Wang, Q. et al. (2000). A Course in English Language Teaching Higher Education Press, Beijing; ISBN

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1 Wang, Q. et al. (2000). A Course in English Language Teaching Higher Education Press, Beijing; ISBN Zhu Xiaoyan The University of Hong Kong/Guangzhou University The People s Republic of China (PRC) may very likely be the country with the largest number of EFL teachers since English is included in the required academic curriculum in primary, secondary and tertiary education. Over the past twenty years, many course books have been published concerning English language teaching pedagogy for both pre - and in-service teacher education programs. Among them, there are only five editions that have enjoyed national popularity as they were written by well-known Chinese scholars and educators in the field of ELT: Li (1983), Zhang (1985), Hu (1990), Zhang (1990) and Wang (1996). Their common features were that they were theory-oriented and written in Chinese, aiming to help both student and practising teachers to become familiar with some basic theories, principles and techniques during their earlier phase of the teaching profession. During the past two decades, these five books have served as the standard texts recommended for EFL methodology courses in teacher colleges and universities in the PRC. Since the late nineties, there has been an increasing demand for practical and thought-provoking course books written in English partly because of a need to use English in preparation for entry into the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and in the modernization of the economic system. At this critical time of transition, a new course book written in the target language --- A Course in English Language Teaching (CELT) was published in Beijing in June Its chief-editor is Wang Qiang. Compared with the above-mentioned course books, this new publication demonstrates four special features. Firstly, the book denotes a user-friendly and interactive tone that differs from that in the previous course books. Each unit of CELT begins with several questions that teacher learners would frequently raise in daily teaching. For example, Unit 5, Teaching Pronunciation, starts: Hong Kong Journal of Applied Linguistics 6,2 (2001); pp

2 Review: A course in English language teaching 63 Aims of the unit In this unit, we are going to discuss how to teach pronunciation. We will focus on the following: 1. What role does pronunciation play in language learning? 2. What is the goal of teaching pronunciation? 3. What aspects of pronunciation do we need to teach? 4. How can teachers help the students to practice pronunciation? (p.48) As these questions are posed from the perspective of student teachers and practicing teachers, they strengthen the sense of familiarity and interaction between the writers and the intended learners. Secondly, CELT bears a task-based approach. Each unit contains between 5 and 11 tasks, unlike previous books which presented long theoretical concepts. For example, in Unit One, Language and Learning, CELT provides various tasks to facilitate both student teachers and teacher trainees develop their own understanding of language education. Task 1 asks classmates to interview each other about their approaches in learning English. It includes a list of nine questions to investigate and compare views and methods of learning English. Task 2 is a group brainstorming of views of language. Next, three fundamental pedagogical approaches (structural, functional and interactional) are highlighted briefly. Task 3 focuses on language learning theory; tasks 4 and 5 are concerned with a good language teacher; tasks 6 and 7 centre on issues of teacher development. It is evident that the teacher trainees previous English learning and teaching experiences and their prior conceptions have been tactfully taken into consideration. Thus, they are guided to reflect on their prior views of learning and teaching without being lectured to as in the previous course books. It is crucial for teachers to experience the task-based method in their own learning. This might be the first time for Chinese EFL teachers to learn about task-based teaching by being taught using that method, which provides an example of how they can then teach English to their students. Thirdly, the content includes useful teaching aids. CELT comprises 14 units and 2 appendixes. The first two units deal with fundamental language teaching concepts: Language and Learning and Communicative Principles and Activities. Both Units 3 and 4 deal with techniques in lesson planning and classroom management. Units 5, 6 and 7 cover the teaching of pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary. Although the first seven units share similar topics with previous course books, they differ in the mode of presentation. From Units 8 through 11, the four skills of language (reading,

