MLJ ReviewsEdited by JUDITH E. LISKINGASPARROUniversity of Iowa

MLJ Review Policy

The MLJ reviews books, monographs, com-puter software, and materials that (a) present re-sults of research inand methods offoreignand second language teaching and learning;(b) are devoted to matters of general interest tomembers of the profession; (c) are intended pri-marily for use as textbooks or instructional aids inclassrooms where foreign and second languages,literatures, and cultures are taught; and (d) con-vey information fromother disciplines that relatesdirectly to foreign and second language teachingand learning. Reviews not solicited by theMLJ canneither be accepted nor returned. Books and ma-terials that are not reviewed in the MLJ cannotbe returned to the publisher. Responses shouldbe typed with double spacing and submitted elec-tronically online at our Manuscript Central ad-dress: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/mlj.

THEORY AND PRACTICE

HELOT, CHRISTINE, & ANNEMARIE DEMEJIA. (Eds.). Forging Multilingual Spaces: Inte-grated Perspectives on Majority and Minority Bilin-gual Education. Clevedon, England: MultilingualMatters, 2008. Pp. v, 264. $54.95, paper. ISBN 9781847690753.

Individual and societal bilingualism have been ex-amined both as goals and for what we can learnabout the results of language contact. The edi-tors of this volume posit that exploring our dou-ble vision of bilingualismsituations in which itbrings advantages and prestige as well as thosein which bilingualism is invisible and related topower and dominationcan change an incoher-ent discourse to one that informs both policy andpractice.Thirteen scholars present work in eight

national contexts, divided into the Americas(Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, and the UnitedStates) and Europe (Catalonia/Spain, England,France, and Ireland). They seek to bridge the

gap between historically established dichotomiesof elite andminority bilingualism. The catalyst forthe volume was a colloquium at the Fifth Interna-tional Symposium on Bilingualism in Barcelonain 2005. Contributing scholars variously representa focus on bilingual school programs for indige-nous groups, national minority groups, migrantminority groups, and dominant language groups.The goal of the volume is to have these schol-ars illuminate the multiple settings and languagecontact situations in which bilingual educationprograms operate and the challenges that eachcontext presents.In the introductory chapter, editors Helot and

de Meja pose a series of questions: Can wedevelop truly integrated and inclusive languagepolicies that will challenge monolingual mono-cultural perspectives and envisage pluralism froma plurilingual point of view? Can we envisagenew relationships between languages at the so-cietal level and translate these into more openeducation policies which will break down barriersbetween the different categories of languages?(p. 13).In chapter 2 Garca asserts that the time is

right to witness a coalescing of Spanish languageinstruction in the United States that brings to-gether Spanish as a foreign language teaching,attention to Spanish as a heritage language, thedecades-long use of Spanish in bilingual teach-ing, and the more recent teaching of Spanish as aglobal language. Historical and current practicesin each teaching setting are outlined, supportedby data on demographics and enrollment. Garcaargues that two-way dual language bilingual edu-cation programs have the potential to integratepolicies, attitudes, practices and pedagogies(p. 32), and she outlines the resistance to sucha model from both government and professionalspheres.In chapter 3 Hamel sets the stage for the ex-

ploration of bilingual education in Latin Amer-ica by examining the historical traditions of thetwo different contexts in which it has taken place:indigenous education, serving (primarily poor)speakers of themany languages represented in ru-ral and immigrant urban areas, and elite private

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bilingual schools, developed to serve high-prestige language communities. The parallelsacross national settings with respect to strugglesfor literacy development and content learning inthe indigenous languages are many. Yet withincountries, programs utilizing two languages asthe media of instruction often vary according tothe regional patterns of language use and lan-guage shift.Examining the state of bilingual schooling

in Colombia, de Meja and Montes Rodrguezdescribe in chapter 4 the distinction betweeninternationally visible, socially accepted formsof bilingualism that lead to rewards within aglobal marketplace and bilingualism that is in-visible, involving indigenous or creole languagesin which the first language continues to be de-valued and associated with poverty and lack ofdevelopment. The authors make the case thatindigenous education has long been consideredunder the anthropological reserve (p. 131),diminishing both its status and potential to in-form policy makers and practitioners in languageeducation.Focusing on Argentina in chapter 5, authors

Banfi and Rettaroli see teachers as key in thedesign and implementation of effective bilingualschooling, yet they make the argument that at-tending to the nature of the teaching staff is oftena low priority within the educational community.The chapter describes five bilingual programsfor indigenous children, for deaf children, instate schools, in language contact situations, andin elite schools. In Argentina, unlike in theUnited States, the term bilingual education is stilla positive term in both public and educationaldiscourse.Chapter 6 begins the shift of the volume to

a discussion of language education policy inEurope. Anderson, Kenner, and Gregory explorelanguage policy in the United Kingdom as it re-lates to the 10.5% of primary school children whohave a home language other than English, at thesame time describing attempts to make languagelearning available at the primary levels for major-ity language students.Much like theUnited States,the United Kingdom routinely laments a mono-lingual citizenry while it wrestles with the compli-cated nature of providing appropriate schoolingfor students learning English as their second orthird language. A more common contradiction isevident in the description of a content-based lan-guage program in which British students learn ge-ography through French, which represents a stepforward in modern foreign language instruction.A program for Turkish-speaking students that pro-

vides for bilingual science instruction, however, isdisbanded. Such incoherent discourses (p. 193)related to multilingualism are cited repeatedly byauthors in this volume; they provide excellent ex-amples of the lack of a thoughtful planning pro-cess that would bringdisparate fields andpracticestogether.In chapter 7 Helot outlines the nature of bilin-

gual education in France, describing how theFrench government recognizes a need to developplurilingualism, yet approaches native French-speaking learners and immigrant and refugeelearners in different ways. She prefers the anal-ysis of bilingualism in two contexts (family andschool) and the relationship between them.Muchlike other national settings, recent renewed focuson improved foreign language learning, whichis described as value added models of bilingualprogrammes for the monolingual elites (p. 204),does not have a parallel concern for bilingual de-velopment where the language learning needs ofminority students are concernedelite bilingual-ism versus folk bilingualism.Spain provides the context in chapter 8 for

Escobar Urmeneta and Unamuno to discuss lan-guage learning in Catalonian schools. As in othercountries in Europe, recent attention has focusedon developing international language learningprograms at earlier ages in Spain, and languagecourses that integrate content with languagelearning are increasing at both primary and sec-ondary levels. At the same time, immigrants arepart of the educational landscape in Catalonia,resulting in tensions among the need for theirmultilingual development, a desire to maintainCatalan, and a desire to develop internationalforeign language competence, particularly inEnglish.Overlying that dynamic are the political and

social tensions inherent in the case of Catalo-nia, a region that offers unique insight intothe complexity of developing plurilingualism.The chapter includes a case study of a primaryschool that includes excerpts of fascinating in-terviews with two boys, a Pakistani and a Fil-ipino, who with great certainty describe theirawareness of situational language use of Spanish,Catalan, and English within their classrooms andcommunities.In the final chapter OLaoire examines

bilingual schooling in Ireland. Irish languagerevitalization is an interesting phenomenon ina country where 4% of the population claimsIrish (the official language) as a first language.Teaching Irish as a second language has beenpart of educational policy since the 1920s, and

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Irish immersion programs have emerged sincethe 1970s. These programs report concerns thatmirror those of other communities implement-ing immersion language programsnamely, con-cern about the viability of immersion in a nonelitelanguage and a fear of lack of academic successin English. In recent times, the arrival of immi-grant groups has complicated discussions aboutlanguage use and policy.Several key themes appear across contributions

in this volume. First is that the terms bilingual-ism and bilingual schooling vary when researchersattempt to pin down both policy and practiceacross nations and communities. Second, the di-chotomy between school programs available tomajority and minority language members is com-monplace, regardless of whether the school set-tings are in Europe or the Americas. Third, thelack of knowledge of research on bilingual learn-ing, combined with an assimilationist orienta-tion, characterizes much of educational practicewhere language-minority students are concerned.Fourth, communication across language educa-tion programs is limited; practitioners withincountries do not communicate outside of theirfields; teacher educators and researchers do notcross boundaries in their examination of practice;educational policy at the national level reflectsthis isolation. Finally, lack of a common plat-form where issues can be discussed (as describedby de Meja and Montes Rodrguez, p. 131) hasled to separate programs and has precluded con-versations about what bilingual education couldbe.Edited volumes often can be uneven, but the

overall strength of chapters here overshadows thefew instances where the reader could have ben-efited from additional information. The value ofthe volume is the development of an historicaland social context for the discussion of languagepolicies related to bilingual schooling in each na-tional context as well as the descriptions of lan-guage use and instructional practices that reflectsuchpolicies. Theneed to teach academic contentand develop bilingualism, while in effect address-ing power imbalances among language groupsand developing societal bilingualism, places a dif-ficult burden on educational institutions. Thisvolume urges us to converse across national andprogrammatic boundaries in order to take up thetask.

CONSTANCE WALKERUniversity of Minnesota

ORTEGA, LOURDES. Understanding Second Lan-guage Acquisition. New York: Oxford UniversityPress, 2009. Pp. xv, 304. $32.75, paper. ISBN 9780340905593.

