This book seeks to provide an overview of current approaches, issues, and practices in the teaching of English to speakers of other languages (TESOL). It has the following goals:

• to provide a comprehensive overview of the field of second and foreign language teaching, with a particular focus on issues related to the teaching of English

• to provide a source of teaching principles and classroom activities which teachers can refer to in their work

• to provide a source of readings and activities that can be used in TESOL teacher-education programs, for both preservice and in-service courses

The articles in this anthology offer a comprehensive picture of approaches to the teaching of English and illustrate the complexity underlying many of the practical planning and instructional activities it involves. These activities include teaching English at elementary, secondary, and tertiary levels, teacher training, language testing, curriculum and materials development, the use of computers and other technology in teaching, as well as research on different aspects of second language learning. The issues that form the focus of attention in TESOL around the world reflect the contexts in which English is taught and used. English in different parts of the world where it is not a native language may have the status of either a “second” or a “foreign” language. In the former case, it is a language that is widely used in society and learners need to acquire English in order to survive in society.

INTRODUCTION

Teachers may wonder “which way they ought to go” before they enter a classroom. This usually means that teachers need to plan what they want to do in their classrooms. Most teachers engage in yearly, term, unit, weekly, and daily lesson planning (Yinger, 1980). Yearly and term planning usually involve listing the objectives for a particular program. A unit plan is a series of related lessons around a specific theme such as “The Family.” Planning daily lessons is the end result of a complex planning process that includes the yearly, term, and unit plans. A daily lesson plan is a written description of how students will move toward attaining specific objectives. It describes the teaching behavior that will result in student learning.

This chapter addresses the daily planning decisions that English language teachers make before they enter the classroom. Included in this discussion are the interactive and evaluative decisions teachers make during and after the lesson. Richards (1998) stresses the importance of lesson planning for English language teachers: “The success with which a teacher conducts a lesson is often thought to depend on the effectiveness with which the lesson was planned” (p. 103).

INTRODUCTION

The rapid growth of the Internet, which links computers all over the world into a single electronic communications network, is in the process of making widespread computer-based instruction a reality. This is owing largely to the advent of the World Wide Web, a system for accessing and viewing information on the Internet. Web browser software such as Mosaic or Netscape permits easy viewing of texts stored on machines all over the Internet and they can display graphics, transmit sounds, and even play movies in the form of digitized video.

The ease with which Web documents can be created, as well as their worldwide accessibility, multimedia capabilities, and interactive functions, make the Web an attractive environment for carrying on computer-based instruction. From the viewpoint of English language instruction, an added advantage is the fact that at present, Web documents, which cover a huge set of subject matters, are mostly written in English, with new documents continually appearing. The Web thus offers a rich database of authentic material.

We have been examining how this new medium can be utilized for ESL instruction. We have learned that the Web is not only a tremendously effective means for disseminating instructional materials, but that it can also provide a context for efficient collaborative materials development.