The Art of Teaching Speaking: Research and Pedagogy for the ESL/EFL Classroom

Amazon does not have the "look inside" feature for this book. I tried to find it at my local library, and then tried to get it on inter-library loan, but unfortunately was unsuccessful. So I finally just decided to order it. The "What does a Conversation Class" chapter can be useful for those who are still investigating which country to go to teach. If you're already teaching in one of these countries, it gives you a nice perspective. Unfortunately, for me, there were only about 2.5 pages that were useful in this section, as I've been teaching in China for a long time. I could have read it in a library.The "twenty successful ideas" section is good for reference when you're looking for some ideas for your classes. But most all of these activities can be found online, on just about every website you find. The pictures for the activities in the book are quite "robotic"-looking, and are therefore not very engaging for the students, as well as a lot of the language [such as in "strip story"]. You'll have to go online and find replacements. You'll also have to modify most of the pair-work activities to be more "put-the-student-in-the-front-of-the-room", as students will cheat too easily. But it can be done. Several of these activities I would not use at all, because they're too confusing to explain, as well as to execute.If you've been in the ESL profession for awhile, save your money and review this one in a library. You can do it in less than an hour, and take any necessary notes you need. If you're new to teaching, or are still trying to explore the possibility of teaching, it can be useful. Just keep in mind that the activities need to be adapted to suit your students level and interest, and not all the activities are useful.The cover design, however, is appealing.

Fortunate to hear Keith Folse speak in person.....fantastic educator/speaker and amazing book....simple, fun, and easy to use lesson ideas that provide structured student talk, as well as 10 lessons to avoid....very useful, highly recommend.

A very fine book for teaching ESL to grownups or whomever. Full of activities that get students talking. I used almost all of them when I was teaching adults in Japan.

Excellent!

Excellent!

Very useful and practical tips on teaching speaking!

The book was not really what I was expecting... But it was kind of painful to return it, so I just kept it and save all the agravation. I will think twice before buying books at Amazon again. Too bad when you can review a book they show costumes only a couple of pages. :(

The author presents a good overview of teaching English conversation that provides the reader with ideas, concepts, insights and observations from both practical and theoretical perspectives. The practical perspective is based on the author’s observations and insights, drawn from his own experiences and the experiences of others with teaching English conversation to English as a Second Language (ESL) / English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students. The theoretical perspective is based on the author’s summarization of research studies on second language acquisition, with special emphasis on the implications of research findings for the teaching English conversation.The author: (1) identifies five fundamental factors in the planning and teaching an English conversation class; (2) summarizes research findings in the field of second language acquisition that have relevance to teaching English conversation to ESL/EFL students; (3) presents 20 case studies of how various teachers have dealt with teaching English conversation, and offers a few observations and comments after each case study; (4) describes 20 activities that he claims are successful in teaching English conversation classes; (5) describes 10 activities that are not effective in teaching English conversation classes, with comments on why each activity is not successful; and (6) discusses why good assessment is needed for teaching English conversation, and suggests some methods for achieving good assessment. The book also has five appendices that briefly discuss: (a) teaching vocabulary; (b) teaching pronunciation; (c) using grammar to teach English speaking; (d) three sample lesson plans; and (e) a list of classroom materials and web sites.The book is written for teachers and instructors who want to improve how they teach English conversation to ESL/EFL students. The book is informative and thoughtful, and provides a reasonable balance of practical and theoretical perspectives on teaching English conversation. Overall, this is a good book to have for teachers and instructors of ESL/EFL students.

著者は日本を含む様々な国々で英語を教えた経験があるため、欧米とは異なる日本独特の教室の雰囲気も了解しているところがミソ。英語を母語とする人が書いたEFL関連の本は、どうしても日本の教育現場の現状にそぐわないところがあるように思いますが、本書はそのジレンマを見事にクリアしています。異文化に敬意を払い、生徒の目線で常に英語教育を考えてきた姿勢は好感がもてます。本書に書かれている英語教師としての心構えや授業のアイディアは、どんな国の英語教育現場においても有効なんじゃないかな、と思えました。世界各国のESL/EFLの教育現場報告が20例紹介されており、外国ではどんな風に英語を学んでいるのかが垣間見えて興味深いです。また、著者が長年の経験から厳選したスピーキング活動20例や、不成功に終わった授業例が紹介されているのも参考になります。巻末に収められたESL/EFL関連のwebsiteリストに載っているホームページを実際にいくつか見てみましたが、使えるものがたくさんあり重宝しています。これだけの情報がつまった本なので、買っても損はしないと思います。本書はとてもシンプルな英語で書かれており、耳で聞いても内容がすっと頭にはいりそうな文体です。この本で使われている言い回しは、ネイティヴ・スピーカーとの英語の授業の打ち合わせの際にけっこう使えると思いました。カチカチの書き言葉ではなく、でもある程度のフォーマルさも保っている感じがします。