REVIEWS 295

Seliger, Herber t W. and Long, Michael H. (eds.), Classroom Oriented Research in Second Language Acquisition. Rowley, London, Tokyo: Newbury House, 1983, 305 pp., $15.95.

• . . we know almost as little about what goes on in the classroom as about what goes on in Chomsky ' s hypothetical language acquisition device which is often referred to as a " b l a c k b o x " (Lightbown, 220).

There are many readers on the subject of second language acquisi t ion--but there are only a few trying to bridge the gap between research and what actually takes place in the language classroom. The binary focus on both, theory and its application, is one of the main advantages of this volume. Twelve American authors (most of them female) present thirteen papers concentrat ing on five different topics often neglected in other volumes in the same genre: methodological issues (Long), learner strategies and learner variables (Beebe, Baile~,, Bialystok), teacher speech (Chaudron, Schinke-Llano), teacher and learner feedback (Nystrom, Gaies) and input, interaction, and acquisition in the second language classroom (Lightbown, Seliger, Long and Sato, Larsen-Freeman). Most of the papers start with a review of the research done so far and continue with the description and discussion of experimental studies carried out with a large number of students and teachers. Each of the papers provides the reader with an extensive bibliography for further reading and a series of questions (compiled by the editors) for discussion and activities. It must however be mentioned that the tasks required are rather suited for teachers having a class 'at hand' . And there is another restriction concerning the theoretical parts of the papers- - they might be too specialized for readers not familiar with linguistic theories and recent publications on the g r am m ar of discourse. But even connoisseurs will be prevented from browsing because of the density of the information presented in most of the papers.

It will not be possible to discuss all of the papers presented in this volume. In order to describe the governing tendency of the collection we shall concentrate only on a few selected because of their prototypical character. What is meant by 'prototype' is the multidimensional approach, i.e. second language acquisition is seen as a complex phenomenon involving biological, social, linguistic and psychological variables in addition to the effect of instruction. The reader should not approach the book with great expectations of neurolinguistic information: there is very little said about the biological foundations of second language acquisition. The primary stress is laid on paralinguistic aspects such as risk-taking, competitiveness and anxiety, feedback, and teacher-student interaction--all of them linked with their linguistic consequences. Teacher talk, for instance, is seen here as a special register designed for conveying information, with an explicit transparent language which frequently requires simplification and restructuring to learners who often lack fundamental linguistic competence.

The blackbox second-language classroom is scrutinized (from the outside) in the methodological issues discussed by Long with reference to interactional and anthropological approaches• Learner strategies and learner variables are described as varying in inverse proport ion to the ethnicity of the interviewer and the linguistic domain studied (Beebe). Diary studies show that anxiety is caused and/or aggravated by the learner's competitiveness (Bailey). Bialystock focuses on the cognitive strategy of inferencing in the reading process where global and lexical comprehension are boosted by supplementary lexical information.

2 9 ¢ , i¢t " !! k\ '-

Teacher speech, as mentioned above, shox~s modifications and adjustments to the competence of the learner (Chaudron and Schinke-I+lano). It must however bc pointed out that oversimplification may increase the cognitive processing load for the second language learner (Chaudron). Part four on teacher and learner feedback concentrates o~i the relation to interaction models of first language acquisition (Nystrom) and to the categor~ of unsolicited feedback (Gales). The last part is dedicated to linguistic issues, more preciseb to the linguistic properties o! teacher's atzd/cartwr's vpeech. Lightbown takes up a topic often discussed in first language acquisi t ion--the accuracy orders fox grammatical morphemes and the student 's own interlanguage rules. Seliger characterizes two basic types of learners, high and low input generators, who differ in their + active participation. Long and Sato give an outline of the interactional structures m the discourse between native and non-native speakers. Finally, Larsen-Freeman suggests the elaboration of a developmental index of English as a second language as a basis for the sequencing of teaching grammar and the construction of language materials. All of the papers have two purposes, (a) to familiarize the reader with second language research, and (b) to trigger off the activation and application of concepts.

