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challenge for test developers to create a technically authentic, reliable, valid,

and culturally appropriate test.
Short as it is, this book is worth reading. It clearly explains and discusses
issues in language assessment and testing through examples. It is a practical
guide providing useful information for second language teaching professionals
and research for students who wish to develop more valid and reliable tests.
Time-poor but interested people will find this book particularly helpful.

Reviewed by Ping Yang

The University of Western Sydney, Australia

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E-mail: p.yang@uws.edu.au
doi:10.1093/applin/ams068 Advance Access published on 30 November 2012

REFERENCES
Brown, J. D. 2005. Testing in Language Programs: Hughes, A. 2003. Testing for Language Teachers,
A Comprehensive Guide to English Language 2nd edn. Cambridge University Press.
Assessment. McGraw-Hill.

Graham Hall: EXPLORING ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING.

Routledge, 2011.

The real world problems and practices of language learners, and therefore of
language teachers too, are Graham Hall’s starting point in Exploring English
Language Teaching, and his treatment of methods, approaches, and theory is
consistently mindful of the pedagogical, institutional, and social contexts in
which learners operate. To achieve this focus, Hall has intentionally adopted a
‘back-to-front’ perspective, exemplifying a central tenet of applied linguistics
by first exposing and establishing problematic areas of ELT, then exploring
ways in which empirical and theoretical investigation can inform and address
these.
The book is written for a postgraduate readership, and in particular for lan-
guage practitioners who are returning to academic study. It is appropriate,
then, that the author presents four broad themes in ELT in an order which
moves from what is probably most familiar to the practitioner/reader—features
of the classroom—through perspectives on teaching methods and learner
characteristics, to less-often considered socio-cultural influences on ELT. The
reference to ‘Teaching’ in the title is perhaps misleading; there is little doubt
that ‘Learning’ is the paramount focus not only in the ‘Learners’ section but
also throughout the volume, and consideration of the learner stretches beyond
standard discussions of learner differences, to address the complex and often
under-represented issues of learner identities and learners’ interactions with
the local and global settings which frame their activities.
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The first of the book’s four sections, ‘Classroom interaction and manage-
ment’, opens with a chapter on ‘roles, relationships, and interactions’ in
the classroom, which attends in particular to the way teachers’ decisions
(about error correction, questioning) can affect classroom discourse and, by
extension, learning outcomes. This theme continues into the following chap-
ter, ‘Intervening in the language classroom’, and here Hall presents learning
environments as complex systems, shaped by personalities and identities,
which have to accommodate the constraints and opportunities afforded
by new communication modes and learning platforms. The final chapter of
this first section moves towards a more academic perspective on the learning

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environment, and Hall challenges the reader with extreme and less conven-
tional conceptualizations of the classroom as ‘experimental laboratory’, ‘coral
garden’, and the place of ‘unplugged teaching’. The reader is encouraged to
analyse metaphors of teaching, and to reflect on the values, social pressures,
and agendas of the classroom.
The second section of the book addresses methods and methodology, taking
a broad view of these familiar terms. The first chapter attempts to unpack the
notion of language learning, and indeed the notion of language as it relates to
the learner, and the tension in ELT between knowing about the target lan-
guage and being able to use it. Some core theories of language acquisition
(Universal Grammar, the Monitor Model, cognitive processing models, social
constructivism) are introduced in this chapter, always with close reference to
the classroom context so that their relevance to teacher and learner is clear.
The following chapter is perhaps the book’s most conventional in terms of
content and design. The author describes, in the expected, chronological
way, the dominant language teaching methods of the last century, and
uses the chapter’s task boxes to encourage the reader to take a considered,
critical approach to these. This questioning approach leads to a discussion
of ‘Post-method practice’, and the last chapter of this section explores the
debates and difficulties surrounding SLA approaches and methods in this
‘post-method era’. Here, Hall manages to summarize some complex theoretical
models in an accessible way, but does not over-simplify, confronting the reader
with difficult areas of academic debate and disagreement. The fact that this
chapter ends with Hall championing the role of ‘plausibility’ in the face of
these compelling, but contradictory theories, is typical of his practice-driven
approach.
Section 3 of the book focuses explicitly on the learner. The starting point
here is learner individuality, seen as the dynamic interaction of learner char-
acteristics and relationships, which determines learners’ contribution to their
language learning processes and environment. Hall deliberately avoids
the term ‘individual differences’ because of the unrealistic labelling and cate-
gorizing it carries. The theme of ‘learner diversity’ emerges from this, and the
second chapter of this section considers ways in which learners drive their own
language development, through strategy selection, skills focus, and activity
choice. The last chapter of this section, ‘Images of the learner’, introduces
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the reader to learner-based theories, contrasting those which focus on the

learner’s internal mental processes with those which focus on the learner as
a social being.
The final section of the book, ‘Institutional frameworks and social contexts’,
positions the language learning experience in its local and global contexts.
The first chapter here tackles the topical and problematic issues of language
variety (which ‘English’ to teach), teaching mode (teaching English or teach-
ing through the medium of English), and the way socio-cultural factors
can affect language classrooms. Next, the author considers syllabus design,
materials selection and language testing, observing that decisions around

