What English Language Teachers Need to Know: Understanding Learning

Designed for pre-service teachers and teachers new to the field of ELT, these companion textbooks are organized around the key question: What do teachers need to know and be able to do in order for their students to learn English? All English language teachers need to understand the nature of language and language learning, and with that understanding they need to be able to facilitate student learning.

Volume I, on understanding learning, provides the background information that teachers need to know and be able to use in their classroom:

the characteristics of the context in which they work

how English works and how it is learned

their role in the larger professional sphere of English language education

Volume II, on facilitating learning, covers the three main facets of teaching:

planning

instructing

assessing

The focus throughout is on outcomes, that is, student learning.

Features of the texts:

Situated in current research in the field of English language teaching and other disciplines that inform it

Sample data, including classroom vignettes

Three kinds of activities/tasks designed to create a dialogue between text and reader and so help teachers and prospective teachers to understand and apply the material being presented: Explore; Reflect; and Expand

The texts work for teachers across different contexts (countries where English is the dominant language, one of the official languages, or taught as a foreign language); different levels (elementary/primary, secondary, college or university, or adult education), and different learning purposes (general English, workplace English, English for academic purposes, or English for specific purposes).