This paper examines how student teachers and language learners might learn to question perspectives and develop critical literacy through critiquing of texts. Focusing on work in an in-service teacher education course, the discussion explores how to help English language learners to read text representations critically, in order to identify…

Language educators argue that foreign language learning in the United States should increase students' intercultural competence (IC), which will allow them to see relationships among different cultures, mediate across cultures, and critically analyze cultures including their own. Qualitative research investigating students experiences with such…

The author of the "Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language" responds to two areas of criticism of the textbook: its size and its intended audience. These aspects and the general construction of the book are discussed in relation to the information needs of the foreign language learner and in comparison with the information…

Course books are said to be the core of language teaching and learning processes on which the EFL teachers and English language institutes obviously base their activities. EFL students often consult teachers for a suitable textbook or even a good institute to be recommended to them for self-study or regular classroom attendance. Frankly speaking,…

Argues that awareness of the relationship between language and the sociocultural context in which it occurs is important for students and teachers. The article suggests that everyday, ephemeral texts can be easily collected and categorized according to genre for teaching and cross-cultural comparison. (19 references) (Author/CK)

Analysis of beginning second language textbooks for German, Swedish, English, and Finnish looked at the readability of the contents. Finnish and English texts are examined more closely here as illustrations of the problems found in all four languages. Specific passages are cited and discussed; two are appended. A general framework of text…

Suggests that additional attention to the sequencing of the grammatical structures needed for receptive comprehension might alleviate the problems associated with first-year German textbooks. The simple past tense, word order, and the indefinite pronoun "man" are used to illustrate the concept of a receptive grammar. (14 references) (Author/CK)

The two major justifications for the traditional grammar curriculum in Dutch schools are: (1) its superiority to direct skill training in improving general language ability; and (2) its facilitation of teaching and learning foreign languages. An evaluative investigation, which included a literature review and logbook and textbook surveys, found no…