In preparing and teaching second language courses, language professionals frequently make decisions in response to learner needs: in choosing texthboks. altering a sequence of exercises from a textbook. creating classroom materials, and so on, Yalden puts these kinds of decisions into perspective, outlining theoretical issues relevant to language teachers today.
Set against this theoretical background are practical suggestions on how teachers can devise classroom procedures and materials that best fit the linguistic and communicarive needs of their learners. Emphasis is placed on gathering information from and about the learner. This leads to the establishment of frameworks, short language-learning modules which give support to all of the components needed in a language course.
Procedures for ddeveloping main or supplementary units to new or existing courses are described in detail. Three complete case studies of courses that the author and her colleagues developed are included in the book. They contain numerous examples of resulting course materials.
'...a most welcome addition to the list of professional materials that ought to be read. I recommend this book without qualification.'- TESL Reporter |
