The emergence of English as a global language, along with technological innovations and the growing need for learner autonomy, is changing language teaching rapidly and profoundly. With these changes come new demands and challenges for teaching education programs. This authoritative collection of writings highlights some of the best work being done today in the United States and abroad to make communicative competence an attainable goal. The contributors examine what has come to be known as communicative language teaching, or CLT, from the perspectives of teachers and teacher educators. The book documents current reform initiatives in Japan, the United States, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and continental Europe to provide a global perspective on language teaching for communicative competence. Four major themes recur throughout the volume: the multifaceted nature of language teaching; the highly contextualized nature of CLT; the futility of defining a “native speaker” in the postcolonial, postmodern world; and the overwhelming influence of high-stakes tests on language teaching. The book is a useful and valuable tool for language teachers, teacher educators, and policymakers.

An introduction to communicative language teaching for practising classroom teachers.

TESOL / ESL Teaching.

English Language Teaching Today: Linking Theory and Practice provides an up-to-date account of current principles and practices for teaching English in the world today. The chapters, written by internationally recognized language teacher educators and TESOL specialists, introduce the reader to key language skill areas (i.e., listening, speaking, reading, writing, pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary) and explain how each skill area can be taught in a principled manner in diverse language learning contexts. Throughout the book, the link between theory and practice is explicitly highlighted and exemplified. This reader-friendly book is suitable for undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in TESOL and other second language education programmes as well as for TESOL professionals who wish to stay current with recent developments in ELT.

Communicative Language and Teaching in Action: Putting Principles to Work serves as an engaging and informative guide for second and foreign language teachers in training or for those pursuing a new career as language educators. The text demonstrates principles and practices of communicative and task-based language teaching, equipping readers with an innovative and effective approach to language instruction. The conceptual foundation of the book is based upon theoretical and empirical findings drawn from second language acquisition research, cognitive psychology, and brain research. It emphasizes successful instructional practices in a communicative and task-based approach to language learning. The book features copious examples of learning activities in different languages and lessons developed by experienced language teachers. Dedicated chapters cover the principles of communicative language teaching and task-based instruction; lesson planning; vocabulary and grammar in language learning; feedback and error correction; the development of listening, oral communication, reading, and writing skills; and assessment. The second edition features updated literature review in all chapters, new and dynamic teacher-training tasks, and reorganized and fresh content throughout the text, as well as a new chapter on writing and language learning. Communicative Language Teaching in Action is an ideal resource for courses and programs in foreign language education.

In addition to the approaches and methods covered in the first edition, this edition includes new chapters, such as whole language, multiple intelligences, neurolinguistic programming, competency-based language teaching, co-operative language learning, content-based instruction, task-based language teaching, and The Post-Methods Era.