Spring 1999 41

Chunking, Language Proficiency,and Teaching

Pan: The key term in Lewis’s book ischunk. A chunk can be one word or more, butin Lewis’s view, chunks can be regarded asbasic lexical items in L2 teaching.Unfortunately, he does not elaborate on howto chop an utterance into meaningful chunks.The same string of words may be a chunk inone context, but not in another. Lewis doesnot tell us how to chunk. He gives us someexamples, but not any techniques.

The Role of TranslationHa: Lewis says very clearly that transla-

tion is inevitable in L2 teaching and learning.When you cannot use the target language to

express an idea, you turn to the mothertongue. However, you should not translateword for word, but chunk for chunk. If youknow how to chunk, you can translate chunkfor chunk, and that is a condition for success-ful translation. Translation is, in his terms,just a way of raising consciousness aboutwords, and is, therefore, a central techniquein his lexical approach.

Putting the Lexical Approach IntoPractice

Ha: Lewis’s lexical notebook is a way toorganize and retrieve lexis. It is also an aid tonoticing—maximizing the chance of turninginput into intake. A large portion of his bookis devoted to exercises and activities (30exercises and 45 activities) that implementthis approach. These activities encourage thenoticing of chunks and serve as models forteachers to develop their own material.

Pan: The lexical notebooks are learnerdiaries for taking down the chunks. Whatlearners take down will depend on what we,as teachers, tell them about chunks, and whatthey choose to notice.

Ha: At first, learners may find identifyingchunks difficult. But this is true for anyapproach, not just for the lexical approach.Learners need time to develop skills.

Pan: From the cognitive point of view, itis a process of development. But every syl-labus has a timetable. In China, for example,we have a midterm and a final test. So eventhough development may still be incomplete,we have to test students.

The Lexical Approach: What’sNew?

Ha: First, many authors have writtenabout the role of vocabulary, so I think the

new thing here is terminology. Lewis hasgiven us more detail about chunking.Chunking helps contextualize the lexicalitems to be learned. Second, he confirms thenecessity of chunking, of breaking input intolexical pieces. And recombination requiresknowledge of grammar and phonology. Thatis why he calls it an integrated approach.

Pan: What interests me is where his viewof vocabulary is different from traditionaland current views. In his book, translation isseen as helpful, even inevitable, in EFL set-tings. But I still wonder why, in his approach,classroom interaction is not emphasized.That is what I would question. Anyway,Implementing the Lexical Approach is a goodread for EFL teachers.

Ha: For both EFL and ESL teachers, Ithink.

AuthorsPan Qing-sheng has taught EFL at the

secondary level in Shanghai, in the Peoples’Republic of China, for 16 years and is cur-rently studying for an MA in education(TESOL) at the University of South Australia,in Adelaide.

Ha Van Sinh has an MA in education(TESOL) and lectures in the English depart-ment at Nhatrang Teachers’ College, inVietnam.

The Self-Directed Teacher, part of theCambridge Language Education Series, is avaluable text for both teachers in training andexperienced teachers, as it offers a significantopportunity for self-reflection on a widerange of important issues. These issuesinclude student needs analysis, lesson plan-ning, error correction, classroom dynamics,maintaining an orderly classroom (even dur-ing group work), effective use of resources(including computers), affective issues suchas motivation and anxiety, as well as moni-toring and evaluating students’ progress.Experienced teachers will be glad to find cur-rent research underpinning all of these areas,along with exercises that allow them toreflect on their own teaching style. Authentictranscripts of classroom interactions included

throughout the book contain a wealth ofmaterial from which readers with little or noteaching experience can draw ideas to helpdevelop their own teaching styles. Obviouslysensitive to the preciousness of a teacher’stime and mental energy, Nunan and Lambhave written a clear and accessible text, evenoffering a prereading exercise to encouragereaders to formulate questions they wouldlike answered in key areas. Chapters beginwith an introduction and a concept map,allowing readers to get involved only at thelevel they desire. Each chapter can standalone, which is good for busy teachers whocan tackle only a little of the book at a timeor who wish to concentrate on a particulararea.

