Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Grapin 2017 TESOL Quarterly
Grapin 2017 TESOL Quarterly
Grapin 2017 TESOL Quarterly
ROBYN MOLONEY
Macquarie University
Sydney, Australia
doi: 10.1002/tesq.379
REVIEWS 477
Having outlined their theoretical foundations, the authors turn to
applications. The book’s third section presents examples of various
practices the authors have implemented and evaluated in their own L2
teacher education programs. Across these examples, they emphasize
the critical role of teacher educators in providing deliberate and goal-
directed mediation that is responsive to the sociocultural histories of
prospective L2 teachers.
In the book’s final section, Johnson and Golombek return to a
more theoretical discussion of responsive mediation and its central
role in L2 teacher education. They describe their pedagogical
approach as mindful L2 teacher education, recognizing that “mindfulness
of what, how, and why we do what we do and its consequences”
(p. 163) for teachers is central to responsive mediation in L2 teacher
education. In the final pages, the authors describe several shifts in
thinking and practice needed to enact mindful L2 teacher education.
Overall, the book offers a theoretically grounded and empirically rich
window into L2 teacher education practices. While the first two sections
are heavy on theory, the case studies presented in the third section bring
these theories to life. By examining excerpts of discourse between teach-
ers and teacher educators, Johnson and Golombek convey the rich and
multilayered texture of these interactions as well as the dynamic nature
of responsive mediation. Perhaps the book’s most important contribu-
tion is its illustration of the indispensable role of teacher educators in
cultivating teacher expertise through systematic and intentional instruc-
tion. In an era marked by the de-professionalization of teaching, this
book is a welcome reminder that teacher education makes a difference.
If we are to expect the next generation of L2 teachers to be effective in
their roles, we should take seriously the authors’ call for more focused
inquiry into the practices of L2 teacher education.
Although the book covers a great deal of ground, it is noticeably
lacking in its consideration of content areas in L2 teacher education.
Due to the language-intensive nature of college- and career-ready con-
tent standards (Lee, Quinn, & Valdes, 2013), L2 teachers are increas-
ingly called upon to support L2 learners in a range of content areas,
including mathematics, science, and social studies. As a result, L2
teachers need to be familiar with the ways language is used across con-
tent areas as well as how they can support L2 learners in accessing rig-
orous content instruction in English (Valdes, Kibler, & Walqui, 2014).
Despite this urgent need, the case studies presented in the book fea-
ture prospective L2 teachers learning to teach exclusively in the con-
texts of English as a second language (ESL) and English language
arts. Ultimately, adopting a broader and more inclusive definition of
content areas may be necessary to ensure that L2 teachers are pre-
pared to meet the demands of contemporary classrooms.
REFERENCES
Lee, O., Quinn, H., & Valdes, G. (2013). Science and language for English lan-
guage learners in relation to Next Generation Science Standards and with
implications for Common Core State Standards for English language arts and
mathematics. Educational Researcher, 42, 223–233.
Valdes, G., Kibler, A., & Walqui, A. (2014). Changes in the expertise of ESL profession-
als: Knowledge and action in an era of new standards. Alexandria, VA: Teachers of
English to Speakers of Other Languages.
SCOTT E. GRAPIN
New York University
New York, New York, United States
doi: 10.1002/tesq.378
REVIEWS 479