Book Reviews

Second Language Acquisition Applied
to English Language Teaching

Michael Lessard-Clouston, ELT Development Series.
Annapolis, MD: TESOL Press. (2018) (60 pp.) ISBN:
9781942799948 Price $18.95
Reviewed by Paul Wicking
Meijo University
The English Language Teacher Development (ELTD) series, published byTESOL Press, casts its net wide in appealing to a broad population of teacherswith a variety of topics. Other works in the series have looked at issues such as
language classroom assessment, materials development, motivation, and teachingskills such as pronunciation, reading, speaking and vocabulary. Michael LessardClouston’s Second Language Acquisition Applied to English Language Teaching isa welcome addition, in that it provides some broad theoretical underpinnings
which support much of the thinking and practice in the other volumes. As notedin the series preface, all these short resource books are written in a jargon-free
and accessible manner, providing a theoretical base and leading to practicalapplication.
The purpose of this book is to provide a broad understanding of second
language acquisition (SLA) so that it can inform classroom practice. The fieldof SLA is complex and multi-faceted, with a range of theories that frequently
overlap and at times conflict with each other. Yet Lessard-Clouston’s premise isthat a basic knowledge of SLA fundamentals will deepen our understanding ofourselves in the role of teacher, and our students as English language learners.
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This in turn leads to better teaching practice and better learning. The author
himself spent over a decade as a university teacher in Japan and draws on thatexperience in his writing.
In order to achieve its stated purpose, the book begins by defining SLA, andthen goes on to present the five principles of SLA as posited by Krashen (2003).
These principles had a formative influence on the emerging field and are still
prominent in academic discourse today (most notably the input hypothesis andthe affective filter hypothesis.) A knowledge of these principles undoubtedly lays
the foundation of much of what is common classroom practice. Following that,three essential components of English language learning are outlined: input,output, and interaction. All three of these must necessarily be present in somedegree for language learning to occur, yet the way teachers approach these will
either help or hinder students’ learning processes. For example, input should beaimed at, or slightly above, the learners’ current ability level. Ideally, this input
then becomes ‘intake,’ which occurs when learners appropriate that language
for themselves and use it in their own language production. In other words, itthen becomes output. Output, and in particular “pushed output” (Swain, 1993),
not only gives learners a chance for meaningful language practice, but also
helps them move from semantic to syntactic processing. Through the processof oral interaction, students provide the input and output which constitute ameaningful exchange of ideas, which is why communicative language teaching
and the associated practices of pair work, group work, and peer evaluation are soeffective in language teaching.
After these essentials of SLA are introduced, a number of secondary issues
are addressed: age, anxiety, error correction, and material selection. Although
brief, the main arguments surrounding each of these are outlined, and a numberof interesting points are made. For example, an important point is made herethat we often think of anxiety as negatively impacting a learner’s performancein the L2. However, as Spielmann and Radnofsky (2001) suggest, a facilitative
anxiety known as cognitive tension may actually help our students to be alert andfocused and thus perform at a higher level. The chapter on material selection isquite helpful, but again, very brief (four pages). Those wanting more than a quick103

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overview would need to follow up on the research presented in this chapter.
Finally, a very helpful concluding chapter puts forward an argument for theutility of SLA in classroom teaching. It is important that teachers and students
alike are aware of the complexity of learning a foreign language. This is madeeven more important by the fact that there are so many myths surrounding
language learning, and so many products on the market that offer “quick” and“easy” ways to learn. When students themselves have a clear understanding of
SLA principles, their learning strategies are able to be aligned with the teachingpractices in a course, so that both students and teachers are moving in the same
direction.
As the field of SLA is so diverse and branches off in many directions, it wasalways going to be an ambitious task to distill everything down into a readerfriendly format that would manage to be adequately informative without glossing
over significant concepts. This task was made even harder by the fact that there
are many myths and misunderstandings surrounding language acquisition, andmuch of the scholarly research often seems far removed from classroom learningand teaching. This book succeeds to a large extent in having a solid theoreticalbase, drawing on influential and recent research from H. D. Brown (2014), Gassand Mackey (2015), Lightbown and Spada (2013), and Tomlinson (2017).
Divergent viewpoints are acknowledged when they arise, but the author makesa case for which arguments are to be preferred, based on his many years teachingexperience. For instance, while VanPatten (2003) argues that it is essential for
output to have a communicative purpose, Lessard-Clouston points to the factthat many of his Chinese students improved their pronunciation and oral skills byperforming a speech in front of a mirror, which did not meet the communicative
purpose criterion. Throughout the book, Lessard-Clouston does not shy awayfrom commenting on theory from the standpoint of personal experience.
When it comes to applying theory to practice, a good attempt is made, butreaders may disagree as to how successful the book is. For example, LessardClouston draws on his experience of teaching large classes in Japan, to makesome suggestions for encouraging interaction. Suggestions include group work,
brainstorming, and information gap tasks. Preservice teachers without much104