3 64 X. Zhu writing, listening and speaking) are tackled in sequence, each demonstrating some new techniques for Chinese teachers. For example, the units on developing reading and listening skills illustrate pre-, while- and post- stage activities. In the teaching of writing, the new process-based approach is emphasized. The last three units from 12 to 15 involve the holistic treatment of language teaching in Integrated skills, Assessment in language teaching and Evaluating and adapting textbooks. The past course books of EFL methodology, did not cover these three topics, all three of which have caused considerable concern among practicing teachers and in current ELT teacher education programmes in the PRC. Another useful feature of CELT is that Appendix 1 provides the solutions to tasks and Appendix 2 supplies a supplementary reading text. Both function as handy tools for daily teaching. Fourthly, some key issues in the field of ELT are presented in the book. Wallace s reflective model (1991), Littlewood s (1981), Ellis s (1990), and Ur s (1996) conceptions of communicative ELT practice are emphasized. The inclusion of these authors books shows a closer association between the PRC s views on ELT teacher education and those of the international mainstream. All in all, CELT will benefit not only Chinese ELT teachers but also their counterparts in developing countries in various ways. First of all, as the foreword of the book states, CELT aims at providing them with thinking tools and a resource centre. Teachers can select what they think suitable from the textbook according to their own situations (translated from the foreword of the book). Next, the book will provide researchers both inside and outside the PRC with a better idea of the gaps in EFL theory and practice between the PRC and the world in this respect. Finally, the book plays a double role as a window for the world to understand China s EFL teacher education. One possible suggestion for improvement is that two language teaching aspects could be included. First, while many practical teaching principles, techniques and methods are presented, some typical learning difficulties or problems that middle school students encounter in learning English are seldom described. The possible consequence might be that Chinese EFL teachers will be less aware of these difficulties since they tend to overlook students needs, interests and abilities under the conventional teaching culture. The second criticism relates to the failure of the book to address the communicative purpose of language learning. It also appears to somewhat downplay the quality, cultural and moral aspects of language teaching. In the

4 Review: A course in English language teaching 65 literature, the technical, cultural and moral aspects of instruction have been regarded as the three dimensions necessary for teachers to conduct reflective teaching (Van Manen, 1977 and Zeichner, 1992). It is regretable that the latter two aspects have not been adequately tackled. Nevertheless, the publication of CELT plays a historical role in the development of EFL teaching in the PRC. If Li (1983) and Zhang (1985) in the eighties bore the feature of lecturing teachers what to teach ; Hu (1990) and Zhang (1990) in the early nineties made an attempt at telling teachers how to teach ; then, Wang (2000) in this decade will convey the message of facilitating teachers to learn to teach on their own. These three periods reflect the shift of paradigm moving from transmission to discussion and now to reflection. The trend of ELT in the PRC has taken the first step to move from teaching-oriented towards learning-oriented. Acknowledgements The author is grateful to Dr. Bob Adamson for his feedback on the draft of this paper. References Ellis, R. (1990). Activities and procedures for teacher preparation. In: Richards and Nunan (ed.), Second Language Teacher Education. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Hu, Chundong (1990). Education Press. English Teaching Methodology. Beijing: Higher Li, Tingxiang, (1983). English Teaching Methodology. Beijing: Higher Education Press. Littlewood, W. (1981). Communicative Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Ur, P. (1996). A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Van Manen, M. (1977). Linking ways of knowing with ways of being practical. Curriculum Inquiry, 6(3): Wallace, M. (1991). Training Foreign Language Teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

5 66 X. Zhu Wang, Cairen (1996). On English Communicative Approach. Guangzhou: Guangxi Education Press. Zeichner, K. M. (1992). Conceptions of reflective teaching in contemporary US teacher education program reforms. In: L. Valli (ed.) Reflective Teacher Education. Albany: State University of New York Press. Zhang, Jianzhong (1990). English Teaching Methodology. Guangzhou: Guangdong Education Press. Zhang, Zhengdong (1985). Foreign Language Pedagogy. Chongqing Publishing House