The Self-DirectedTeacher: Managing

the LearningProcess

David Nunan and Clarice Lamb.Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press, 1996.Pp. xiii + 296.

Reviewed by S. Tiffany MacFerrin

U.S. distributors for LanguageTeaching Publications are Delta Systems (800-323-8270)and the Alta Book Center (800-258-2375).

The Self-Directed Teacherdoes not focuson methods or theories, but on the decision-making processes teachers use to createeffective contexts and conditions for learn-ing. The authors realize that the new conceptof learner-centeredness places greaterresponsibility in teachers’ hands. Creating apositive environment in which students arenaturally motivated can be the greatest chal-lenge for the modern language teacher.Nunan and Lamb take on this challenge pieceby piece, addressing such issues as whatkinds of questions teachers ask. For example,closedquestions, requiring simple answersand little thought, can be made into openquestions, allowing students to think aboutand justify their answers, which involvesmore language use. The authors encourageteachers to reflect on the types of questionsthey ask in the classroom, using real class-room extracts that will seem familiar to mostteachers.

A controversial aspect of language teach-ing that is difficult for even the most experi-enced teacher to perfect is error correction.Just as students are diverse, so too are thebest methods of correcting errors. Nunan andLamb include research results that reflectcurrent trends in error correction and, moreimportant, exercises that allow teachers todiscover for themselves which methods ofcorrection are best for their students in differ-ent types of activities. Practical, understand-able, and easily implemented guidelines forhandling correction are also included.

In the chapter devoted to classroom talk,Nunan and Lamb also tackle the problems ofnot giving students enough time to formulatean answer and of losing students’ interest iftoo much time is spent waiting for a studentto answer. The two authors go beyond the

cut-and-dried answers by discussing researchoutcomes regarding which activities requiremore wait-time and how wait-time can breakthe momentum. It is likely that teachers willreact to the many complex answers in thisbook with a recognition that these are truereflections of what they encounter in theirclassrooms: that teaching methods are nevereither good or bad; some are simply moreappropriate for certain activities than others.

For new teachers who want to know howteaching styles affect their students, this bookholds enough material to be useful for years.For more experienced teachers, this bookoffers a refreshing change from didactic the-ories that often offer only limited insights.Well written and easily comprehended, thisbook can be opened to any page, where thereader will find thought-provoking discus-sions and relevant research. Do not be put offby the tasks included in the self-reflective

exercises in this book. The questions willquickly engage you in a dialogue with theauthors, from which you will learn more thanfrom any amount of reading. This book rec-ognizes that teaching, like any human activ-ity, is complex and defies simplegeneralizations. If there is but one theorybehind this book, it is that to improve ourteaching, we should begin by reflecting onthe effects our current teaching has on our-selves and our students.

AuthorS. Tiffany MacFerrin has taught ESL/EFL

in California and Japan, and currentlyteaches at the Center for English as a SecondLanguage at the University of Arizona, inTucson, in the United States.

42 TESOL Journal

REVIEWS

Past approaches to second language (L2)learning have focused on learners’ linguisticcompetence, leading materials developers tocreate texts that were grammar driven. Now,as ESL instructors strive to create commu-nicatively competent learners, they need—yet seldom find—adequate materials thataddress the sociolinguistic and strategic com-petencies vitally needed by L2 learners. Insearch of materials that would adequatelyprepare L2 learners in areas of sociolinguisticcompetence, I discoveredVarieties of

English, part of Alliance, the Michigan StateUniversity Textbook Series of Theme-basedContent Instruction for ESL/EFL. This booktakes a theme-based approach to L2 instruc-tion, serving as a useful and interesting text-book for postsecondary settings, andspecifically designed for high intermediate-to advanced-level L2 learners.

Topics presented in the seven chapters ofthis book include standard versus nonstan-dard English, register variation, U.S. regionaland dialectical differences, language and sex-

Varieties of EnglishSusan M. Gass and Natalie Lefkowitz.

Ann Arbor: The University ofMichigan Press, 1995.

Pp. xvi + 120.

Reviewed by Latricia Trites