MAKING COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING HAPPEN (2nd ed.). James F. Lee and Bill VanPatten. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2003. Pp. vi + 300. $75.65 cloth.

Teacher educators, students, and in-service teachers alike will find this to be a valuable resource. This text provides a clear and concise review of SLA research, effective approaches to language teaching, and numerous practical activities for the classroom. Although the book is written mainly from the foreign language classroom perspective, English as a second language specialists will also find it relevant.

PORTRAITS OF THE L2 USER. Vivian Cook (Ed.). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters, 2002. Pp. viii + 304. $89.95 cloth, $39.95 paper.

This volume will be a welcome addition to those who believe, as does Cook, that second language (L2) users should be studied for what they are and can do on their own terms, rather than in comparison to native speakers. However, the book might be less appealing to readers who do not share Cook's L2 user viewpoint, which is reiterated throughout the text. Instead of viewing L2 users as deficient native speakers, this book reflects a significant departure from traditional SLA research by accounting for L2 users' performance independently from that of monolingual native speakers. Cook proposes that this outlook will enable SLA researchers to examine the factors making L2 users what they are, instead of focusing on the reasons for which they have failed to become what they are not—that is, native speakers.

New directions for research in L2 writing presents 12 state-of-the-art studies of second language (L2) writing processes. In their introduction to this thoughtfully designed volume, the editors pose two questions to frame the book's psycholinguistic orientation: (a) How are cognitive demands on writing processes made in L2? and (b) How do L2 writing, L2 acquisition, and first language (L1) knowledge interact? The second chapter, a critical analysis of current research on cognitive processes in L1 and L2 writing, comprehensively prefigures the present volume's methodological and theoretical themes. Authors Roca de Larious, Murphy, and Marín synthesize a wide band of research on factors influencing L1 and L2 writing development, laying the groundwork for the remaining 10 chapters.

We compared the acquisition of various dimensions of fluency by 28 students of French studying in three different learning contexts: formal language classrooms in an at home (AH) institution, an intensive summer immersion (IM) program, and a study abroad (SA) setting. For the purpose of oral data collection, students participated in oral interviews (similar to the Oral Proficiency Interview) at the beginning and the end of the semester and provided information regarding language use and interactions. Analyses included comparisons of gain scores as a function of the learning context and as a function of the time reported using French outside of class. The main findings that reached statistical significance include: (a) The IM group made significant gains in oral performance in terms of the total number of words spoken, in length of the longest turn, in rate of speech, and in speech fluidity based on a composite of fluidity measures. When compared to the AH group, the SA group made statistically significant gains only in terms of speech fluidity but fewer gains than the IM group. The AH group made no significant gains. (b) The IM students reported that they spoke and wrote French significantly more hours per week than the other two groups. The SA group reported using English more than French (although the difference was not statistically significant) and reported using significantly more English in out-of-class activities than the IM group. (c) Multiple regression analyses revealed that reported hours per week spent writing outside of class was significantly associated with oral fluidity gains.Appreciation is expressed to a number of organizations and individuals without whom this project would not have been brought to completion. Contributions of funding, technical support and expertise, or both are acknowledged from: ACTFL (Elvira Spender and Robert Vicars); Carnegie Mellon University (The Office of the President and Bonnie Youngs in the Department of Modern Languages); The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada; Concordia University (International Initiatives Research Program, Office of the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science); Concordia University (Randall Halter, Eric Buisson, Christine Brassard, Eowyn Crisfield, Nilmini de Silva, Sarah Frenkiel, and Heather Wilcox); Middlebury College (Clara Yu, Michael Katz, Beth Karnes, Kara Gennarelli, Paula Schwartz, Carol Rifelj, Jean-Claude Redonnet, Guy Spielmann, Beverly Keim, Anna Sun, and Alex Chapin). The authors also thank Nicole Lazar for her helpful statistical advice.

To investigate the role of context in reading development, a comparison of reading comprehension and processes was conducted between learners of Japanese as a second language in study abroad (SA; n = 15) and intensive domestic (in the United States) immersion (IM; n = 15) contexts. A significant difference was found between contexts in pretest to posttest gains on only one measure of reading comprehension, a self-assessment. Differences on the two other measures of comprehension—free-recall and vocabulary knowledge—were not significant. The self-assessment measure indicated that SA students felt more confident reading the second language than their IM counterparts. In terms of reading processes, think-aloud protocols showed significant differences in changes over time in the amount of monitoring understanding (less for IM than SA) and responding and reacting to text content affectively or emotionally (more for IM than SA). In the IM context, office-hour interaction with teachers influenced students to monitor comprehension less and more efficiently and to respond affectively to text more often. Variability in terms of gains on reading measures and contact with language and culture outside of class was greater for SA than for IM. The controlled IM setting and the open SA context contributed to differences in variability. The need for a variety of new measures designed to capture gains specific to any given context is discussed and specific suggestions for new measures are given.I wish to thank the following individuals for their help: Joe Collentine and Barbara F. Freed for extensive feedback on the manuscript; Barbara F. Freed, G. Richard Tucker, and Isabel Beck for advising on the dissertation that led to this manuscript; the Office of Michael Katz, Dean of the Language Schools at Middlebury College, for facilitating much of the data collection for this study through the Baker Research Fellowship; my former colleagues at Carnegie Mellon University for ongoing input throughout this study; and the two anonymous SSLA reviewers of this paper for their input and suggestions.

