Book Reviews of Second Language Teaching and Learning

【Abstract】The Chinese language subject to subjective thinking pattern， inductive discourse patterns and low degree of uncertainty avoidance. The people who use English adopt objective thinking pattern， deductive discourse patterns and high degree of uncertainty avoidance. The differences between them are outstanding in language expression. And thus will lead to the mistranslation of business contracts， which will block the translation in business contracts.

【Key words】cross-cultural factors； business contracts； translation

【作者簡介】楊紅（1990.3.6- ），女，漢族，陜西蒲城人，現就讀于西安外國語大學英文學院2016級外國語言學及應用語言學專業，主要研究方向：應用語言學。

NUNAN， DAVID. Second Language Teaching and Learning. Beijing：Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press， 2001. Pp. F37， 339. ?31.90， paper. ISBN 7-5600-2376-2.

As the title of the book suggests， its primary goal is to introduce some essential knowledge and methods about second language teaching and learning （SLTL）. It is mainly designed for second or foreign language teachers， but can also be used as a reference book for postgraduates who are interested in classroom language teaching. In this book， the communicative approach and the learner-centered teaching method under this approach are mainly focused on.

The book comprises three parts， totaling ten chapters. The first part， containing the first three chapters， talks about the basic concepts about SLTL and is intended as a “concept map” for the rest of the book. The second part， covering Chapter Four， Five， and Six， mainly discusses the three essential elements in any successful language experience：language， learners， and the learning process. The final part， consisting of Chapter Seven， Eight， Nine， and Ten， mainly introduces the teaching of four language skills：listening， speaking， reading， and writing.

One obvious characteristic of the book is that the simple and plain language makes it very easy， but some profound theories may cause some difficulty. On the one hand， with few strange and difficult words， readers can go through the contents smoothly. On the other hand， some relevant theories in the book are profound and may need readers to have some basic knowledge about linguistic theories， thus they can understand them well.

Whats more， numerous merits are found about this book. One is that the title of the book perfectly matches with its contents. The first part of the book introduces some basic background knowledge and concepts about SLTL； the second part discusses language， learners， and learning processes； and the final part focuses on four basic language skills. Obviously， all the three parts have close relationships with the title of the book.

The unique arrangement and layout of the book makes up another merit of the book. Four prefaces of the book give a brief introduction of the history and current state of applied linguistics. After that， a Chinese introduction is presented about each chapter， which is more convenient for Chinese readers to learn about the main contents of the book. In addition， each chapter has similar structures. At the beginning of each chapter， there is an outline of the main issues. And in each chapter， some necessary figures and tables show the important information. In a word， the unique design of structures makes the book clear and logical.

The most noteworthy merit of the book is that the communicative approach and the learner-centered teaching method under it are regarded as the central ideas throughout the book. Firstly， the communicative approach not only absorbs the advantages of the traditional teaching approaches， but also complements their deficiencies. This approach mainly focuses on learners communicative competence， thus they will be more capable in real life communication. Secondly， the learner-centered teaching method shows great value as well. Actually， this method regards students as the center and encourages them to explore rather than to receive everything passively. Therefore， this method will meet students needs to a great extent， and is more appropriate for them.

However， any book may contain inevitable lapses or weaknesses. An obvious lapse in this book is a sentence on Page 198 — “In particular， the debate between product- and process-oriented approaches to reading are dealt with.” In this sentence， the predicate should be “is” rather than “are”. Though it is only a small problem， it may decrease readers trust in the author. Except the above lapse， another weakness of the book may be its too simple presentation of some cited theories， which may cause difficulty for comprehensive understanding.

All in all， from what have been presented above， the merits of the book far outweigh its weaknesses. And I strongly recommend it to second and foreign language teachers and those who will be language teachers in the future. The book will certainly bring them some significant implications in language teaching.

References：

[1]Nunan，D.（2001）.Second language teaching and learning.Beijing： Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.