The Bilingual Reform Book – eliminates a mistake of the century: the exclusion of the mother tongue from foreign language teaching. Two insights are compared theoretically and practically:
(1) You only learn a language by using them.
(2) The mother tongue is the language mother who paves the way for languages to be learned later.
With this book, change has indeed come in foreign language teaching. Wolfgang Butzkamm and John Caldwell have added a teacher-friendly book that constructs praxis by examining practical classroom strategies as well as illuminating relevant theories in second or foreign language teaching. Already in the introduction the authors’ attachment to critical pedagogy, student-centred learning and the advocacy of an eclectic approach to foreign and second language teaching is evident.
Each of the fourteen chapters in the book contributes to form a comprehensive unit with a vast array of practical techniques that can be effectively employed in the teaching of another language. Verbatim citations of comments made by students and teachers alike add an extra dimension, illustrating relevance thorough personal observations, and providing accessibility to the theoretical stance taken. The narrative-like quality of the writing style transforms this book from an instruction manual on foreign language teaching to text which can be enjoyed even as extensive reading.
In chapter one the pre-eminent role of foreign language input and interaction is reaffirmed; however, the authors reassure the foreign language teacher of the complementary role of the mother tongue in message-orientated discourse. Important issues that are addressed are immersion, the critical mass hypothesis, the undesired side-effects of monolingualism, and medium-oriented and message oriented communication. Throughout the presentation of the theoretical aspects addressed in this chapter the authors have sandwiched in many practical guidelines not only for the beginner teacher; the chapter also consolidates the accumulated experiences of the seasoned
foreign language teacher.
After reading “The Bilingual Reform Book”, you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs. And visit my channel by YouTube.