Following this sketchy outline, we will proceed to a more detailed discussion of five papers: Chaudron, Lightbown, Seliger, Long and Sato, and Karsen-Freeman. Chaudron (Foreigner Talk in the Classroom) produces strong evidence for identical universal processes of simplification that underlie first and second language acquisition and speech accommodat ion and reduction by fully competent speakers, such as phonological and morphological regularization, a less varied vocabulary, canonically ordered clauses, and less subordination. Conversely, this linguistic simplification is accompanied by cognitively more redundant speech. Lightbown's paper on developmental versus instructional sequences in second language acquisition starts with a brief discussion of research done on the 'natural sequence' in the acquisition of English grammatical morphemes. The results of her large- scale study with French Canadians show corresponding, but different results, viz. there are predictable sequences in second language acquisition, but no support was obtained in favour of the natural sequence hypothesis--there is no direct relationship between frequency and accuracy. Seliger's studies on the effects of classroom interaction emphasize ~he communicat ive aspect in the language classroom. Using the target language as a tool for social interaction affects the rate and the quality of second language acquisition. The product ion of high input generators is qualitatively and quantitatively different from that of low input generators for the following reason: due to their initiating interactions, high input generators accumulate more personalized input to themselves, giving them more opportunity to test second language hypotheses.This results in a lower percentage of errors and little interference. Long and Sato present an exploratory investigation of the form and function of the teacher 's questions in classrooms where English is taught as a second language comparing them with situations outside the classroom. It is hardly surprising that the authors noticed a shift of the communicative focus to extracurricular activities. Evidence is given for the deplorable fact the second language teachers continue to emphasize form over meaning, accuracy over communication, t_arsen-Freeman describes her contribution to a second language index of development "as a yardstick against which global second language proficiency could be guarded" (287). lh is yardstick offers more descriptive and explanatory adequacy than the classification of learners into beginning, intermediate, and advanced. The criteria an index has to meet are the crucial ones of objectivity, reliability,

REVIEWS 29"

ease of application and universality. The basis for Larsen-Freeman's suggestions is the analysis of 212 composit ions (a similar test was carried out with conversation and story retelling) performed in two steps, estimation and identification of units and errors. The best discrimination measures singled out were the average number of words written per T-unit (= test unit, roughly corresponding to a clause), the total number of error-free T- units plus their percentage, and the average number of words per error-free T-unit (which increases with proficiency, as do syntactic elaborat ion and error elimination). So far this promising preliminary version is valid for English only.

It is regretable that this reader is not furnished with an index allowing for cross-sectional comparison. Since most of the papers (especially those within the same section) show a strong correlation in their theoretical parts an index would be most helpful for the collection of parallel information. A survey is however given in the introduction (Seliger and Long) as a guideline to the topics discussed in this comprehensive book.

lnstitut for Anglistik Universit~it Graz HeinrichstraBe 26 A-8010 Graz Osterreich

Annemarie Karpf

McDonough, Jo, ESP in Perspective. A Practical Guide. London: Collins ELT, 1984, pp. 154.

This medium length teacher-directed textbook is divided into eight chapters. The first six take the reader from the general to the par t icular- - f rom the general context of ESP, through the collection and interpretation of basic data (chapter 2), needs analysis (chapter 3), types of syllabus approach (chapter 4), course and material design (chapter 5) and then to the ESP classroom and its relationship with the " target world" . The final two chapters deal usefully with two other important issues (Testing, and the ESP Teacher) but ones which would be more difficult to integrate into the core ESP processes and practices discussed in the opening six chapters. Thus, ESP in Perspective is a well-planned book, both in terms of its organization and (with one major exception to be considered below) in terms of its coverage and balanced distribution of particular topics. The only drawback that I can see to the book ' s structure is that f rom a teacher 's point of view--as opposed to that of an ESP specialist--the second chapter entitled Fundamental Variables may be rather heavy going because of its concentration on the initial stages of course design and its consideration of financial and space resources, etc., i.e. matters that are not likely to involve teachers beginning a career in ESP.

In my view, some of the individual chapters are more successful than others. Perhaps the most successful of all is Chapter 3, The Analysis o f Learners' Needs. McDonough here handles a complex literature with great skill and confidence and leads the reader through