The issue of illustration just mentioned suggests another expectation we might have of a book for inservice education, namely that it provides data, in the form of lesson plans, coursebook materials, classroom transcripts, teachers reections, learner feedback, etc. Teacher educators will be glad that the rst two are provided throughout, though not in such large measure as in the earlier editions. For example, if we take the topic of reading, the 1982 version presented 19 practical examples, the 1991 edition 17, and this 2001 edition 7. Perhaps the implicit rationale of the author in 1982 was that such examples had to be garnered from a restricted number of more progressive textbooks, whereas now we might assume that working teachers constantly encounter examples of good practice, such as reading activities or authenticity of task in relation to text. But is this true? In my own experience it is not true for many teachers on postgraduate courses in the UK and elsewhere, who come from state education systems where the method is grammar-translation and the text is a vehicle for language study. While such teachers will appreciate the level of discussion found in this edition, they would probably also appreciate further illustration and analysis. A third expectation, especially for those involved in award-bearing academic postgraduate courses for teachers, is that a handbook points teachers in the direction of the research studies and educational thinking which underlie practice. On such courses it tends to be a mark of scholarship that teachers appreciate the development of ideas through successive stages of research, thinking, and experience. In this third edition there is, indeed, constant reference to the literature. There is also excellent end matter to each chapter, categorizing and detailing further reading, including useful web sites.
404 Reviews

However, it may be of concern to some potential users that it is literature which contains synthesis of ideas, albeit in specialist areas, rather than original research studies or educational treatises. Presumably this is because both the purpose and emphasis of the book is practical. The references for process writing, for example, are to White and Arndt, Tribble, Porte, and Ur (all high quality discussions) but not to Flower and Hayes, Perl, Emig, or Raimes, to mention just a few originators of ideas. For learner strategies and learner autonomy some key primary sources, such as Holec, Freire, Knowles, Chamot, and OMalley are missing. For some audiences, lack of primary sources will not matter; for others it will. A fourth criterion for an eective in-service handbook might be that it encourages teachers to interpret educational theory in the context of their own classrooms and institutions, and that attention is paid to notions of appropriate methodology and context sensitivity. It is therefore good to read not only about the role of cultural assumptions in our perceptions of learning behaviour in Chapter 3, but also about methods and culture in Chapter 6, where the point is made that decision-making is only eective if it is in line with local values, needs, conditions, and resources. Perhaps this could have been followed through with greater acknowledgement of less privileged conditions throughout the chapters. All of the above principles might hopefully result in a book for in-service teachers which encourages reective thinking in the sense originally described by Dewey (1933) as an act of searching, hunting, inquiring, to nd material that will help to resolve the doubts and perplexities we have in our professional practice. The wealth of information, the data provided by lesson plans and learner materials give teachers opportunities for comparison with their own experiences and for articulating, examining, and revising their assumptions (Ramani 1987). A particular strength of the third edition is the set of tasks to follow up the content of each chapter. These are of various types, mainly to do with materials evaluation or adaptation, and the design of lesson sequences and activities. They could perhaps be supplemented by more of the enquiry type, encouraging teachers to nd out, through simple procedures like tape recording, exactly what is going on in their classrooms, and focusing on learner responses in their own professional context. They are placed as end matter to the book,
reviews
welcome

and I hope they are not lost there as a resource to the reader. In summary, whether teachers dip into this book to follow the threads of a particular issue or topic, or whether they read it from cover to cover, they will nd it a useful, well-resourced discussion of ELT practice. The new edition of The Practice of English Language Teaching not only fulls the aims implied in its Preface, but also ts to a large extent the criteria for an in-service handbook one might set externally as a teacher educator. A review usually discusses strengths and then lists criticisms. Im not sure that criticism is the appropriate word for some of the points Ive made. It is simply that the book has a set of characteristics which teacher educators will need to match appropriately to the existing knowledge and experience of teachers, and the reasons for their reading. Individual teachers will browse and be self-selecting. Teacher educators will need to be discerning in their judgement of who the new edition is now best suited to. The book will undoubtedly continue its strong contribution to the ELT profession, but to dierent audiences in dierent ways. References Baumann, J. 1996. Conict or compatibility in classroom enquiry: one teachers struggle to balance teaching and research. Educational Researcher 25/7: 2936. Dewey, J. 1933. How we think: A restatement of the relation of reective thinking to the educative process. Boston: D. C. Heath. Kuhn T. 1963 The function of dogma in scientic research in A. C. Crombie (ed.). Scientic Change. London: Heinemann. Ramani, E. 1987. Theorizing from the classroom. ELT Journal 41/1: 311. Widdowson, H. G. 1990. Aspects of Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press. The reviewer Tricia Hedge is a Senior Lecturer in the Centre for English Language Teacher Education at the University of Warwick. She is course leader for the Doctorate in Education, and teaches Applied Linguistics, ELT Professional Practice, and Educational Management on MA programmes, and short courses for teachers. Her main interests are in teacher education, curriculum design, and the teaching of reading and writing. Her publications include Using Readers in Language Teaching (Macmillan), Writing (Oxford University Press), Power, Pedagogy, and Practice (Oxford
Reviews

University Press, co-edited with Norman Whitney), and Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom (Oxford University Press). Email: P.A.Hedge@warwick.ac.uk

Humanising Your Coursebook M. Rinvolucri First Person Publishing/English Teaching Professional, DELTA Publishing 2002 96 pp., 13.25 isbn: 0 954198 60 3 When I get a new textbook I am as excited as my students are at the beginning of every new school year. Usually I spend part of my summer holidays reading the new textbook, digesting the teachers book, listening to the tapes, or watching videotapes and doing exercises myself. It is so exciting! I try to imagine how the activities will work, speculate about whether the students will accept a particular task or not, and about whether the materials really take my students to where I want them to be. But this enthusiasm of mine, and that of my students, tends to get less and less by the end of the school year. Why? Its dicult to say. Maybe partly because a textbook that might at rst seem interesting and intriguing eventually gets too familiar and unexciting. For me, no matter how good a textbook is, after I have taught it twice or three times, I denitely start feeling more and more boredI know the texts by heart, I know all the answers, and moreover, I even know the mistakes my students will make. This is one of the issues expressed by teachers at many teacher-training seminars: they feel that they have squeezed the textbook dry, and it has less and less to oer. Besides that, there is an additional danger of losing contact with the students, and just teaching the textbook. No wonder, then, that I get through with my textbook far ahead of the end of the year, and still see that my students language skills and knowledge are poor. All this leads me to self-doubt, frustration, and burnout. And at this point, what I really need is: ideas and yet more ideas that I can use in order to get in touch with my students again, survive, and escape the routine. Mario Rinvolucris new book is one that can give you new ideas and perspectives. An additional bonus of this book is getting your creative juices owingyou are provided with an activity and variations, and all of a sudden you see that there is much more in the
reviews
welcome

405