Language teaching

Abstract

Although there has been continuous debate over many years about the place of authentic discourse and materials in language learning, Alex Gilmore's review article in this issue is the first to review and debate many of the key issues and research in this area in a systematic way. His paper places the use of authentic material in historical context, showing how the arguments for and against the use of such material in textbooks go back a long way. After discussing the thorny issue of definition, he addresses four key areas of current concern and examines some of the reasons behind the perceived resistance to curriculum and textbook changes.Our reviews of work in national publications return with a review by Steve Cornwell, Andrea Simon-Maeda and Eton Churchill of selected research on language education published in English in Japan from 2000 to 2006. In their article, the authors attempt to show the academic diversity and intellectual depth of current research agendas in Japan, with particular reference to current topics such as language policy issues, team-teaching, World Englishes, multilingualism, interlanguage pragmatics, and motivation.Richard Johnstone's article in which he reviews research on language teaching, learning and policy published in 2004 and 2005 is available online in Language Teaching 39.4 (2006), at http://journals.cambridge.org/jid_LTA.