LINGUIST List 12.2662

Wed Oct 24 2001

Disc: Review: Davies/Pearse, Success in Eng Teaching

Editor for this issue: Karen Milligan <karenlinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Luz Vasqez, Response to Ronald Sheen's request

Re: LINGUIST 12.2595

In addressing Ronald Sheen's first inquiry regarding Davies and
Pearse's book, I have to admit that, indeed, these authors do not
provide explicit empirical or comparative data supporting their
approach to teaching English. After providing a review of the
historical development of the various approaches to second language
teaching, the authors do however, state that their theoretical
framework falls under the communicative approach, but no mention is
made to any theories on SLA. The same as with most reference books
written for language teachers, Davies and Pearse's is a book whose
suggestions are presumably based on the authors' experience in the
classroom. It is briefly stated in the book that both authors have
had wide teacher training experience in Mexico. Nonetheless, and
despite what might seem a "pitfall", as an ESL learner and teacher
myself, I believe that language teaching theories and recommendations
based on one's teaching experience are certainly reliable. A language
teacher who has taught for ten or more years would have enough
experience to evidence what "seems to work" in the classroom. Yet, I
appreciate Sheen's inquiry, as it made me realize the importance of
specifying whether one's suggestions and approaches to language
teaching are based solely on one's own teaching experience; this would
avoid ambiguities like the that found in "Success in English
Teaching".

Even though, and as stated by Sheen, the suggestions offered in Davies
and Pearse might seem obvious or based on "the flimsiest of evidence",
I do not have evidence to support such a statement about the book in
question.