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these reflect practical constraints and institutional priorities, as much as lan-
guage learning theory and methodology. Hall’s final chapter takes a step back
from the immediate contexts of English language teaching, and examines its
place in educational, political, and research agendas. He deliberately draws
attention to the ‘competing discourses’ which currently surround both ELT
and English as a language. This chapter typifies Hall’s approach throughout
the book, in its presentation of problematic and complex issues in a way which
is both challenging and accessible.
The volume is, then, comprehensive, with references to central texts and
scholars in the field, and sections on major themes and relevant arguments in
ELT. Although there is little scholarly discussion as such, with theories and
models dealt with in necessarily brief overviews, appropriate references to core
literature are given for further reading. The impressive, and challenging, elem-
ent of Hall’s approach is that rather than simply leading the reader through a
series of thematic summaries, he presents concepts which are usually treated
in relative isolation and from an essentially SLA theory perspective, in such a
way as to force consideration of their relevance to the individual learner (and
teacher) experience. An important strength of the book is this explicit acknow-
ledgement of the tensions which result from the application of diverse theories
to the real world learning experience. An example of this, from Hall’s chapter
on ‘images of language learners’, is the juxtaposition of the ‘internal syllabus’
notion with the ‘acculturation model’; Hall notes that ‘SLA theorists tend to
research in one tradition or the other; however, ELT practitioners are not so
constrained and are likely to draw upon those elements that seem intuitively
appealing, plausible or recognizable in their own professional context as they
search for understanding of language learners and the language classroom’
(p. 176). Given that practitioners entering postgraduate study often feel dis-
advantaged by the apparently exclusive nature of academic culture, this rec-
ognition that the practitioner’s standpoint can be a positively advantageous
one, is insightful.
Hall engages very deliberately with the practitioner/reader, by embedding
within each chapter tasks and questions which encourage the reader to reflect
critically on his/her own language teaching practices. It is almost certainly the
case that the author is articulating here, to language professionals, the very
questions and dilemmas which have prompted them to undertake academic
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study of their field, and which have therefore brought them to this book.
By harnessing practitioners’ experience in this way, the author activates and
extends engagement with the chapter content. The style and organization of
the book are appropriate to novice academic readers, with aims and objectives
clearly stated, context established, and existing knowledge and beliefs elicited
through the series of task boxes, and then extended with information, exem-
plification, and critical discussion. An efficient glossary and task commentaries
add to the accessibility of the content.
This volume is reminiscent of Lightbown and Spada (2006) for its appeal
to practitioners who are training as novice researchers, and, like that volume,

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it is commendable for the clear and insightful course it steers between
language teaching pedagogy and second language acquisition theory. Hall’s
attention to the position of ELT, and ELT research, in an environment of
competing demands and priorities, gives his book a current relevance, and
recognizes the complexity of the challenges faced by teachers and learners in
the real world.

Reviewed by Tess Fitzpatrick

Centre for Language and Communication Research,
Cardiff University, UK
E-mail: fitzpatrickt@cardiff.ac.uk
doi:10.1093/applin/ams069 Advance Access published on 30 November 2012

REFERENCE
Lightbown, P.M. and N. Spada. 2006. How
Languages are Learned. Oxford: OUP.

Ken Hyland: DISCIPLINARY IDENTITIES: INDIVIDUALITY

AND COMMUNITY IN ACADEMIC DISCOURSE.
Oxford University Press, 2012.

Ken Hyland’s Disciplinary Identities: Individuality and Community in Academic

Discourse provides a detailed account of how identities are constructed and
performed through the use of language in different academic disciplines
across a range of academic genres. Taking a corpus-based perspective,
Hyland shows the strength of employing this approach for bringing to light
the ways of doing things with language that are characteristic of different
disciplines and different writers within these disciplines. A particular strength
of this book is the way in which it theorizes disciplinary differences and the
wide range of insights it provides into how individuals draw on linguistic re-
sources to both achieve and maintain disciplinary membership. As Hyland