This book provides an encyclopedic collection ofinformation that will enable the reader to under-stand second language acquisition (SLA). It is atext designed for graduate students and will alsobe equally useful to experienced researchers andteachers.As one would expect from Ortega, this is a mas-

terfully constructed text. The information pre-sented is well researched and comprehensivelyreferenced. In the preface, Ortega cautions thatresearchers may present the nature of SLA in anumber of ways, all of them complex. Even so,the organization of this book is both logical andcyclic in its development. It is also put togetherin such a way that a reader can dip into differentsections without needing to follow a prescribed or-der. At the same time, key concepts are returnedto and developed so that the readers understand-ing is extended. Throughout the text, the contentis explained and illustrated by useful tables andcase studies. Sometimes when a text is designedto provide a breadth of coverage, depth can bethe casualty. However, Ortega avoids this pitfall byproviding a guide for further readings. The abun-dant references also provide novice readers witha valuable resource.The book begins with an introduction to SLA.

The second chapter, Age, contains discussionsabout rate and ultimate attainment as well asan outline of the debate regarding the critical/sensitive period. Particularly interesting is the his-torical account of the development of various the-ories pertaining to age. In fact, throughout thebook, Ortega consistently provides useful datadescribing the background and development ofconcepts to their current form. I hope that herdiscussion about comparing monolingual andbilingual attainment is taken up by educationalbodies around the world.The next chapter, Crosslinguistic Influences,

provides another well-situated historical accountthat makes understandable the complex issue ofinfluence of the first language (L1) on the ac-quisition of a second language (L2), althoughnovices will need to make use of the anno-tated further reading. The account of inter-action in the fourth chapter (The LinguisticEnvironment) outlines the key areas within thecognitiveinteractionist paradigm. It begins with a

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description of Schmidts famous case study ofWes,a Japanese artist living and working in Hawai'i,and then examines Schmidts findings in relationto the acculturationmodel and with respect to thecontribution of attitudes. The chapter then pro-ceeds through the key areas of comprehensibleinput, negotiation for meaning, output, noticing,interaction and acquisition, negotiation of form,and negative feedback, and it concludes with dis-cussion about the limitations of the linguisticenvironment.Chapter 5 (Cognition) brings together some

complex and cutting-edge concepts that are thefocus of much current research. It exploresthe nexus between psychology and SLA by dis-cussing such issues as information processing,practice and automaticity, memory (long termand working), and emergentism. It also deals withattentionlearning with and without it and howit is distinct from awareness. The exemplars forsome of the complex concepts (e.g., DeKeysersstudy of skill acquisition and Robinsons study ofsymbolic vs. associative learning) are particularlyilluminating.The sixth chapter (Developing Learner Lan-

guage) builds on the previous two and exploresinterlanguage and the theories that underpin it.Connections among the various theoretical andresearch paradigms are made explicit as Ortegawalks us through this area. There is discussionof such concepts as Universal Grammar, the con-nection between L1 and L2 acquisition, inputprocessing, the stages of interlanguage, fossiliza-tion, and processability theory. She also exploresthe issue of whether the native speaker shouldbe used as a benchmark for L2 acquisition, oneof a number of themes revisited throughout thetext.The next three chapters deal with individual

differences in SLA. Chapter 7 explores the con-cept of foreign language aptitude: what it is; howit differs and overlaps with ability, intelligence,and grammatical sensitivity; its interrelationshipwith memory; and the impact of age and recentdevelopments in the field. Motivation is the fo-cus of chapter 8, and it includes topics one wouldexpect in such a discussion (integrativeness, itsantecedents, orientation, and attitudes) as well asmore recent debates and departures, which leadOrtega to describe the area as a vibrant land-scape of change (p. 190). The third of thesechapters examines affect and individual differ-ences. It includes an interesting description ofthe role of personality in L2 learning, highlight-ing once again Ortegas deep and diverse knowl-edge of the literature. This chapter explores both

the traditional areas of individual difference, in-cluding styles and strategies, as well as more con-temporary ones such as anxiety and willingnessto communicate. She concludes with an indica-tion of a future directionnamely, self-regulationtheory.The book concludes with an account of one of

the more recent and controversial areas in SLA:exploring the contribution of the social to SLA.It begins with a succinct outline of the theoriesof socioculturalism and poststructuralism and theconstructs related to these (e.g., self-regulations,inner speech, and the zone of proximal devel-opment [ZPD]). With the ZPD in mind, Ortegarevisits negative feedback and interaction froma sociocultural perspective, thus providing a use-ful balance to the cognitiveinteractionist descrip-tion provided in chapter 4. The chapter andbook conclude with an examination of a numberof interrelated developments, including conver-sational analysis, functionalsystemic linguistics,socialization, identity theory, and technology-mediated communication. Overall, the text pro-vides much food for thought and potential areasof exploration for novices and experts alike.

RHONDA OLIVEREdith Cowan University, Australia

SLABAKOVA,ROUMYANA.Meaning in the SecondLanguage . Berlin, Germany: Mouton de Gruyter,2008. Pp. xi, 326. $152.00, cloth. ISBN 9783110203226.

In this book, Slabakova presents her bottleneckhypothesis, a model of second language acquisi-tion (SLA) that attempts to characterize the pro-cess of acquiring a mental representation of thesecond language (L2), taking the mental repre-sentation of the first language (L1) grammar as astarting point. Slabakova adopts aUniversalGram-mar (UG) perspective and claims that the mor-phosyntax of the L2 constitutes a bottleneck forlearners as they construct grammars of the L2.Once learners have constructed appropriatemen-tal representations of the L2, they will be able tounderstand and express the meanings, both inter-pretable and uninterpretable, that are encodedin the morphosyntax. Using data from neurolin-guistic and behavioral studies of language acqui-sition, Slabakova demonstrates how her model ofSLA processing works. She also argues that the

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model will engender testable predictions aboutthe development of SLA and delineate realisticexpectations for learner achievement.In the first chapter, the author gives a brief

overview of the literature on the critical periodhypothesis, touching on human language acquisi-tion as well as on critical periods in other species.Noting that several researchers have proposedthat the critical period affects different parts ofthe language module in different ways and thatresearch has demonstrated that there may be dif-ferent critical periods for different skills, she pro-poses that many of these studies can be subsumedunder a multiple critical period hypothesis.In chapter 2 Slabakova lays the theoretical foun-

dation for her bottleneck hypothesis by exam-ining the theories of Chomsky and Jackendoff.She adopts a blend of these theories, noting thatboth agree that meaning (conceptual structure)is universal and lies outside the domain of aparticular language. Thus, meaning may be rep-resented differently in the syntaxsemantics in-terface of different languages; these differencesusually appear in the functional lexicon as differ-entmorphosyntactic forms. For example, English-speaking learners of Spanish will have to learn toexpress past habituality (expressed through thesimple past in English) by using imperfect verbforms in Spanish. This mismatch creates a bottle-neck for L2 learners, who must learn not only theformbut how the form is used to expressmeaning.The author begins chapter 3 with a demon-

stration that the bottleneck hypothesis relies onan understanding that meaning and functionalmorphology are processed differently. She thenpresents a review of psycholinguistic studies oflanguage processing that demonstrate that mor-phosyntax and semantics are subserved by differ-ent parts of the brain.Because many of the studies cited in the previ-

ous chapter involve the use of event-related po-tentials (ERPs), chapter 4 constitutes a criticalexamination of what imaging studies actually test.Given the present state of knowledge concerningwhat is measured by these tests, the author con-cludes that, at present, behavioral studies of lan-guage processing are the most reliable source ofinformation about the representation of languagein the mind.In chapter 5 Slabakova details her bottleneck

hypothesis, claiming that morphology poses themost difficulty for L2 learners. She argues that herhypothesis is supported by three types of evidence:(a) processing differences between morphology,in contrast to syntax and semantics; (b) learn-ers differential abilities to control functional cat-egories and to produce the morphology related

to these categories consistently; and (c) learnersaccurate and effortless acquisition of the semanticproperties of the L2.Chapters 6 and 7 are reviews of studies whose

results can be interpreted as supporting the bot-tleneck hypothesis. In chapter 6 Slabakova ex-amines behavioral research focusing on learningtasks in which learners must resolve a mismatchbetween their L1 morphosyntax and that of theL2 to express a particular meaning. For example,English-speaking learners of Chinese must learnto express telicity by using the particle le insteadof by encoding it into verb morphology and ob-ject cardinality, as is the case in English. In chap-ter 7 she looks at another series of studies thatexamine learning tasks involving more complexsyntax (e.g., discontinuous constituents or quan-tifier scope) that poses poverty-of-the-stimulus L2learning situations that call for negative feed-back. For example, English-speaking students ofGerman will need to learn that a sentence likeWas hat die Katze gebissen? can mean both Whathas the cat bitten? or What has bitten the cat?(pp. 252254). Once learners have acquired thecorrect mental representation for this, the ambi-guity is acquired without effort.The final chapter briefly recapitulates the first

seven chapters and ends with suggestions for fur-ther research and a few implications for languageteaching.This book introduces an interesting and

testable hypothesis about the process of acquir-ing the grammar of an L2. Each chapter is clearlyorganized, beginning with a review of the ar-gument so far and ending with a summary ofwhat has been discussed. Although the proseis easy to read, the overall organization of thebook does not follow an expected pattern, giventhat a complete description of the bottleneck hy-pothesis, which is the centerpiece of the book,does not appear until chapter 5. This organiza-tion makes it difficult for the reader to knowhow the information presented in the first fourchapters pertains to the hypothesis. Because thebook assumes familiarity with syntactic theoriesand terminology, it is meant for advanced stu-dents and SLA researchers. There are also dis-tracting, but decipherable, typographical errorsand errors of syllabification, especially in chap-ters 6 and 7. Despite these shortcomings, the bot-tleneck hypothesis is interesting and testable andhas the potential to advance our understandingof the processes that underlie the acquisition ofan L2.

