Understanding Language Classroom Contexts: The Starting Point for Change

PURPOSE AND AUDIENCE

The purpose of the book is to break down the various components of context that define and influence language learning classrooms. The authors hope that readers will come away with a deeper understanding of how and why context influences and constrains classroom norms and activities, and that equipped with this knowledge readers will be able to initiate or implement effective educational change.

The target audience is English as a second language (ESL) teachers based outside of the United States. The authors keep their examples and descriptions broad enough that teachers around the world and in vastly different circumstances, including K-12 ESL teachers in the United States, will be able to understand and apply the lessons of the book to their individual circumstances. For American ESL teachers this book offers a glimpse of the global English language teaching context that exists outside of the typical debates surrounding language teaching in the US. The content of this book is introductory in nature, including a brief survey of the important theories related to language learning and educational reform; as such, the book will be most useful for practitioners who are at the very beginning of their training or teaching career.

SUMMARY

The authors argue that context influences the methods and approaches that teachers use, and that a deep understanding of the various aspects of context is important if practitioners want to enact change either in their classroom or on a larger scale. To support this argument they lay out their theoretical framework (Chapters One through Two & Six through Eight), then explore the history of language teaching and learning (Chapters Three through Five), and finally explain the process of policy change (Chapter Nine).

The authors delineate a theoretical framework grounded in a socio-cultural perspective of learning that deconstructs the idea of classroom context. At the core of their framework is the idea that people, place, and time are three interdependent components of context that influence and are influenced by what happens in a language classroom. These components have both visible and invisible aspects that influence context. For example, a visible aspect of place could be the town a school is located in, whereas the invisible aspect would be the perceived importance of that town due to economic, political, and cultural factors.

The second piece of their argument is a review of the history of language teaching methods, from “transmission” based methods that emphasize memorization and correctness, to “dialogic” approaches that emphasize interaction and communicative competence. Finally, they review literature on the process of educational change and the many obstacles that need to be overcome for successful reform. These two parts of the book succinctly and effectively chart how research into linguistics and learning has inspired gradual change in the way languages are typically taught.

CLASSROOM USE

The authors intend their book to serve as a workbook for practitioners. To this end they intersperse reflection questions throughout the text and include a task at the end of each chapter. The reflection questions do not push the reader to engage deeply with the concepts presented. For example, in a section titled “Language in Context” the reflection questions include: what languages are used in the reader’s country and for what purpose, how important English is in their country, and where it is taught. These questions are meant to elicit mostly descriptive responses and do not require the reader to think outside of their own experience.

The tasks at the end of the chapter follow a similar pattern as the reflection questions. They primarily ask the reader to think about the ideas presented in the chapter and relate it to their own experience. Most of the tasks will elicit descriptions or anecdotes from the reader and will do little to expand their understanding of context. A few of the tasks are more rigorous in that they require the reader to engage with others or with outside sources to come to a more robust understanding of the topic at hand. In sum, for the book to be a useful text for engaging language teachers, the tasks and reflection questions would need to be altered to increase the cognitive load for readers.

ORGANIZATION AND WRITING

The book is well organized and easy to follow. Each chapter is laid out in a series of sections and subsections that bullet the most essential points. Anecdotes and examples of the concepts being presented are offset into text boxes. The most useful aspects are the summary sections that list the main ideas of each chapter, followed by a list of resources for further investigation. The writing is clear, although sometimes bogged down by unnecessary explanation and detail. The tables and graphics mostly function as useful summaries of important information.

CONCLUSION

Understanding Language Contexts can be seen as a primer for novice practitioners. The authors’ central contribution is their framework for understanding context. While the authors painstakingly describe the various components of their framework, the ideas they present are mostly self-evident. Moreover, they provide little in the way of evidence from the literature or from their own research to support the pieces of their framework, which leaves the reader thinking that what they are learning is largely based on common sense.

The book’s strengths are the two brief reviews of the history of language teaching and learning and of the policy change process. These chapters provide the reader with a strong starting point for understanding their context as well as ideas for what change may be possible. The authors do a service to the field by beginning a thorough investigation into the meaning of context. However, they could strengthen their work by providing more evidence to support their framework and providing more thoughtful questions to engage the reader.