Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Cornfed]

Does anyone know any good texts on the theory of learning and teaching languages? Most of the ESL texts I've seen such as Interchange, Side by Side etc. seem fairly lame, girly and seat-of-the-pants to me. For all I know these kinds of activities might be the best way to teach a language, but I suspect there might be better ways. For example, I remember reading a theory that all languages have a basic underlying rhythm or cadence that, once learned, allows the words to be absorbed directly into the central nervous system without the need for conscious processing. Therefore the focus should be on teaching this cadence as well as vocabulary. Then there are the programs that military forces use to teach whole languages in a few weeks. Anyone know about them?

[branchsnapper]

If you think those books are "girly" then you will find other ESL texts girly as well. They are based on academic theories, and written by academics. Universities are not usually very interested in what the military or various "method schools" do - they think it is all old hat, and that free communication is the main thing.

By the way, most people think girls are better at learning languages.

[Cornfed]

[branchsnapper]

I'm not trying to give you a PC lesson - I'm telling you you ain't easily going to find other viewpoints in a book. A google search is probably the best way.

There's an applied linguistics forum in another part of Dave's by the way.

[yeremy]

Here are three books, which you may find helpful.

Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching by Jack C. Richards (Interchange series lead author) and Theodore S. Rodgers, Cambridge University Press (CUP).

Teaching by Principles, An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy, by H. Douglas Brown, Longman Pub.

An Introduction to Language by Victoria Fromkin, Robert Rodman and Nina Hyams, Thomson and Heinle Pub.

I think if you take the time to look or read one or more of these books you will be better able to sort out and answer your own questions.

If you are in or near Seoul, both Youngpoom Bookstore (영품문고점) and Koyobo Bookstore (교보문고점), in their foreign books sections, will likely carry these titles, which are well known in the TESOL community. Both of these booksellers are in downtown Seoul. You can take the number one Seoul Metro Subway line and get off at Chonggak Station to walk to either one of them. I also like Bandi and Luni's, too.

[branchsnapper]

And there you have it. Somebody recommends a book by the author of Interchange. Those latter two books do take a paragraph or two to dismiss other military-like approaches though, as I recall, but you won't find details as if the subject were worthy of serious consideration.

[tob55]

If you want to do a quick and easy search that will likely yield many more references than you want to look at then do a google.scholar search.

This is a scholarly search engine through Google that is worth its weight in gold. I have found whole textbooks for various topics and subjects that are in PDF format that can be downloaded for free. This way you can modify your search to match what you are looking for and find sources you don't have to spend tons of money on. This is if you are looking for teaching/learning theory and numerous other resources. Here is the link for the search engine:

http://scholar.google.com/

Do an advanced search to narrow down your possible choices within the area of language learning. Hope this works for you. It is a great resource I don't think many people know about or use, and it is free.

BTW, the resources include everything from recent to very old documents, so be sure to include the date limit you want information from. I tend to prefer early teaching theory since it gives some excellent building blocks on the theoretical framework for the whole subject of language learning from a global perspective rather than just focusing on English.

[ddeubel]

This forum has discussed this topic over and over.....

I get asked the question constantly so I've decided recently to set up a bookstore to feature the "required" reading for EFL. Take a look there as well as our link area (under Teaching and try the Research/essay spot). Try Prof. Development in the bookstore.

http://eflclassroom.ning.com/wpage/books

I'll only be posting the best TEFL books for easy evaluation and review by EFL teachers......

DD
http://eflclassroom.ning.com

[Scouse Mouse]