MARY EMILY CALLMontclair State University

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SPOLSKY, BERNARD, & FRANCIS M. HULT.(Eds.). The Handbook of Educational Linguistics.Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2008. Pp. xxii, 675.$175.00, cloth. ISBN 9781405154109.

In 1978 Bernard Spolsky published an introduc-tion to the field of educational linguistics partlyin response to the problems of defining thediscipline of applied linguistics but also to de-marcate linguistic research that directly connectslanguage to education. With The Handbook of Ed-ucational Linguistics some 30 years later, Spolskyand Hult set out to assess the current status andthe future of this still-emerging field, typically con-sidered closely linked to, but separate from, ap-plied linguistics. The expansive volume contains42 chapters with an impressive range of themesand disciplines. Its broad scope is reinforced bythe diversity of contributors to the volume and bychapters that are co-authored by a team of sea-soned and junior scholars. Readers will recognizemany leading figures in the fields of applied andeducational linguistics.Part 1, Foundations for Educational Linguis-

tics, presents the knowledge base obtained fromareas such as neurobiology, psycholinguistics, an-thropology, and sociolinguistics. Although con-nections between research and practice are drawnthroughout the volume, this relationship is theexplicit focus of part 3 of the book. Parts 1and 3 frame the central part of the volume,Core Themes, which includes 25 chapters. TheHandbook achieves cohesion not only through ex-plicit thematic connections but also throughmoresubtle associations that create linkages acrosschapters.In their two introductory chapters, the editors

situate educational linguistics historically and ex-amine its relationship to linguistics and other dis-ciplines. Spolsky defines educational linguistics asan area of study that provides the essential instru-ments for designing language education policyand for implementing language education man-agement (p. 2). The editors regard as the mainpurpose of educational linguistics to inform andshape language policy and,moreover, educationalpractice as the trigger for scholarly inquiry. Hultfurther defines educational linguistics as funda-mentally transdisciplinary, in that it draws on an-alytical and methodological tools that come froma variety of relevant disciplines such as anthropo-logical linguistics, clinical linguistics, psycholin-guistics, and sociolinguistics to address issues orproblems.

The majority of the chapters in part 1 estab-lish the relevance of core fields to educationallinguistics, including neurobiology, psycholin-guistics, linguistic theory, sociolinguistics and so-ciology of language, and linguistic anthropology.Mesthries chapter on sociolinguistics and the so-ciology of language covers essential concepts suchas variation, overt and covert prestige, languagecontact, code choice, and identity. Mesthrie thenpoints out the relevance of sociolinguistics toeducation as manifested, for example, in Bern-steins theory of elaborated and restricted codes.Although linguistic deficit models have been re-placed bymore contextualized and nuanced viewsof language use, Mesthrie considers Bernsteinspremise that schools establish language normsand require code choices still relevant today. Sim-ilarly, Hudsons chapter on linguistic theory intro-duces the reader to fundamental linguistic ideasby way of distinguishing between, for example,description and prescription, form and function,texts and systems, and words and meanings.In the penultimate chapter of part 1,McGroarty

contends that political issues affect a speechcommunitys language choices and uses. Herchapter concludes with a charge to educationallinguists to inform the public about the cur-rent linguistic situation in the United States, in-cluding successful language education programs,and to research the relationship between institu-tional agendas and language capacity. In the finalchapter, Lo Bianco illuminates the complex re-lationship between educational linguistics andeducation systems. States, which govern and con-trol educational agencies and institutions, ap-prove and authorize what Lo Bianco refers toas secondary linguistic socialization (p. 113).In its early understanding, educational linguisticsaimed at applying explicit knowledge about lan-guage, based on mentalist linguistic approaches,to the second language classroom. Both educa-tional linguistics and education systems, however,have shifted to a constructivist approach that takesinto account context, social criteria, and variabil-ity. Lo Bianco points to three major ongoingchanges in these two fields: the inclusion of non-Western researched languages, the transforma-tion of literacy, and learners orientation towardtheir peers for the acquisition of knowledge. Withthese three themes resurfacing in several chap-ters of part 2, Lo Biancos chapter serves as a kindof bridge, adding to the overall cohesion of thevolume.Part 2, Core Themes, illustrates the editors

premise that a researcher aligned with educa-tional linguistics takes a theme or problem as

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a starting point and then synthesizes the re-search tools in his/her intellectual repertoire toinvestigate or explore it (p. 17). In addition tolanguage education policy and managementalready established in the introduction as themain purpose of educational linguisticsthe ed-itors group the chapters in part 2 under four ad-ditional subtopics that embody the work in edu-cational linguistics: Linguistically and CulturallyResponsive Education, Literacy Development,Acquiring a Language, and Language Assess-ment. Appropriately, many of the 25 chapters fo-cus on well-known topics such as literacy (Hulland Hernandez), bilingual and biliterate prac-tices (Reyes andMoll), the language of instruction(Walter), acquisition orders (Bardovi-Harlig andComajoan), interlanguage and language transfer(Skehan), second language acquisition and ulti-mate attainment (Birdsong and Paik), and assess-ments (Bachman and Purpura), to name just afew.In this vein, Hull and Hernandez (ch. 23) trace

the field of literacy as a contextualized social prac-tice, point to the discrepancy between our consid-erable knowledge of literacy and the persistentperception of literacy learning as a problem, andcall for research that pays equally rigorous atten-tion to in- and out-of-school learning environ-ments. Although the authors acknowledge thatlanguage policy might revert to more narrow con-ceptions of literacy, they call for literacy studies toattend to a wide range of issues, including mul-tiple modalities, multilingual literacies, and thetension between literacy as a means of empower-ment but that potentially reinforces inequality.Other chapters tackle areas of inquiry that have

been explored to a lesser degree. Watt and Fair-field, for example, pursue the role of religiousliteracy in religious education and in the develop-ment of faith. Religious traditions, they remindus, rely on access to and comprehension of theirsacred texts and, in essence establish religious lit-eracy both as the process and the goal in religiouscommunities.Picas chapter, Task-Based Teaching and

Learning, opens part 3 of the book, ResearchPractice Relationships, with an examination oftasks as methodological tools equally fruitful forresearch and instruction. As Pica has shown inseveral studies, authentic tasks shed light on theprocess of acquiring a second language while pro-moting language acquisition. Much like part 2,part 3 productively combines familiar topics suchas corpus linguistics (Conrad and LeVelle), therole of interaction and output in communica-tive language learning (Swain and Suzuki), and

computer-assisted language learning (Chapelle)with a chapter that discusses the way in which thedifferentiated theory of perception can informed-ucational linguistics (van Lier).Though closely linked to linguistics, educa-

tional linguistics transcends disciplines, whichperhaps perpetuates its lack of institutionaliza-tion. The theme-based and transdisciplinary na-ture of educational linguistics, however, has pro-duced inspiring research and will continue todo so in the future. Timely and important, TheHandbook of Educational Linguistics advances ourunderstanding of the role of linguistics in edu-cation as well as the urgent need for effectivecollaboration among linguists, educators, andpol-icy makers, all of whom will benefit greatly fromconsulting it.

JOHANNA WATZINGERTHARPUniversity of Utah

WEBSTER, JONATHAN J. (Ed.).Meaning in Con-text: Strategies for Implementing Intelligent Applica-tions of Language Studies. New York: Continuum,2008. Pp. 313. $150.00, cloth. ISBN 9780826497352.

The occasion for the chapters included in thisvolume was the opening, in March 2006, of theHalliday Centre for Intelligent Applications ofLanguage Studies at City University of HongKong. It is therefore fitting that the collectionslead chapter comes from the honoree, the emi-nent BritishAustralian linguist M. A. K. Halliday,who argues that the possibility of intelligent appli-cation of language studies rests on a theoreticalunderstanding of the nature, the functions andthe spacetime organization of human language(p. 9). In other words, language is our primary re-source for meaning-making, a capacity due to therole of grammar as a meaning-making resource.A capacity view of language places discussion inthe virtual world of theorizing and in the worldin which language works for usnamely, in hu-man experiences of ordering and interpreting ourenvironment as well as our inner world of con-sciousness. In so doing, it enables an appliablelinguistics as an antidote to the unhelpful split be-tween theoretical and applied approaches to thestudy of language. Halliday convincingly lays outthis argument, helpfully incorporating the kindsof language-related activities the volumes remain-ing chapters address.

