Becoming a Language Teacher, by respected author and experienced language teacher Elaine K. Horwitz, gives pre- and in-service teachers the skills they need to meet the needs of all language learners in today's diverse classrooms-while encouraging them to develop a personal approach to language teaching. Using a warm, supportive tone, the author clearly explains the fundamental concepts of second language acquisition and language teaching. A much-needed resource at a time when it is critical for all mainstream teachers to focus on language, this guide describes how to develop language for academic needs as well as for communication purpose and addresses the latest trends in language teaching.

Elaine Horwitz is Professor of Curriculum and Instruction and Director of the Graduate Program in Foreign Language Education at the University of Texas at Austin. She was born in Washington, DC, and attended the Montgomery County, MD, public schools where she studied French and Spanish. She began her language teaching career in seventh grade when other students would ask her to explain what her teacher was saying.

Professor Horwitz earned her BA at the University of Maryland at College Park and her MA and PhD in Second Language Learning and Teaching at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. While there, she was a Title VII Bilingual Education Fellow and supervised foreign language, ESL, and bilingual student teachers.

She first taught French, Spanish, and English in the Prince George’s County, MD, public schools and later went on to teach at University High School in Urbana, IL, and as a Graduate Assistant at the University of Illinois. Before moving to the University of Texas, she taught courses in French, language teaching methodology, and bilingual education at the State University College of New York at Buffalo.

At the University of Texas, Professor Horwitz is Director of the Graduate Program in Foreign Language Education and teaches courses in language teaching methodology, second language acquisition, language testing, and second language research methods. She is well known for her research on language anxiety and student and teacher beliefs about language learning. In addition to numerous scholarly articles and chapters, she is the co-editor with Dolly Young of Language Anxiety: From Theory and Practice to Classroom Implications. Her assessment tools, the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale and the Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory, are widely used to help teachers and researchers better understand the needs of second language learners. She has been an invited lecturer and consultant on improving language teaching throughout the world.

Preface

Part I • What Do Language Teachers Think About?

1 What Should I Know about Language Learners and Language Teaching Settings?

Types of Language Learning Settings

Learner Characteristics

Younger Learners and Stages of Cognitive Development

Identity and Language Learning

2 What Should I Know about Second Language Acquisition?

Theories of Second Language Acquisition

The Critical Period Hypothesis

How the Theories Differ on Important Language Teaching Issues

Implications for Language Teaching

3 What Should I Know about Language Teaching Methodologies?

Language Teaching Methods

What Is the Best Language Teaching Method?

Content-Based, Sheltered-Immersion, Learner-Centered, and Task-Based Approaches to Language Teaching

From Teacher-Centered to Learner-Centered Approaches

Part II • How Do You Teach a Language?

4 What Should I Know about Teaching Listening?

The Importance of Listening Comprehension

Obstacles to Teaching Listening Comprehension

The Listening Process

Some Guidelines for Developing Listening Activities

Activity Ideas

Assessing Listening Comprehension

5 What Should I Know about Teaching Speaking?

The Importance of True Communication in the Language Classroom

Obstacles to Teaching Speaking

The Development of Speaking Ability

Some Guidelines for Developing Speaking Activities

Activity Ideas

Assessing Speaking

6 What Should I Know about Teaching Reading?

The Importance of Reading

The Reading Process

Types of Second Language Reading

Learning to Read in a Second Language

Types of Reading Materials

Helping Students Develop Effective Reading Strategies

ESL Teachers and Content Reading

Some Guidelines for Teaching Reading

Activity Ideas

Assessing Reading Comprehension

7 What Should I Know about Teaching Writing?

The Writing Process

Types of Second Language Writing

Helping Students Develop Effective Writing Strategies

Some Guidelines for Teaching Writing

Activity Ideas

Assessing Writing

8 What Should I Know about Teaching Academic English in Content Classes?

The Development of Academic Language

Generation 1.5 and Transnational Students

Scaffolding, Contextualized Input, and Thematic Units

Promoting Second Language Development in Content Classes

Academic Literacy 166

Integrating Language Skills Using Thematic Units and Task-Based Activities

Some Guidelines for Teaching Language through Content

Activity Ideas

The Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (CALLA)

Assessing Language in Content Classes

Part III • How Do I Know What to Teach?

9 How Do I Assess Language Learning?

Standards

Issues in Language Testing

Testing Approaches

Testing for a Variety of Purposes

Testing the Standards

The TOEFL, the ACTFL OPI, the IELTS, and the TOEIC

10 How Do I Plan My Classes?

Planning for Your Students

Common Language Teaching Activities

Differentiating Instruction and Supporting Learner Autonomy

Part IV • Where Do I Go from Here?

11 So, Am I Now a Language Teacher?

Thinking of Yourself as a Language Teacher

Becoming Open to New Ideas about Language and Language Teaching

Becoming a Better Language Teacher

Your Future as a Language Teacher

Beginning Your Journey as a Language Teacher

Appendix A: The Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory (BALLI ) Revised ESL Version

Appendix B: Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS)

Appendix C: Teacher Foreign Language Anxiety Scale (TFLAS)

Glossary

Index

What is included with this book?

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.