From the title of this book, one might expect a review of English teaching methodologies. Although teaching methods are discussed, the book actually sets out to define English as an international language (EIL), as opposed to a second or foreign language (L2), and through this lens, carefully reexamines every aspect of English teaching and learning.

SECOND LANGUAGE WRITERS' TEXT: LINGUISTIC AND RHETORICAL FEATURES. Eli Hinkel. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 2002. Pp. v + 370. $89.95 cloth, $45.00 paper.

This volume provides one of the most comprehensive analyses of academic writing in a second language (L2). Hinkel documents extensive research in the linguistic and rhetorical features found in L2 writing, weaving into her discussion a review of the research in first language (L1) writing. But this is not a book about contrastive rhetoric. Hinkel's purpose is to map out the particular features that constitute L2 academic writing through a review of the literature and her own empirical study, which dominates this book.

THE L2 ACQUISITION OF TENSE-ASPECT MORPHOLOGY. Rafael Salaberry and Yasuhiro Shirai (Eds.). Amsterdam: Benjamins, 2002. Pp. x + 489. $110.00 cloth.

This volume originated from a colloquium on the second language (L2) acquisition of tense and aspect organized by Salaberry and Shirai at the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Applied Linguistics in 1999. It contains revised versions of a selection of the colloquium papers and additional invited contributions for a total of 15 chapters authored by 16 contributors, many of whom have already made important contributions to our understanding of this area of SLA. Six L2s are investigated: English, Italian, French, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, and Japanese.

The study of SLA, as is true for much social science research, aims broadly at answering questions of causality—for instance, “Is one learning context more likely than another to promote gains in second language learning?” Context-of-learning research in the study of SLA, however, often involves observational, rather than experimental, manipulation of subjects. As is well known, this compromises the ability to draw causal inferences. There are some interesting possibilities for overcoming this handicap, arising from recent statistical theory. In particular, the so-called Rubin causal model has some advantages over other approaches, such as path analysis, that are more familiar to social scientists. The purpose of this article is to relate ideas of causal inference to the studies presented in this thematic issue and to suggest how they may be useful to future research in SLA, particularly in context-of-learning studies.

COGNITION AND SECOND LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION. Peter Robinson (Ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Pp. xi + 453. $77.00 cloth, $33.00 paper.

This book is part of the Cambridge University Press series in Applied Linguistics, edited by Michael H. Long and Jack C. Richards. The edited collection presents cognitive perspectives on second language (L2) learning, a topic that is currently receiving a great deal of attention in SLA research. The series editors, both of whom have produced notable research in L2 learning, point out: “cognition and cognitive factors, therefore, are central to any account of how and why SLA works, or so often fails, and equally central to the theory and practice of second language instruction” (p. vii). Robinson is one of the driving forces behind the current interest in cognitive approaches to SLA. He has proposed a view of the field that involves exploring the connections between SLA and aspects of human cognition, such as attention, awareness, and memory, as well as the role of individual differences in SLA and L2 learning conditions (e.g., Robinson, 1997, 2001, 2002). Robinson has assembled an impressive lineup of contributors.

Bernard Dov Spolsky is certainly deserving of a festschrift honoring his work: His career, which has taken him from New Zealand to Australia, to Israel, and to Canada and the United States, and back again to Israel, is one that has made a huge impact on the field of educational linguistics broadly conceived. His work includes major contributions with respect to Maori and Navajo educational programs, bilingual education in North America, and issues related to language policy studies and minority language education around the world. His commitment to issues of social justice and equity is well known and well articulated in his work and in his life, and this commitment is also clearly reflected in the contributions to this volume.

GENRE IN THE CLASSROOM: MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES. Ann M. Johns (Ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 2002. Pp. ii + 350. $32.50 paper.

This book provides an excellent introduction to recent developments in genre analysis and related pedagogies. Although it assumes some background knowledge of applied linguistics and genre studies, the volume should be of interest to writing researchers as well as professors who teach the teaching of writing and other courses dealing with genre-related issues. The book is also suitable for any serious Master's or doctoral student with an interest in genre issues, whether for the purposes of scholarly investigation, teaching, or both.

CROSS-LINGUISTIC INFLUENCE IN THIRD LANGUAGE ACQUISITION: PSYCHOLINGUISTIC PERSPECTIVES. Jasone Cenoz, Britta Hufeisen, and Ulrike Jessner (Eds.). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters, 2001. Pp. 197. $54.95 cloth.