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In the following chapter, Bateman highlightsa fundamental dilemma resulting from the fo-cus of systemicfunctional linguistics (SFL) onthe paradigmatic axis in language description.Although this approach has supported a success-ful history of automatic natural language gener-ation of texts by computational systems throughthe use of system networks, he demonstrates its in-herent limitations for effective automatic analysisand interpretation of texts. He concludes that sys-temicists must pay considerably more attention tolexicogrammatic syntagmatic organization, whichwould make it less simple along that axis than itcurrently is. Also theoretically oriented are Buttsreflections on the robustness of conceptualizinglanguage as a realizational system within overallsystems. When such realizations are regionalized(i.e., when a given rhetorical unit is investigatedon its own terms), they can begin to account forcomplex domains for which change is a constantrather than a deviation from idealized expecta-tions. Fang takes on yet another central notionof SFLthat of topical theme. From a multifunc-tional view, she provides a highly detailed analy-sis of Chinese clauses in terms of themerhemestructure by examining topical theme under atextual orientation. By contrast, the next twochapters, by Hu and Don, and Huang and Wang,respectively, show a dramatic topical shift and turnin theoretical and methodological sophistication.The former provides largely anecdotal evidenceregarding PowerPoint presentations as a multi-modal genre; the latter, not unsurprisingly, iden-tifies as a patterned registerial phenomenon thenature of EnglishChinese codeswitching in threeChinese language newspapers in Guangzhou,the capital of the south China province ofGuangdong.By far the most expansive and most compelling

contribution of the volume is that by Matthiessen,Teruya, and Wu. It argues for an understand-ing of multilingual studies as an interconnectedspace that would include such areas as compar-ative and typological studies, interpretation andtranslation and the training of its professionals,foreign language teaching, multilingual lexicog-raphy, and multilingualism in general. Using thetwo central notions in SFL for their theoreticalgroundingthe cline of instantiation and the hi-erarchy of stratificationthey choose the inter-personal system of languages to make a richly de-tailed case not only for the capacity of a multi-functionally oriented SFL to connect otherwisedisparate areas but also to uncover insights atthe level of analysis that is likely to be mostproductivenamely, the middle region between

the individual instance and the system of thelanguage.Patricks report on a text categorization task

commissioned by the Australian Securities and In-vestment Commission to detect fraudulent repre-sentations on Web pages and Internet channelsoffers an inside look at challenges, procedures,limitations, and successes of computational textcategorization using an SFL framework. A compu-tational environment also characterizes Steinerschapter, which focuses on the area of explicitationin translation studies: In moving from one text toits translated rendition, some aspect of meaning ismade more explicit than was previously the case.Relating explicitness to directness and density inlexicogrammatical features and also differentiat-ing them from each other, Steiner presents a so-phisticated discussion of relevant issues, their op-erationalization, and their exemplary applicationin a computational environment to two book in-troductions, in German and English. The kind ofannotation scheme used in these stages demon-strates the gains to be had from an SFL-guidedtheoretical querying, to illuminate connectionsmuch beyond those even carefully gathered statis-tics can reveal.Finally, the last two chapters continue the

opaqueness surrounding decisions on chapterinclusion, ordering, and expansion. The first,a rambling treatment by Thumboo of poeticcreativity in a globalized English, is so remotefrom the purported concerns of the volume asto make it nearly inscrutable. In a brief con-cluding chapter, Zhu argues that the standardway to illustrate grammatical metaphornamely,through nominalizationneeds to be extendedby demonstrating how verbalization, too, offersa compelling instance of this meaning-makingresource.As readers devote themselves to, at times, de-

manding and highly technical reading, they mayexperience considerable ambivalence. Althoughthe volumes 10 chapters showcase the enviablerange of interests within SFL, most especiallyin computational applications and further the-ory refinement, there is good reason to wonderwhether the sharedmeaning and context presum-ably provided by the conference has nearly van-ished in the resultant publication. The hurdles foredited volumes and, especially, conference pro-ceedings, in terms of topical coherence, sustainedfocus, identifiable publication motivation andgoals, targeted reader background knowledge,and progression in argument are well known.However, these can be addressed through a rigor-ous selection and editing process and thoughtful

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introductory conceptual framing. Absent that ed-itorial effort, an absence further burdened bya considerable range of subject matter and de-mands for high degrees of technical knowledgeand solid background in SFL, the volume risks at-taining its scholarly goals. That danger becomes areality when good editing practices regarding in-formation structuring, transparency of argument,adherence to stylistic conventions in contribu-tions by nonnative users of English, redundan-cies, readability of figures and tables, consistencyof style, and completeness and accuracy of refer-ences are distressingly neglected inmany of the in-dividual contributions. The result is that the chap-ters must stand on their own merits; fortunately,most can.

HEIDI BYRNESGeorgetown University

YOUNG, RICHARD F. Discursive Practice in Lan-guage Learning and Teaching . Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. Pp. vii, 267. $39.95, paper. ISBN9781405184441.

For the past several decades, the dominant ap-proaches to the study of second language (L2)learning and teaching have been mainly psy-cholinguistic, centering on the role of languageand the mental processes involved in its learning.In recent years, however, there has been an in-creasing recognition of the social dimension oflanguage and the importance of the socioculturalcontexts in which learning takes place. Taking adiscursive practice approach to L2 acquisition,this book provides a detailed discussion of howcontext affects the processes of language teach-ing and learning. In this approach, language isnot viewed as a tool to comprehend or producemeaning but as a particular type of social action.Similarly, language learning is seen as a process oflearning how to participate in such actions.The book consists of seven chapters. Chapter

1 focuses on defining discursive practice. Draw-ing on insights from practice theory, the chap-ter defines the term practice not as what learnersdo to learn a language but as how social realitiesare created through action. Discursive practice isthus defined as how such realities are constructedthrough language and how these processes influ-ence and are influenced by the social and po-litical circumstances in which they occur. Chap-ter 2 explores the historical origins of practicetheory, tracing its evolution in different theories

of meaning and language use within linguistics,philosophy, and anthropology. Chapter 3 consid-ers the different ways in which researchers ana-lyze the role of context and its relationship withlanguage. Four approaches with illustrative stud-ies are reviewed: an applied linguistics approachwith a focus on language and how it is developedthrough context; an ethnographic approach witha focus on context and its relationship with bothlanguage and other socially related issues suchas identity, belief systems, and power relations;an emotional approach focusing on learnersfeelings and responses to their language learn-ing experience; and a political approach focus-ing on political ramifications of discursive prac-tice and how societal and ideological values arecommunicated through practice. Chapter 4 dis-cusses resources that participants employ in dis-cursive practices, including verbal, interactional,and nonverbal resources. It also examines theo-retical frameworks that can be used for their anal-ysis, such as systemicfunctional grammar, con-versation analysis, and participation frameworks.Chapter 5 focuses on the relationship betweendiscursive practices and learning. Two learningtheories that conceptualize language learning asa socially grounded process are discussed: lan-guage socialization theory and situated learningtheory. Chapter 6 discusses the implications ofa discursive practice approach for language ped-agogy and testing. Two approaches to teachingare examined, each taking a different perspectiveon how language instruction can be groundedin discursive practices. One focuses on analyzingthe internal structure of discourse and attempt-ing to replicate it in instruction (called pedagogyof practice) and the other focuses on the politicaland ideological functions of instructional prac-tices and how they impact learning (called criti-cal pedagogy). The chapter also explores the roleof context in assessment, and to this end, it alsohighlights the political and societal consequencesof language testing. Chapter 7, which is the finalchapter, begins by revisiting some of the key ideasdiscussed in earlier chapters and then highlight-ing other areas that require further work, suchas a comprehensive examination of the interplaybetween context and language as well as a moredetailed exploration of the contributions of prac-tice theory to designing effective pedagogical andassessment strategies.A key premise of the book is that language

learning and teaching are forms of discursivepractice that are both socially embedded andsituationally constructed and, hence, cannot beunderstood outside their sociocultural and

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political contexts. By drawing on insights froma perspective whose contributions have been rel-atively unexamined in L2 acquisitionnamely,practice theorythe book draws our attention tothe reciprocal connection between language andcontext, highlighting not only how context affectsthe development of humans verbal and nonver-bal resources but also how the use of these re-sources contributes to the processes and practicesthat construct context. A real strength of the bookis the quality of the arguments presented as well asthe scope of the issues covered on both theoreti-cal and practical levels. On a theoretical level, thebook integrates insights from various theoreticalpositions within linguistics and sociolinguistics,including functional grammar and language so-cialization, to develop a theory of discursive prac-tice. Pedagogically, the book explores how such atheory can be applied to practical issues, such asclassroom instruction andL2 assessment. Anotherstrength is the detailed examples from researchthat illustrate the empirical approaches and strate-gies that have been employed in research thatstudies language learning as a discursive practice.My only critical comment relates to the discussionof learning theories in chapter 5. I had hoped tosee a discussion of Vygotskys sociocultural theory,a perspective that views language learning as in-herently social and inextricably connected to itssocial context. Although this perspective is men-tioned in a few other places in the book, a moredetailed treatment of this theory and its premiseswould have enhanced the discussion of languagelearning as a situated discursive practice in thischapter.All in all, this text is a significant contribution

to the scholarly literature on the role of contextin L2 teaching and learning. It is a valuable re-source for anyone interested in the relationshipbetween social context and language acquisitionand how learners develop their verbal and nonver-bal skills as they engage and participate in socialdiscourse. The book is highly readable and can beused as a reference or textbook for both graduateand upper level undergraduate courses in appliedlinguistics and second language acquisition.

