The Nature of Language: A Short Guide to What's in Our Heads

by Bill VanPatten

Why a book on the nature of language? The answer is surprising in this new book by Bill VanPatten. Language just isn't what most of us think it is-and because of that, the need to know about the nature of language takes on new importance for teachers who really want to teach for acquisition, who truly want to teach for communicative ability and proficiency. It provides teachers with one of the important arguments for striking out on their own and exploring new methods and alternative curricula and assessments. Engaging and reader friendly, this book will challenge every teacher's ideas about what winds up in learners' heads. It will lead teachers to question the content of most current textbooks and the practices contained in them.

Genres: Teaching

128 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 13, 2015

Reviews

[Chispita Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

complex topics that age quickly; the appendices need more appendices already. hard to believe that a book written in 2018 needs so much updating, though it is still incredibly useful 💔💔💔

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would be a great read if you are a pre-service or early career teacher. There are some terrific ideas in the book, but it focuses pretty heavily on the mechanics of unit planning and writing objectives and assessments, rather than specific types of social justice activities that lend themselves well to a world language classroom. There are, however, a number of sample units, assessments, etc throughout the book. Veteran teachers may find themselves having to sift through a lot of information that is already familiar to them to uncover the "good stuff", but it's in there.

[Ashley Ruhl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helpful advice for implementing a social justice based curriculum into classroom teaching. It covers strategies and obstacles that a teacher may face as she/he moves toward a more socially conscious focus in a world language classroom, but many of the strategies feel as if they could be used in other classes as well.

[Erin Austin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an excellent, timely, and well-organized book. I own/read the first edition, but I know there is at least one other, and I'd like to read that one too.

My professional action area is global education, and social justice education is RIPE with ties to the global ed movement. I see opportunities for collaboration there.

I highly recommend this book to all world language educators!

[Carrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazingly clear and informative resource for world language teachers interested in incorporating more social justice into the classroom. It's beyond important to normalize these tough conversations in the classroom and to give students tools to express themselves, reflect and learn.