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experience would be intrigued by such suggestions, but anyone who has taught
for longer than six months in Japan would probably already be doing these.
A second suggestion, with an example, is made of a teacher in Japan who has
her high school students conduct surveys with foreigners in a tourist city inJapan. There may be some readers who find this a unique idea, but anyone whohas attended a JALT conference or who reads academic work in Japan would
probably have already come across such ideas. When giving some practical tips
for encouraging students, the advice to give a “high five” may not suit all teachers’
personal style, but the advice to exclaim, “Great mistake!” is one that I have notheard before but am eager to try.
The strength of this book is how it shows clear links between good classroom
practices and theory. Some of these are quite controversial, such as whether
to use students’ L1 in the classroom. There is evidence that L1 use is often
beneficial and should not be discouraged (Hall & Cook, 2014), even thoughmany university teachers have a “no Japanese” policy in their classrooms. There
are also questions which can be used for personal reflection or group discussion
at regular intervals throughout the book. This means that it could be read byteachers as professional development or used as a text in an introductory SLA
course being taught in English to Japanese university students.
However, the strength of this text as a brief and concise overview of SLA
means that some important issues are not addressed (such as willingness tocommunicate and classroom assessment), while other issues are touched upon
but not explored in any depth (noticing hypothesis, communicative practice,focus on form). Most of these issues are dealt with in other volumes in the ELTD
series however, and so they would need to be consulted for a fuller treatment of
the topic.
Less experienced university teachers will find much of practical value here,
while more experienced teachers will appreciate revising their understanding of
SLA theory in order to polish their current practice. The friendly, conversational
way the book is written, and the way it touches briefly on the most important
issues in SLA, would mean it is ideally suited to an introductory course on SLA,
or a course with Japanese students who are learning to be English teachers.
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References

Brown, H. D. (2014). Principles of language learning and teaching: A course insecond language acquisition (6th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson.
Gass, S. M., & Mackey, A. (2015). Input, interaction, and output in second
language acquisition. In B. VanPatten & J. Williams (Eds.), Theories insecond language acquisition: An introduction (2nd ed., pp. 180-206).
London, England: Routledge.
Hall, G., & Cook, G. (2014). Own-language use in ELT: Exploring global practices
and attitudes Part II. Language Issues: The ESOL Journal, 25(2), 39-47.
Krashen, S. D. (2003). Explorations in language acquisition and use. Portsmouth,
NH: Heinemann.
Lightbown, P. M., & Spada, N. (2013). How languages are learned (4th ed.).
Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
Spielmann, G., & Radnofsky, M. L. (2001). Learning language under tension:
New directions from a qualitative study. Modern Language Journal, 85,259-278. doi:10.1111/0026-7902.00108
Swain, M. (1993). The output hypothesis: Just speaking and writing aren’t
enough. Canadian Modern Language Review, 50, 158-164.
Tomlinson, B. (2017). Achieving a match between SLA theory and materials
development. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), Second language acquisition research
and materials development for language teaching (pp. 3-22). London,
England: Routledge.
VanPatten, B. (2003). From input to output: A teacher’s guide to second language
acquisition. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Author bio

Paul Wicking currently works at Meijo University in Nagoya. His research interests
include second language acquisition, formative assessment, and global competencies
education. wicking@meijo-u.ac.jp
Date Received: February 16, 2018
Date Accepted: March 16, 2018106