HOSSEIN NASSAJIUniversity of Victoria

CHINESE

HEISIG, JAMES,&TIMOTHYW.RICHARDSON.Remembering Simplified Hanzi 1: How Not to Forget

the Meaning andWriting of Chinese Characters. Hon-olulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2008. Pp. v, 424.$25.00, paper. ISBN 9780824833237.HEISIG, JAMES,&TIMOTHYW.RICHARDSON.Remembering Traditional Hanzi 1: How Not to Forgetthe Meaning andWriting of Chinese Characters. Hon-olulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2008. Pp. v, 433.$25.00, paper. ISBN 9780824833244.

Each of these books, one of which focuses on sim-plified characters and the other on traditionalcharacters, is the first of a two-volume textbookaimed to help learners of Chinese to learn themeaning and writing of 1,000 most frequentlyused Chinese characters plus 500 less commonlyused but easy characters. Each book is composedof three main sections. The introduction pro-vides the rationale of the learning methods inthe book and the design of the book. The lessonsection contains 55 lessons divided into three sub-sections based on three memorization methods:stories (lessons 112), plots (lessons 1319), andelements (lessons 2055). These methods gradu-ally provide full stories, simple plots, and, finally,the basic elements that comprise a character thathelp learners build formmeaning connectionsamong the different elements of a character. Theindex section consists of five indices: (a) charac-ters in order of their appearance in the book, (b)primitive elements used to form each character,(c) characters by number of strokes, (d) charac-ters by pronunciation, and (e) characters by theorder of the English translation. The learningapproach promoted in the books is mnemonic,arranging the appearance of characters from sim-ple to complex. Each character in both books ispresented within a frame containing the charac-ters frame number (order of appearance in thebook), written form, key word (key meaning inEnglish), story or plot to help remember the char-acter form, stroke order, and primitive meaning(the real or fabricated meaning of this characterto help associate other characters with this ele-ment).The books are thoughtfully organized. Both

books start with a detailed explanation as to whythe mnemonics approach is employed, equip-ping users with a rational background to under-stand how to appropriately use the books. Eachlesson also starts with a helpful explanation ofthe themes to be covered. Clear transitions andelaborate explanations are provided for lessonsdelivered with the three different memorizationmethods. In each lesson, each character or

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primitive element is presented within a consistentframe, which is easy to access and process.As the authors point out in the introduction,

the books are aimed to help learners who planto learn only how to write and understand themeaning of the most frequently used charactersin Chinese texts. To serve this purpose, the ap-proach deployed in the books is successful. Thecharacters are thoughtfully chosen and logicallysequenced throughout the 55 lessons. The tran-sition from providing full associative stories toskeletal outlines to, eventually, key words alongwith primitive meanings is reasonably designed. Italigns with adult language learners general cog-nitive development process. Users of the booksshould be able to follow the approach easily. Thestories are engaging, reasonable, and helpful formemorizing the form and meaning of each char-acter. The well-known relevant Western culturalstories are cleverly infused with the primitivemeanings of elements in each character, whichhelps English-speaking users to build connec-tions. In addition to some elements originalmeaning in Chinese, an additional meaning,called primitive meaning in these books, is alsoadopted or even created to stimulate vivid im-agery association between the elements and newcharacters. It is particularly thoughtful that acompletely new character or primitive elementis not introduced until all familiar elements havebeen learned. The plotsmethod and the elementsmethod also are contingently helpful for users touse their own imagination tomemorize themean-ings and forms of more characters.Despite the careful organization and thought-

ful design, the readership of the books may belimited by the approach adopted in them forthree major reasons. First, the pure mnemon-ics approach may mislead users in learning themeanings of characters in the long run. This ap-proach indicates that all characters are formedwith one or more meaningful elements. Follow-ing this approach, users may end up, intention-ally or unintentionally, understanding any newcharacter based on the meanings of elementscomprising the character. In fact, the majorityof modern Chinese characters are formed by aradical indicating the meaning and a phoneticpart containing some pronunciation cue. In mostsituations, the phonetic part has nothing to dowith the meaning of the character. Thus, usersfollowing the approach in the books closely mayencounter great difficulty and confusion when ex-posed to additional characters at amore advancedlevel. Second, the mnemonics approach may notbe as efficient as a traditional phonetic association

approach when users are learning a larger num-ber of characters formed by multiple elements.Because of many modern Chinese characters for-mation style, many characters can be associatedwith each other by the similar phonetic parts theyshare. Deliberately creating artificial associationsbetween the authentic or fabricated meaning of aphonetic part and a character may demand muchmore work than just combining the new radicalform and a familiar phonetic part.The third reason concerns the practical pur-

poses of learning the writing and meaning ofChinese characters. Different fromEnglish words,manymodernChinese characters aremorphemesrather than individual words. In other words, alarge number of Chinese characters may conveydifferent meanings in combination with differentcharacters. By learning every character individu-ally, learners may risk missing the characters con-textual meanings. As a result, learners will havedifficulty comprehending modern Chinese texts.Learning each single character without its phrasalcontext may result in memorizing Chinese char-acters for the sake of memorization.In addition to the approachs inherent limi-

tations, the selection of the key words for somecharacters is also questionable. For example, thecharacter (p. 181) in Remembering SimplifiedHanzi 1 is most commonly used as ameasure wordto describe frequency. It means time as in threetimes or four times. By contrast, the meaningnext is used less frequently in simplifiedChinesetexts. This choice may be influenced by the au-thors traditional character learning background.However, for simplified character learners, thismay cause confusion. It would have been morehelpful had the authors provided explanation forhow each homonyms key word is selected.In all, the books constitute a useful resource

for those who are beginning their Chinese char-acter learning journey and are interested only inlearning themeaning andwriting of Chinese char-acters. The associative stories made to connectthe elements in each character are very appealingand helpful for remembering meaning and form.There is no doubt that users following this ap-proach closely can develop high proficiency in un-derstanding and writing the characters includedin the books. However, it is doubtful whether it ispractical for learners of Chinese to use the meth-ods promoted in the books for advanced-levelcharacter learning. In addition, due to the ap-proachs limitations discussedhere, I have reserva-tions about recommending the books as primaryresources to learners of Chinese who have beenstudying Chinese characters with pronunciation

686 The Modern Language Journal 94 (2010)

and those who aim to understand or compose atext for more practical purposes.

LI JINDePaul University

SUN, HAO, & DANIEL Z. KADAR. (Eds.). Itsthe Dragons Turn: Chinese Institutional Discourses.Frankfurt, Germany: Peter Lang, 2008. Pp. 262.$68.95, paper. ISBN 9783039111756.

This volume is made up of five essays that de-scribe and analyze Chinese institutional discoursein a variety of settings. The preface states that in-stitutional discourse refers to interactions that aregoal-oriented . . . in which one participant, at least,represents an institution rather than acting as anindividual (p. 7). The five essays provide insightinto Chinese institutional discourse that takesplace in different contexts: survey interviews forthe 2005U.S. census, telephone calls to businessesand services in Shanghai in the mid-1990s, court-room trials in imperial China, business meetingsin Hong Kong in the 2000s, and doctorpatientinteractions in Hong Kong in 2006. The organi-zation of the volume privileges place over time:Chapter 1 begins in the United States, chapter 2moves to Shanghai, chapter 3 focuses on fictionallocations in northern China, and chapters 4 and5 are located in Hong Kong.As specified in the preface, the volume has

academic objectives, which are to contributeto several areas of linguistics and social stud-ies, including . . . critical discourse analysis, cross-cultural communication, politeness research, andpragmatics, as well as a general oneto serve asa resource for readers who desire to develop abetter understanding of Chinese society and insti-tutional behavior so that they will bemore success-ful and effective in communication when they areengaged in cross-cultural encounters. Further-more, the readers of the book are not assumedto have any command of the Chinese language(p. 9). It features lively and engaging scholarshipfocusing on varied themes and is overall light onjargon, thus relatively comprehensible to the non-specialist reader.The first essay, Pans Cross-Cultural Communi-

cation Norms and Survey Interviews, notes:

Formal Chinese communication is geared towardshuman relations and power hierarchies . . .The pre-

ferred communication style is indirectness and face-saving strategies appropriate to the power relation ina specific domain . . .Consequently there is an inher-ent conflict between traditional survey interview tech-niques and Chinese communication norms . . .Thisclash can lead to the collection of unreliable datathrough an inappropriate form of interviewing.(p. 18)

