Thomas Farrell: REFLECTIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING: FROM

RESEARCH TO PRACTICE. Continuum, 2007.

Two concepts currently in vogue in language teacher education are collabor-

ation and reflection. Both are related, although reflection is probably the

superordinate concept. It is possible to be reflective without collaborating,

although I would argue that collaboration can greatly increase the quality of

reflection. Without reflection, collaboration is of little value. Farrell covers

both concepts in his book. While the focus is on reflection, collaboration

also features prominently, particularly in the chapters on teacher development

groups, classroom observations, and critical friendships.

I should declare my position at the outset. This is a book that I wish I had

written! While it covers some of the same terrain as that traversed by a book

I did co-author (Bailey et al., 2001), it does so from a different angle.

Additionally, each book covers topics not covered by the other, and is therefore

complementary. In fact, I used both in a professional development program

that I taught not so long ago. Concepts are presented with admirable clarity,

and Farrell’s voice as well as his extensive experience in language teacher

education and development are evident on almost every page.

Each chapter in the book follows a set pattern, which gives a sense of co-

herence to the volume: an introduction, review of the literature, a case study

relating to the topic at hand drawn from Farrell’s own experience, a section

entitled From research to practice, which sets out practical ideas for getting started

on implementing the topic, and a chapter scenario, which is, in effect, another

mini-case study based on someone else’s experience. Each of the main sections

in the book is followed by a set of questions for the reader to reflect on. The

book thus becomes a training manual, not only just for developing skills in

action research, keeping journals, classroom observation, and so on, but also

for developing a reflective attitude on the part of the reader. In this way, the

medium becomes the message.

While the substantive focus of the majority of chapters is on classroom man-

agement and methodology, that is, on teaching/learning, one chapter is

devoted to language proficiency. Given the fact that the majority of foreign

language instructors are non-native speakers of the language they teach, this is

a critically important issue. In the case of English, the explosion in the demand

for English globally has driven many institutions, both public and private, to

employ as English teachers, practitioners whose own command of the lan-

guage may be inadequate. I realize that this begs the question of exactly

what is an adequate command of English for teaching purposes. Putting that

aside, it is good to see books such as this dealing directly with an issue which is

too often either ignored or overlooked.

Although the subtitle of the book is ‘From research to practice’, the focus is

firmly on practice, and the heart of the volume resides in the rich array of case

studies and scenarios as well as the reflection points that punctuate each

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chapter. This is a book for practitioners: teachers and teacher educators—a

‘how to’ volume. I imagine that researchers will be somewhat underwhelmed

by the research sections that initiate each chapter and that are intended to

summarize what the research has to say about the topic at hand. For me this is

not a problem. This book is unashamedly practice oriented. However, enough

signposts are provided to the relevant research literature for readers who want

to look in greater detail at the empirical basis of particular topics.

Reviewed by David Nunan

Hong Kong, China and Anaheim, USA

E-mail: david.nunan@gmail.com

doi:10.1093/applin/amq013 Advance Access published on 25 April 2010

REFERENCE

Bailey, K., A. Curtis, and D. Nunan. 2001.

Pursuing Professional Development: The Self as

Source. Heinle/Cengage.

Christiane Dalton-Puffer: DISCOURSE IN CONTENT AND LANGUAGE

INTEGRATED LEARNING (CLIL) CLASSROOMS. John Benjamins,

2007.

During the last two decades or so, the use of English in teaching different

subjects, such as mathematics or music, which are taught at all levels of main-

stream schools where English is not the first language of students/teachers, has

been a very controversial issue. Some of the questions asked include: Where

do we put the emphasis on in those classes, language or content? How

about the role of foreign language in the construction of meaning? What are

the roles of teachers? An in-depth analysis of Content and Language Integrated

Learning (CLIL) classroom instruction is therefore both necessary and inevit-

able. This book addresses this need by providing a comprehensive analysis of

classroom discourse in CLIL classrooms. The manuscript is based on a research

project that was designed, within the light of constructivist and participatory

learning theories, as a predominantly qualitative study of naturalistic class-

room interactions in CLIL contexts in Austria. Therefore, the book makes a

significant attempt at answering several important questions regarding the

features of CLIL classrooms by placing the main emphasis on language use.

The book consists of 10 chapters that can be broadly divided into three major

parts. The first two chapters provide a brief overview and historical develop-

ment of CLIL with a specific focus on the European context and the rationale

for the current research project. The author, Christiane Dalton-Puffer, is also

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