HO WAH KAM & RUTH Y. L. WONG (eds.), English language teaching in East Asia today: Changing policies and practices. 2nd ed.; and HO WAH KAM & RUTH Y. L. WONG (eds.), Language policies and language education: The impact in East Asian countries in the next decade. 2nd ed.

Abstract

Ho Wah Kam & Ruth Y. L. Wong (eds.), English language teaching in East Asia today: Changing policies and practices. 2nd ed. Singapore: Eastern Universities Press, 2004. Pp. 474. Hb $30.00.Ho Wah Kam & Ruth Y. L. Wong (eds.), Language policies and language education: The impact in East Asian countries in the next decade. 2nd ed. Singapore: Eastern Universities Press, 2004. Pp. 384. Hb $30.00.These two volumes, edited by two distinguished scholars in language education from Singapore, provide basic, essential, up-to-date information about the language situations and development of English language teaching in East Asian countries. Together they form a valuable encyclopedic reference work that will give scholars, teachers, and language policy makers a bigger picture of the Asian region through which they can better understand the position of their own countries and learn from the experience of others. Although the two volumes can be read independently, it is more logical to sequence Language policies and language education before English language teaching in East Asia today because the former provides an overview of language policies and language education in the region from a macro perspective, which helps to set out the necessary contextual background for a micro exploration into issues of English language teaching in the second volume. The editors take pride in the fact that the two books provide an “insiders' perspective,” meaning that all the country-based chapters were written by scholars who have lived in the given country for a long time. Indeed, this helps to establish high credibility for the information provided. On the good foundation that these two volumes have laid, comparative studies across countries in the region can be conducted more easily and efficiently.