The data were gathered in 2005, when the U.S.Census Bureau carried out the AmericanCommu-nity Survey (ACS) to collect demographic dataand other information. To facilitate the survey,the Census Bureau developed literature aboutthe ACS translated into four languages, includ-ing Chinese. Research teams conducted inter-views to test the effectiveness of this material. Thedata set for this essay includes interviews with na-tive speakers of English as well as with Chinese-speaking immigrants. Analysis of the data showedthat whereas English-speaking respondents werearticulate, expressive . . . and open (p. 33), theresponses of the Chinese speakers were short,ambiguous, sometimes unrelated to the question,and often gratuitously concurrentthat is, manyChinese speakers preferred to agree with the per-son asking the question (p. 33).The essay notes that, in China, demographic

information is gathered via local police depart-ments through the household registration systemand that a surveymay not be the best way to gatherinformation in Chinese communities. It appropri-ately suggests that census takers inWestern localesredesign the interview process to be culturally res-onant with Chinese respondents.The second essay, by Sun, entitled Participant

Roles and Discursive Actions: Chinese Transac-tional Telephone Interactions, relies on data col-lected in Shanghai in the mid-1990s. These dataseem outdated, given the rapid pace of changeand reform in China. The essay concludes thatthe level of service provided by call-takers atmostly state-owned enterprisesto callers seek-ing informationwas less than is generally ex-pected for such interchanges. Call-takers did notself-identify, and they positioned themselves at ahigher status than the caller. The callers thereforehad to resort to polite, self-denigrating languageto obtain the information needed. In all, the in-terchanges were different from those based oncustomer-centered principles. There is no men-tion of whether things have changed in the pastdecade and a half, as China as well moves towardcustomer-centeredness.The third essay, by Kadar, is entitled Power and

Formulaic (Im)Politeness in Traditional ChineseCriminal Investigations. It argues that impolite-

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ness is used as a tool to assert power and dom-ination in courtroom trials in traditional China.The corpus used for textual analysis consists of14 gongan court case novels and novellasfrom theMing andQing periods. The essay pointsout that the magistrate uses informal and deroga-tory forms of second-person address ru you(informal, derogatory) and ni youto assertelevated status and authority, whereas the defen-dants use honorific forms of address (e.g., yourhonor). It includes a case study of a story fromthe Qing dynasty novel Di Gongan TheCriminal Cases of Judge Dee, called the neeZhou trial. The author argues that the defendant(a woman accused of murdering her husband)temporarily turns the proceedings to her bene-fit by inverting linguistic convention, but this ar-gument is not entirely convincing. The womansstrategy relies less on language use than on hermanipulation of the situation to posit herselfas a victim, and her asserting that social norms(for the chaste widow) should trump court con-vention in this case. Nonetheless, the essay is apage-turner!The fourth essay, by Chan, is titled Meeting

Openings and Closings in a Hong Kong Com-pany. The business in question is identified bythe pseudonym Rainbow. There is no indicationof when the data were collected, but there isreference to the meetings being video-recordedon mini DVDs, which became available in 1998.The study foregrounds the methodology used, al-though the content seems obscure. It concludesthat there is little difference between meetingopenings and closings in this Hong Kong com-pany and similar companies elsewhere.Finally, Luke, Lam, and Zhang offer Electronic

Medical Record Keeping and DoctorPatient In-teraction: An Analysis of Medical Consultations inHong Kong. Data from the consultations in ques-tion, gathered in Hong Kong in 2006, supportobservations made in recent literature that whenphysicians use computers for record-keeping, theyspend less time talking to patients, which maydiminish the quality of the relationship betweenphysician and patient.In all, the volume is eminently readable and

highly informative, both about methodologicalapproaches in a variety of fields as well as aboutaspects of Chinese culture that would be difficultto access without such painstaking research. Theeditors and authors have met the goals they setfor themselves.

CYNTHIA Y. NINGUniversity of Hawai'i

DUTCH

BODEGOM, GERDA, & BRUCE DONALDSON.Colloquial Dutch 2. New York: Routledge, 2008.Pp. 208. $52.95, paper. ISBN 0415310768.

As its title suggests, this volume is a sequel to Collo-quial Dutch: The Complete Course for Beginners and,as such, it is intended for the intermediate lan-guage learner. The book claims to stand on itsown apart from the beginning course, which istrue for the most part. Nevertheless, this reviewoccasionally makes reference to volume 1 by wayof comparison.Arranged in 12 topical units, chapters high-

light areas of Dutch society and culture, address-ing the customary topics such as Dutch traditions,cities, travel, weather, home and family, food andhealth, media, leisure, politics, sports and society,and culture. Each unit presents a variety of ma-terials, including reading and listening texts, ex-ercises, grammar explanations (called languagepoints), dialogues with vocabulary lists, and con-cluding sections on idioms, proverbs, and culturaltidbits. In addition, 140 minutes of audio materialaccompanies the book in the course pack.Each unit features eight exercises; an answer

key is appended. The format of the exercisesvaries from the traditional true/false type to re-freshingly creative activities in which the learnermust choose who might have made selected com-ments about a topic of a reading (p. 10). Othercreative exercises ask the learner to find the op-posite of selected words or to rephrase given state-ments according to the grammar point learned.When short lists of proverbs are introduced ineach unit, the book often requires learners tomatch them to their English equivalents, a ped-agogical strategy superior to listing the Dutchproverb along with its English equivalent.For all the strengths of this book, the intro-

duction is disappointingly brief. Over half of theintroduction deals with the new spelling rules in-troduced in 1996. Even though the discussion ofthe new spelling is superbly written, there seemsno reason for this topic to dominate. Missing isa justification for the choice of topics. Many ofthe topics are usual fare in language learning, tobe sure. However, why, for example, do the au-thors include sports and recreation but not edu-cation? Why is leisure the focus of an entire unit,whereas the topic of religion receives only a foot-note (p. 112)? Another lacuna in the introductioninvolves advice to the reader about how exactly to

688 The Modern Language Journal 94 (2010)

use the book. It would be useful to know whatstrategies learners can apply to master new vo-cabulary. What is the professional wisdom aboutpacing in self-study? How does the learner bestcombine the audio and written material? Cer-tainly the answers to these questions are learnerspecific and highly individualized, but some sug-gestions based on the latest pedagogical literaturewould be welcome.The intermediate learner preparing to enter

the Dutch-speaking regions of Belgiumwill be dis-appointed in the sparse reference to the Dutchlanguage in Belgian Flemish culture. To be fair,volume 1 does address the issue of where Dutchis spoken worldwide, but because volume 2 claimsto stand on its own, some such basic informationabout the Dutch-speaking regions and culturesbears repetition.In spite of these criticisms, the strengths of Col-

loquial Dutch 2 are considerable. This book setsitself apart for its clarity of style, presentation,and explanation. The authors display a genuinecuriosity for language and for the particulars ofDutch idioms. They have a knack for explainingthe nuances of Dutch, especially for the Englishspeaker. The authors show a remarkably good earand eye for what the language learner needs toknow. The following excerpt is a sample of the ap-pealing style where the authors address the chal-lenging concept of adjective endings. It features acomfortable conversational tone in combinationwith astute observations of Dutch usage.

Did you notice the following three phrases in thereading text about Ghent: het Stedelijk Museum, het cen-traal station and het openbaar vervoer? According to theabove rule you would have expected stedelijk, centraaland openbaar to take an ending, so why dont they?Well, there is a long list of nouns, particularly neuternouns, which, even when preceded by the singulardefinite article, do not require that the preceding ad-jective be inflected as you would expect according tothe rule above . . . . Watch out for these exceptions.You need to learn them one by one as you encounterthem as there is no hard and fast rule you can learn.(pp. 2627)

Colloquial Dutch 2 is visually appealing for a pa-perback restricted to black andwhite. It is less clut-tered than volume 1 and noteworthy for its leanand clean page layout. The course packs listeningtracks are conveniently provided on both CD andcassette. The book also serves as a handy grammarreference, and its coverage of topics such as subor-dinating conjunctions (p. 107), plural formation

(pp. 54ff.), and the imperative mood (pp. 38ff.)is impressively thorough for a book of this size.

HERMAN J. DE VRIES, JR.Calvin College

DONALDSON, BRUCE. Dutch: A ComprehensiveGrammar . 2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 2008.Pp. xiii, 438. $58.95, paper. ISBN 9780415432313.

