Acknowledgments

Abstract

The ideas in this book began as a few notes on the back of a napkin, scribbled together with Alison Phipps, whom I must thank first for our rich and rewarding years of friendship, for her collegiality and support, for her sharp mind, brilliant ideas, and deep humanity, for helping to draw the occasional bright idea out of me, for the inspiration and motivation to think beyond the narrow confines of the language classroom in order to help recognize the potential of language teaching and learning, for showing me that understanding the complexities of language and learning is useless unless it serves the larger purpose of fostering human capabilities, creativity, and compassion. I also want to offer Heidi Byrnes tausend Dank, for encouraging the writing of this monograph beyond the confines of an academic article. Her feedback and guidance early in the project were essential for seeing the big picture of what the book should be about. Thank you to Wander Lowie for his encouragement and support throughout the writing process, and his patience with my delays and many questions. I am also very grateful to David Block and Rick Kern for their rich and detailed feedback and instructions for revising the first draft; I did my best to address all of their concerns and wishes. Thanks, too, to Kate Miller for her skillful editing of the manuscript, and to Shalini Chawla for her patience and attention to detail in the production phase. I am inexpressibly grateful to Bridget Swanson for her keen and brutally honest reading and editing of drafts of this monograph, for what I call her bird's-eye perspective of issues of language teaching, and for her unwavering encouragement throughout! I want to thank Monika Böhme for the many insightful and inspiring conversations we had about language teaching and language learners, which were helpful in focusing many of the discussions in these chapters, as well as keeping them grounded in what teachers actually do, or can do, with their students. Likewise, the many discussions I had on the topics in these chapters were invaluable, and so I am very grateful to Claire Kramsch, Christina Frei, Hiram Maxim, Cori Crane, Chantelle Warner, Steve Thorne, David Gramling, Susanne Rott, Barbara Schmenk, Thor Sawin, Julio Torres, Lisa Parkes, Jerry Won Lee, Bettina Matthias, Carl Blyth, Dave Malinowski, Heather Willis Allen, Friederike Tebben, Per Urlaub, Rosemarie Tracy, Stephan Breidbach, Tessa Wegener, and Sébastien Dubreil. I am forever grateful to all of the graduate students I have had the pleasure to work with over many years, who provided both inspiration and insights through our many interactions about language teaching and my many visits to their classes. Thanks to Eric Blankenship, Kristin Brehm, Patrick Carlson, Matt Cooper, Natalie Eppelsheimer, Jonathan Fine, Friederike Kaufel, Rose Jones, Erin Kelly, Franz Kuzay, David Lamme, Alex Lotz, Susan Morse, Simona Moti, Steven Nave, Yao Pei, Mohammed Rafi, Jaime Roots, Rebecca Schuman, Henrik Sponsel, Jacob Schaubs, Xuxu Song, Magda Tarnawska Senel, Jessica Wood, and Jason Wilby. Also, without the amazing friendship, hospitality, and support of Gail Hart and Dennis Perchak, I am certain I would not have had the peace and quiet I needed at crucial stages of the work. Finally, I want to thank Ursula Levine for the support and encouragement through the years I worked on this book. While writing is a solitary activity, her belief in me was crucial. Just as much, I am grateful to my children, Hanna, Annika, and Sam, especially for their understanding for the many days I was gone in order to research and write. To all of those who gave feedback and comments on parts or all of the book, the usual disclaimer applies: Any shortcomings of the work are entirely on me. Glenn Levine Irvine, California, October 26, 2019