How Languages are Learned

By Patsy M. Lightbown, Nina Spada,

Book cover of How Languages are Learned

Book description

Now in its 4th edition, How Languages are Learned is highly valued for the way it relates language acquisition theory to classroom teaching and learning and draws practical implications from the research for the language classroom. How Languages are Learned is widely used as a reference book on teacher training…

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Why read it?

1 author picked How Languages are Learned as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

When I took my Master course in English Language Teaching in 1992, this was one of the suggested sources.

I loved it, and so did my fellow students, because it explained language learning in an extremely clear and straightforward way. Later, as a professor, I found that my own students were similarly enthusiastic. But do not get the impression that this is just a good ‘academic’ textbook. It was written for novice English teachers, many international, and so the language is non-technical and accessible.

Lightbown and Spada take the reader through the process of language acquisition step-by-step, with numerous examples…

From Norbert's list on learning and using language well.

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