This grammar represents the latest in a long lineof indispensible reference materials by Donald-son targeting intermediate and advanced English-speaking learners of Dutch. It is a bit unfortunatethat the volume appears in the Routledge Com-prehensive Grammars series, given that it is nota comprehensive grammar, which is stated clearlyin the preface. This grammar is intended as a de-tailed practical reference work that anticipates dif-ficulties that the English-speaking learner will en-counter in the advanced stages of the acquisitionof Dutch. Donaldson has delivered a thoroughlyrevised, updated, and expanded version of a se-ries grammar that began with his Dutch ReferenceGrammar (1981), and it should find a place on thebookshelf of every serious Anglophone student ofDutch.After four short chapters on pronunciation,

spelling, punctuation, and modern relics of theearlier Dutch case system, the grammar is orga-nized into chapters according to parts of speech(articles, nouns, adjectives, verbs, etc.). The con-sequence of this organizational principle is theabsence of a chapter dedicated to syntax, with theresult that fundamental syntactic issues are dealtwith piecemeal throughout the book. This diffusepresentation of syntactic issues can be overcomewith skillful use of the detailed index, but it wouldnevertheless seem useful to present the basic syn-tactic principles of main clauses and dependentclauses in a single chapter. By way of explanationof the lack of a chapter on syntax, Donaldsonstates in the preface that he has yet to see a presen-tation of Dutch syntax that could be of any prac-tical use to the foreign learner of the language(p. xi), but his excellent practical discussion ofsyntactic issues sprinkled throughout the book in-dicate that he might be just the person to writesuch a chapter.The individual chapters are packed with lu-

cid grammatical explanations, clear examples,and, where appropriate, extensive lists of themorphological forms under discussion. Chapter

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11, Verbs, lists all strong and irregular verbsand their forms, including notes on confusingfine points: The verb zuigen to suck is strong(infinitive zuigen, imperfect zoog , past participlegezogen), but in a footnote (p. 197) Donaldsonexplains that the compound verb stofzuigen tovacuum is weak (infinitive stofzuigen, imperfectstofzuigde , past participle gestofzuigd). The exten-sive lists of examples make this grammar a usefulsource of teaching material for intermediate andadvanced students, some of which would be diffi-cult to glean from any other source. The chapteron adjectives includes a list of common but oftencompound adjectives, which are typical of spokenDutch but can be opaque to the learner of Dutch(e.g., hemelsbreed very wide; kurkdroog as dry asa bone, but literally as broad as the sky and asdry as a cork).One of the strengths of Dutch: A Comprehensive

Grammar is the attention paid to different reg-isters of spoken and written Dutch so that thereader can make informed choices about usage.This type of discussion is valuable because evennative speakers of Dutch have a hard time ex-plaining such distinctions. An example would bethe excellent presentation of the possessive rela-tive whose, which has three possible realizations,wiens, van wie , andwie zn (p. 90). This type of pre-sentation allows the reader to make appropriatechoices when speaking or writing Dutch, giventhat wiens would sound strange in normal spokenDutch and wie zn would be inappropriate in for-mal written Dutch.The utility of the grammar is enhanced by use-

ful appendices, including extensive informationon letter-writing conventions and on the termi-nology of email and long lists of proper nouns forcountries, nationalities, and geographical names.From these lists, the reader can quickly ascertainthat a female Slovakian is a Slowaakse in Dutch,that the Dutch rendering of Berlin is Berlijn, andthat the Mediterranean Sea is de Middellandse Zee ,all of which is difficult information to extract fromeven the most comprehensive of dictionaries. Per-haps themost useful appendix helps the reader todecode the ubiquitous but often thoroughly con-fusing Dutch habit of using a large number of ab-breviations and acronyms as a kind of shorthand.Thus, although every native speaker of Dutchknows thatm.i. is the abbreviation formijns inziensin my opinion and that the KNVB refers to theKoninklijke Nederlandse Voetbalbond Royal DutchFootball League, a nonnative speaker can spendyears figuring out such things. The appendix pro-vides a quick decoding of nearly 200 of the mostcommonly used abbreviations. The appendices

are rounded out by a useful glossary of grammat-ical terms.There is so much of use in this grammar that

criticisms are mainly small quibbles. Dutch is apluricentric language, so there are standard vari-eties used in theNetherlands, Belgium, Suriname,and the Netherlands Antilles. Some of the differ-ences in usage might have been highlighted ordiscussed in greater detail. It is odd, for exam-ple, that the voiced soft g is correctly cited as asouthern Dutch shibboleth, whereas the Flemishretention of glide [w] pronunciation of MiddleDutch /w/, as compared to the northern realiza-tion as [] or [v], is not mentioned at all despiteits salience. However, these areminor issues in thebroader scheme of things.

ROBERT B. HOWELLUniversity of WisconsinMadison

OOSTERHOFF, JENNEKE A. Basic Dutch: AGrammar and Workbook. New York: Routledge,2009. Pp. viii, 197. $34.95, paper. ISBN 9780415774437.Intermediate Dutch: A Grammar and Workbook. NewYork: Routledge, 2009. Pp. viii, 204. $35.95, paper.ISBN 9780415774444.

Part of the Grammar Workbook series publishedby Routledge, Basic Dutch and Intermediate Dutchare traditional reference grammars for nativespeakers of English. In this review, both com-panion volumes are considered. As the titles sug-gest, the first volume is primarily intended fornovice learners of Dutch and for those with priorexposure who want to improve or refine theircommand of the grammatical structures of thelanguage; the second volume ismeant for learnerswho are already familiar with the basic structuresand want to move on to more advanced linguisticfeatures of Dutch.The Basic Dutch grammar book is well struc-

tured. Following a brief preface, the 25 units focuson topics of Dutch grammar. Each unit consistsof two parts. The first part begins with an intro-duction of the topic in English, accompanied byexamples of English equivalents and either a fewunconnected sample sentences or a paragraph inDutch containing several examples of the gram-matical topic under discussion, along with an En-glish translation. Next, we find an explanation ofthe structure at hand, andmore sample sentencesare provided. The author pays attention to thegrammatical aspects of spelling in her work. The

690 The Modern Language Journal 94 (2010)

second part of each unit contains five or six exer-cises that progress in difficulty. As a rule, the exer-cises are closed-ended. The appendix includes alist of commonly used strong and irregular verbs,arranged according to the stem vowels of the in-finitive, the preterit tense, and the past participle.Finally, there is a key to the exercises and an indexof grammatical topics.In the preface, the author draws attention to

three conscious choices that she made for thiswork. First, she decided not to include a chap-ter on pronunciation. This choice was motivatedby the belief that learners can access sound fileson the Internet. Second, she claims that she at-tempted to provide a situational context for thesample sentences and exercises in the book, indi-cating that traditional grammars are often lackingin this respect. To achieve this goal, she uses animaginary family of four, their friends, and neigh-bors from the small village of Hardegarijp. Finally,she indicates that she wanted to place an emphasison written exercises, although she does include afew oral exercises.The author used excellent judgment in deter-

mining what belongs in the basic book. The ex-amples that illustrate a given grammatical topicare usually well chosen and are always translatedinto English. She focuses exclusively on the stan-dard Dutch language as it is used in the Nether-lands, ignoring regional variations, includingBelgian use. The grammatical explanations arewritten entirely in English, but sometimes theylack clarity. In unit 2, for example, where themodal auxiliary verbs are discussed, after the briefintroduction, the tables with the conjugation pat-tern of these verbs in the present tense, and theexamples of sentences that contain modal verbs,readers are told that sometimes, the main or ac-tion verb infinitive at the end of the sentence is leftout. It is, however, implied (p. 12). In two of thefollowing Dutch examples, not only is the infini-tive left out but also the subject, although the ac-companying English translations suggest that thedirect object and the infinitive are omitted. Al-though the examples are grammatical, the readerdoes not find any explanation for the unexpectedomissions. Another example can be found in thediscussion of the imperative in unit 20, where theauthor first introduces common imperatives with-out a subject. She then claims that when a groupis addressed, sometimes t is added to the stem.But rather than using this old form, in the pluralwe prefer to add a subject (p. 126). Two examplesthat aremeant to illustrate this feature for the plu-ral, however, are singular imperatives. A final ex-ample occurs in the unit on word order, where theauthor does not make a clear distinction between

a prepositional phrase and an indirect object. Thispoint is relevant here because it is possible to usea prepositional phrase instead of an indirect ob-ject in Dutch, provided one also makes adjust-ments in word order. The following grammaticalexplanation of this feature in the grammar is mis-leading: When the indirect object is precededby a preposition, it can follow the direct object(p. 147).The aims and the structure of Intermediate Dutch

are the same as for Basic Dutch. The intermediate-level book uses vocabulary items associated withtopics introduced in second-year textbooks, andthe author states that the volume can also be usedas a review grammar in courses at the advancedlevel. Even though the book is intended for stu-dents with a higher level of proficiency, there areno open-ended exercises. This grammar displaysweaknesses similar to those of its basic compan-ion. For example, in the unit on passive voice, weare told that

the passive construction is formed with the auxiliaryverb worden and the past participle of the main verb(here we call this the passive participle). The form ofworden is the finite verb, and the passive participle isat the end of the sentence. (p. 133)

Of the four examples intended to illustrate thisgrammatical feature, only two contain the auxil-iary worden, but no explanation is provided forthe absence of the auxiliary in the other twosentences.These books are perhaps best used in a class-

room setting in which an experienced teacher isable to clarify the grammatical explanations andanswer the many questions that a close reading ofthe reference works will raise. The teacher wouldencourage and expect students to use the newlyacquired grammatical structures in more creativeand open-ended tasks. I would also recommendthat these books be used in conjunction with atextbook or additional materials that introducethe learners to the people and the culture of theNetherlands and of the Dutch-speaking area ofBelgium.

COLETTE VAN KERCKVOORDEBard College at Simons Rock

FRENCH

LABEAU, EMMANUELLE, & FLORENCEMYLES. (Eds.). The Advanced Learner Vari-ety: The Case of French. Frankfurt, Germany:

Reviews 691

Peter Lang, 2009. Pp. 298. $75.95, paper. ISBN9783039110728.

