English Language Teaching Now and How It Could Be By Geoff Jordan and Mike Long (2022) Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 315 pp.

Abstract

Jordan and Long’s English Language Teaching Now and How It Could Be is a book that aims to inform English language teaching (ELT) students and teachers about the importance of second language acquisition findings in shaping up effective classroom teaching. The first chapters highlight what we know about second language acquisition and how it should relate to teaching. The authors argue that ELT teaching being mainly coursebook-driven, is not evidence informed, and this shortcoming has perpetuated several myths about language and language acquisition such as the idea that language can be learnt like any other skill or that grammar can be learnt through extensive explicit information and mechanical practice. Their main argument is that the insistence in using ineffective coursebooks and teaching materials has forced English language teachers to instruct their students in a way that contradicts robust findings in second language acquisition research.