Becoming A Language Teacher: A Practical Guide to Second Language Learning and Teaching
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Becoming a Language Teacher is a comprehensive guide to the knowledge and classroom skills teachers need to meet the needs of all language learners. The book encourages each reader to develop a personal approach to language teaching.A much-needed resource in an era when all mainstream classroom teachers need to always be focusing on language, Becoming a Language Teacher recognizes that the development of academic literacy is the goal of many language teachers and essential to the school success of English language learners–unlike most methods books, which concentrate on language for communication purposes rather than for academic needs.Employing a warm and supportive tone, respected author Elaine K. Horwitz clearly explains fundamental knowledge about second language acquisition and language teaching, as well as answers to practical questions such as: How do I plan a lesson? How will I know if the students are learning? How do I teach language when I am also teaching content material? How do I effectively use technology in language teaching? How can I ensure the academic success of my students? By considering actual classroom situations, readers learn how to make instructional decisions in their own teaching settings.
Preface viiWhat Do Language Teachers Think About? 1What Should I Know about Language Learners and Language Teaching Settings? 3Types of Language Learning Settings 4Learner Characteristics 7Younger Learners and Stages of Cognitive Development 17What Should I Know about Second Language Acquisition? 23Theories of Second Language Acquisition 24The Critical Period Hypothesis 38How the Theories Differ on Important Language Teaching Issues 38Implications for Language Teaching 43What Should I Know about Language Teaching Methodologies? 48Language Teaching Methods 49What Is the Best Language Teaching Method? 59Content-Based, Learner-Centered, and Task-Based Approaches to Language Teaching 60From Teacher-Centered to Learner-Centered Approaches 61How Do You Teach a Language? 65What Should I Know about Teaching Listening? 67The Importance of Listening Comprehension 69Obstacles to Teaching Listening Comprehension 69The Listening Process 73Some Guidelines for Developing Listening Activities 77Activity Ideas 79Assessing Listening Comprehension 86What Should I Know about Teaching Speaking? 91The Importance of True Communication in the Language Classroom 92Obstacles to Teaching Speaking 94The Development of Speaking Ability 99Some Guidelines for Developing Speaking Activities 102Activity Ideas 105Assessing Speaking 110What Should I Know about Teaching Reading? 115The Importance of Reading 116The Reading Process 116Types of Second Language Reading 117Learning to Read in a Second Language 118Types of Reading Materials 119Helping Students Develop Effective Reading Strategies 120ESL Teachers and Content Reading 122Some Guidelines for Teaching Reading 123Activity Ideas 125Assessing Reading Comprehension 130What Should I Know about Teaching Writing? 135The Writing Process 136Types of Second Language Writing 138Helping Students Develop Effective Writing Strategies 141Some Guidelines for Teaching Writing 145Activity Ideas 147Assessing Writing 151What Should I Know about Teaching Academic English in Content Classes? 157The Development of Academic Language 159Generation 1.5 and Transnational Students 161Scaffolding, Contextualized Input, and Thematic Units 162Promoting Second Language Development in Content Classes 163Academic Literacy 166Integrating Language Skills Using Thematic Units and Task-Based Activities 170Some Guidelines for Teaching Language through Content 171Activity Ideas 172Assessing Language in Content Classes 174How Do I Know What to Teach? 181How Do I Assess Language Learning? 183Standards 184Issues in Language Testing 188Testing Approaches 191Testing for a Variety of Purposes 193Testing the Standards 194The TOEFL and the ACTFL OPI 196How Do I Plan My Classes? 202Planning for Your Students 205Common Language Teaching Activities 210Where Do I Go from Here? 219So, Am I Now a Language Teacher? 221Thinking of Yourself as a Language Teacher 221Becoming Open to New Ideas about Language and Language Teaching 222Becoming a Better Language Teacher 223Your Future as a Language Teacher 227Beginning Your Journey as a Language Teacher 228The Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory (BALLI) ESL Version 232Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) 235Teacher Foreign Language Anxiety Scale (TFLAS) 237Glossary 239Index 251