This volume, a peer-reviewed collection of articlesthat grew from the 2006 workshop entitled Revis-iting Advanced Varieties in L2 Learning held atAston University, is a valuable contribution to sec-ond language (L2) research. The conference wasdesigned as a follow-up to a special issue of AILE(Acquisition et Interaction en Langue Etrange`re) in1996, edited by Bartning, on the topic of advancedL2 French. In the current volume, the article de-riving from Bartnings keynote speech in 2006provides the central themes for the other contri-butions. The importance of this collection relatesto three points: its focus on advanced learners (asopposed to beginners or near natives, the subjectof numerous L2 studies); its emphasis on French(L2 English being a frequent language of investi-gation); and its breadth of theoretical perspectiveand empirical data. The dozen articles, writtenin English, cover L2 French not only from differ-ent theoretical views (e.g., functionalism, sociolin-guistics, discourse analysis) but also from variedapproaches to the data (oral/written, grammar/vocabulary/style, lexicon/discourse). The au-thors use variedmethodologies, such as case study,interview, written documentation, grammatical as-sessments, and longitudinal treatments.Although not indicated in the table of contents,

after Bartnings initial keynote, the chapters aregrouped into three sections, Advanced L2 Mor-phosyntax, Lexis and Formulaic Sequences,and Discourse and Pragmatics. Bartning, whodeveloped a rubric of stages of L2 developmentalong with Schlyter, outlines the profile of ad-vanced learners according to grammar and dis-course function mastery. Bartning distinguishesA features (regular grammatical characteristicsthat follow a progressive developmental trajec-tory) from B features (irregular and idiosyncraticitems that need be memorized and are not sys-tematic in development). She refines her earlierformulations by relying on the extensive corporaand research of recent years. She sets the bar forNP, VP, and discourse development for the sub-sequent articles that expand on her categories.Another leitmotif she raises that traverses the vol-ume is the comparison of advanced L2 learnersand native speakers.The articles of the first section on mor-

phosyntax treat verb morphology (Housen;Kemps; Pierrard; and Housen, Kemps, and Pier-rard), tense/aspect (Labeau; Howard), relativeclauses (Monville-Burston and Kakoyianni-Doa),

and nominalverbal number agreement (Agren).Housen et al. study the development of ver-bal morphology (finitude and inflection) andtensemoodaspect by a group of first language(L1) Dutch adolescents as documented in theiroral narration of the frog story. Agrens inves-tigation looks at a group (Swedish L1) of ado-lescents whose morphological accuracy in num-ber marking in NP and VP is examined inwritten texts. Howards article, which comparesthe aspectual morphosyntax and vocabulary ofL1 English students before, during, and afterstudy abroad in France, is a fine complement toLabeaus more theoretical discussion of aspect forAnglophone learners. Finally, Monville-Burstonand Kakoyianni-Doa use Greek L1 participantsto examine nonstandard relative constructionsfound both in native and L2 populations, not-ing that the L2 deviance (about 15%) does notnecessarily result from nonstandard input but isprobably related to cross-linguistic tendencies forrelativization.The two articles in the lexis section cover for-

mulaic sequences (Forsberg) and phraseologi-cal units (Bolly), whereas the three articles inthe discourse section treat discourse complex-ity (Klinger), style (Tyne), and ongoing narra-tion using progressive (Leclercq). Forsberg does across-sectional study (L1 Swedish) of formulaic se-quences through data from structured interviews.Bolly examines V + NP combinations with thehigh-frequency verbs prendre to take and donnerto give in written corpora (FRIDA database ofAnglophone learners of French). Klinger looksat three case studies (L1 Japanese) to comparesyntactic complexity in L1 and L2 French, tak-ing into consideration discourse conditioning.Tynes work likewise looks at discourse condition-ing and its development longitudinally, as he con-trasts first- and fourth-year Anglophone studentsin naturally elicited speech (formal presentation,formal conversation, and informal conversation).Finally, Leclercq explores simultaneity, the aspec-tual information imparted by progressive in En-glish and etre en train de to be in the process ofin French. Using an oral film retelling narrativewith Anglophone learners, he explains how sev-eral meansaspect, presentatives, and temporaladverbialscontribute to the narrative structureto convey contemporaneous actions. The secondand third sections complement themore syntacticaspects of advanced L2 French with the inclusionof lexical and pragmatic attributes of this level oflanguage.One might quibble that there are too many

footnotes, but that is a minor criticism. Another

692 The Modern Language Journal 94 (2010)

possible detraction is the fact that the volumedeals almost exclusively with instructed learners, apotential limitation given the importance of nat-uralistic input. Howards article provides an inter-esting perspective on the role of target languageand culture immersion, but he is not the onlyone to link instructed learning with naturalisticinput. Most of the articles address the opportuni-ties for instructed learners to gain sociopragmaticcompetence in tandem with morphosyntax. Forexample, Tyne points out that advanced learnersdiffer from beginners in the same program notonly in terms of their grammatical and discoursecompetence but also in their acquisition of differ-ences in stylistic register from their frequent for-ays into the target culture. Overall, the volume isa positive contribution to L2 literature, to Frenchlinguistics studies, and to the complementarity ofmorphosyntax with discourse aspects of language.It is clearly presented, well edited, and amply doc-umented. The data furnished will undoubtedly beuseful to L2 scholars.

JULIA HERSCHENSOHNUniversity of Washington

GERMAN

SCHUELLER, JEANNE. Cinema for German Con-versation. Newburyport, MA: Focus, 2009. Pp. xiv,354. $46.95, paper. ISBN 9781585102808.

The explosion in the 1980s of films in VCR andVHS formats was a godsend to language teach-ers. For a few years, to be sure, one was able to getonly themost popular contemporary films, partic-ularly the winners of international prizes. Therewere the classics of Weimar cinema, as well, andaccess to these films became steadily easier. TheVHS has been largely replaced by the DVD, to thedismay of many teachers who built sizable VHScollections. However, the array of films has mush-roomed ever further, and mail delivery has facili-tated access.In 1991, the Goethe-Institut published Begeg-

nungen: Spielfilmsequenzen als Sprechanla. A VHScassette and a 77-page workbook treated nine dif-ferent feature films but only with brief excerpts(4 minutes on average). The accompanying ex-ercises were rudimentary, but the workbook alsoincluded transcripts of the dialogue in all excerpts(three of the nine films were 1920s silents), syn-opses, and the basics of film analysis.

In 2005, Focus Publishing brought outGerman Culture through Film: An Introduction toGerman Cinema (255 pages, by Reimer, Zachau,and Sinka), all in English, with an Arbeitsbuch zuGerman Culture through Film (275 pages, by Reimerand Zachau) that contained carefully conceivedexercises in German for a well-known selection of14 from the 31 films in the basic text.Starting in 2003, Focus Publishing also began

presenting a series of books starting with Cinemafor French Conversation (covering 20 films, nowin its third edition). This was followed by Italian(2005, treating 16 films), Russian (2005, 2 vol-umes, 14 films), Spanish (now in its second edi-tion, 18 films), and Portuguese (2009, 14 films).Cinema for German Conversation joined them in2009 (12 films). The format is similar acrossthe series, with a comprehensive series of target-language materials and exercises for each film(approximately 25 pages).The 12 chapters treat the following films (those

currently available through Netflix are markedwith an asterisk): Merry Christmas (Christian Car-ion, 2005); Rosenstrae (Margarethe von Trotta,2003); Das Wunder von Bern (Sonke Wortmann,2003); Solino (Fatih Akin, 2002); Das Leben derAnderen (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck,2006); Berlin is in Germany (Hannes Stohr, 2001);Alles auf Zucker (Dani Levy, 2005); Am Ende kom-men Touristen (Robert Thalheim, 2007); Im Juli(Fatih Akin, 2000); Kebab Connection (Anno Saul,2005);Die Blindganger (Bernd Sahling, 2004); andDie fetten Jahre sind vorbei (Hans Weingartner,2004).Schueller has chosenonly filmsmadewithin the

past decade, from 2000 to 2007. Some prospec-tive users of the book may quarrel with her se-lection, which features several films with whichmost American German teachers and studentsprobably will not be familiar. However, there arealso some films that received considerable inter-national and film-festival attention.The author apparently chose 12 films so that

teachers might use 1 film per week in a normalcollege semester. However, it will be an ambi-tious class that works its way through an entirechapter each week, quite apart from the viewingtime for the film. The activities are quite inventiveand should stimulate discussion. Moreover, eachchapter contains a substantial amount of read-ing material in addition to conversation cues andquestions.Should each film be shown in class? Themath is

obvious: If the typical course has 150 minutes perweek and these films average 108 minutes (therange is 82 to 137 minutes), little time will be

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available for the conversation that the book andthe films seek to stimulate. This reality makes theidea of outside-of-class screenings or some modal-ity entailing library viewing almost irresistible, butthe immediacy of the film in the classroom issacrificed.The books title makes clear that these films

are meant to emphasize a single proficiency bystimulating conversation in German. The mix ofcontent and form is crucial when one talks aboutfilms. As the adage goes, films are hard to explainbecause they are so easy to understand. Everyoneknows how to watch one. Most people are willing,even eager, to judge the films they watch. Accessto feature films has never been easier. The con-cept of this textbook is one whose time has come.However, there is too much material in this sin-gle book for a one-semester course. Happy is theGerman program in the luxurious position of be-ing able to offer a two-semester sequence.One should probably also note that instructors

also have the opt