Although linguists often employ “native-language influence” as a shorthand for language transfer, most are well aware that crosslinguistic influence can come not only from the first language (L1) but also from the second language (L2) in cases where the target language is the third language (L3). Even so, there remains the question of just how similar the acquisition of L3 (or L4, etc.) may be to what is, strictly speaking, L2 acquisition. This question naturally intersects with the complexities of crosslinguistic influence, and the study of transfer beyond L2 has received increasing attention in the past 10 years or so. It was high time for a single volume that would bring together many strands of research on the problem, and this one edited by Cenoz, Hufeisen, and Jessner will no doubt become a key resource. The collection has an introduction by the editors and 10 chapters with the following authors: Cenoz; Hammarberg; De Angelis and Selinker; Ringbom; Dewaele; Ecke; Herwig; Kellerman; Fouser; and Gibson, Hufeisen, and Libben.

Savignon's goal for this volume is to describe various “initiatives, projects, and activities” that seek to make language teaching communicative in the broad sense (p. ix). Interestingly, half of the pages that follow the introductory chapter are devoted to projects in Asia (Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan), and the three articles from the American context have either a primarily theoretical focus or a report on innovation through technology. The remaining contribution reports on a project in the Netherlands to increase autonomy on the part of second language learners. The overarching motif of the volume is that of innovation and its dependence on specific contextual conditions, with a recurring theme being the difficulty of effecting significant change in teacher behaviors.

Efforts to gather data of various sorts—demographics, language-learning history, contact with native speakers, use of the language in the field—as they relate to participants in SLA research studies are inherent to understanding more about language acquisition and use. Scholars frequently develop questionnaires of their own, which are rarely shared widely in the profession. Consequently, much time and effort is invested in reinventing the process of gathering the types of data that are commonly needed.This research was funded in part by a grant to Barbara F. Freed from the Council for International Educational Exchange (New York), in part by a grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to Norman Segalowitz, and in part by a grant from the Dean's Office, Faculty of Arts and Science, at Concordia University to Segalowitz.

DIALOGUE ON WRITING: RETHINKING ESL, BASIC WRITING, AND FIRST-YEAR COMPOSITION. Geraldine DeLuca, Len Fox, Mark-Ameen Johnson, and Myra Kogen (Eds.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 2002. Pp. xvi + 488. $46.00 paper.

This collection is weighty, offering the reader 28 essays on first (L1) and second (L2) language writing theory and method in the college composition classroom, although the concepts of “theory” and “method” become problematic by the end of the collection. In their preface, the editors—who work with basic writers, English as a second language (ESL) writers, and first-year composition students—state that the book arose out of their conversations about the needs and strengths of these writers. The editors' backgrounds offered them an opportunity to look at the issue of college writing from a variety of perspectives as they began the task of selecting pieces for the collection. Three years and 300 articles later, they came down to 28 pieces, divided thematically into four parts—teaching writing, becoming a writer, responding to writing, and beyond the writing classroom. One of the editors wrote a separate introductory essay for each part, providing a comprehensive overview; indeed, one of the strengths of the anthology is the editorial voice that opens each section.

DEVELOPING ADVANCED LITERACY IN FIRST AND SECOND LANGUAGES: MEANING WITH POWER. Mary J. Schleppegrell and M. Cecilia Colombi (Eds.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 2002. Pp. x + 274. $69.95 cloth, $29.95 paper.

This volume is an edited collection of essays that was based on a conference organized at the University of California, Davis in 2000. It consists of a preface and 13 chapters. The editors have managed to assemble a respectable and versatile group of contributors: Celce-Murcia, Baugh, Gee, García, Lemke, Martin, Christie, Merino and Hammond, Ramanathan, and Scarcella. These contributors, because of their varied backgrounds, guarantee a well-rounded account of literacy development from the viewpoints of functional linguistics, sociocultural theory, and SLA.

This heterogeneous collection is dedicated to the extensive contributions of van Essen to language pedagogy, among them nearly a half century of publications listed in the book's dedication. The volume comprises 25 contributions by 31 colleagues who collaborated with van Essen during the span of his career, and they are divided into four parts: the history of linguistics, essays (position papers), studies, and reports.

DEVELOPING PROFESSIONAL-LEVEL LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY. Betty Lou Leaver and Boris Shekhtman (Eds.). New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Pp. xiv + 308. $65.00 cloth, $24.00 paper.

In the face of a vast array of non-English culture and language media, increases in diaspora populations in the United States and elsewhere, the importance of global circuits of capital (and hence global communicative practices), and the increasing penetration of world events into the lives of Americans (with its implications for national security), one would surmise that developing professional-level additional language expertise would not be the exception that it is in the United States. Lambert (2001) described the low percentage of American students who study a foreign language at the advanced level and estimated that only 3% of those studying commonly taught languages such as Spanish or French enroll in advanced-level courses. Although support for less commonly taught languages (LCTL) such as Arabic have recently increased, students enrolled in LCTL programs are presumably even fewer in number. It is also clear that advanced-level coursework occupies only a fraction of most language programs' overall investment of resources. In a fiscal climate that makes the academy increasingly accountable to private sector logic, few interested students make developing advanced language programs a nonutilitarian choice.

Publications received.