Recently Received Online
An up-to-date index of books available for review can be found at https://jalt-publications.org/tlt/departments/recently-received
* = new listing; ! = final notice—Final notice items will be removed on April 30. Please make queries by email to the appropriate JALT Publications contact.
Books for Students (reviews published in TLT)
Contact: Julie Kimura—jaltpubs.tlt.pub.review@jalt.org
* AI Skill Assessment & Training System—Edulinx, n.d. [AISATS, an AI-powered assessment platform, delivers customized speaking and writing evaluations for governments, universities, and corporations worldwide. Through realistic web-based interviews with a virtual examiner, the system analyzes pronunciation, fluency, grammar, vocabulary, and communicative achievement and accepts open-ended responses. It ensures fair, unbiased, and efficient evaluations while reducing examiner workload. The platform also provides estimated equivalent scores for major English tests such as IELTS, TOEFL, and Eiken, giving institutions a clear benchmark of language proficiency.]
! English communication for nursing—Zeff, B. B. Seed Learning, 2024. [This eight-unit coursebook has been designed to help nurses communicate effectively with English-speaking patients. Learners are provided with an essential foundation for communicating in the healthcare setting. The book features vocabulary and expressions, realistic dialogues, cultural tips, and practice activities. This coursebook can be used as standalone material or with a series of online videos that can help to enhance listening skills.]
! Everyday science and technology: News you can use—Knudsen, J. (Annot. Y. Satake). Nan’un-do, 2024. [Science and technology make front-page news every day. The readings in this coursebook are presented in technical, yet accessible language. Twenty need-to-know topics offer readers a look at great discoveries, key breakthroughs, and game-changing innovations. The subtitle, News You Can Use, reflects the hope that the book will serve as a go-to manual for navigating this exciting yet perplexing moment in history. A teacher’s manual, an audio CD, and a review test are available.]
* More than just an assistant: ALTs, identity, and the future of English education in Japan—Reed, N, 2026. [The author examines the evolving role of assistant language teachers (ALTs) in Japan and shows how their everyday work reveals deeper tensions in English education, teacher collaboration, and school culture. Drawing on sixteen years of experience, policy research, and comparisons across East Asia and the Anglophone world, the book highlights the structural ambiguities that shape ALT practice and possibilities for more inclusive and educationally-grounded reform. It offers a balance and research-informed narrative aimed at educators, policymakers, and anyone interested in Japan’s approach to language education.]
* Science talk: Communicative English for science and technology—Kudo, T., & Edwards, C. National Geographic Learning, 2025. [This coursebook was written to boost communication skills for science and technology majors whose English proficiency is in the upper-beginner to intermediate level. There are also tasks for more advanced students. Each of the 14 units focuses on vocabulary and practical output, featuring roleplays and projects. Classroom audio CD and teacher’s manual are also available.]
Summer at Cinnamon Beach: English literature in the classroom (Vol. 2)—Kamata, S. Asahi Press, 2025. [This literature-based coursebook is suitable for learners in the CEFR B1 range and higher. The story follows a deaf bicultural Japanese teenager spending the summer abroad and explores themes of communication and identity through accessible and graded English. Each unit includes comprehension and discussion tasks, vocabulary support, and online audio recordings for listening practice. There is also a teacher’s manual available.]
! Teaching and learning English in Japanese classrooms: Teachers’ perspectives—Elliott, D. (Ed.). Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2023. [This edited volume shows how ELT professionals in Japan have explored questions and issues that have affected both them and their students in the language learning process. Although contributors are working in Japan, classroom practitioners from the wider international language teaching community can benefit from the practical approaches and accessible descriptions of research. A secondary audience of administrators and teacher trainers will find value in chapters that outline the ways in which to foster an environment conducive to practitioner research.]
! What should every EFL teacher know?—Nation, P. (2nd ed.). Compass Publishing, 2024. [This practical book covers the most important information that an EFL teacher should know. It focuses on issues including teaching the four skills—pronunciation, spelling, grammar, and vocabulary—and how to design classes and courses. Nation also proposes ideas on dealing with problems, such as large classes, classes of mixed proficiency, and classroom management issues.]
Books for Teachers (reviews published in JALT Journal)
Contact: Melodie Cook—jjreviews@jalt-publications.org
! Children’s additional language learning in instructional settings: Implications for teaching and future research—Butler, Y. G. Multilingual Matters, 2025. [This new title provides an overview of young learners’ language in pre-primary and primary education. It collates current research on language development and pedagogy among children learning an additional language in instructional settings. The book promotes a learner-centered approach to research and encourages critical reflection on how best to conduct research.]
! Constructing, reconstructing, and reclaiming learner identities: Academically successful 1.5 generation Filipino students in Japan—Motohashi, E. P. Multilingual Matters, 2025. [This book focuses on the experiences of 1.5 generation Filipinos in Japan, charting their life histories and education in the Philippines and Japan. Against a background of transnational migrations between both countries, this study looks at immigrant non-Japanese students of varying proficiencies studying Japanese as a second language with varying educational support in Japanese schools. The author uses a narrative life history approach to consider how the participants used their educational histories and learner identities as intangible resources which they drew upon to overcome structural and cultural differences in the environments they encountered.]
* An introduction to social justice education in the UK: Key challenges and opportunities—Peart, S. (Ed.). Bloomsbury Press, 2025. [This book explores key issues in social justice education in the U.K. Written by educators working across informal education, primary classrooms, and higher education, it draws on research from multiple sectors. It is organized into four sections: sociological pressures, curriculum challenges, race, and digital issues. Additionally it presents case studies, scenarios, and theories addressing topics, such as ableism, racism, antisemitism, motherhood, and social media. Each chapter includes discussion questions and reflective prompts to support deeper engagement.]
! Language teacher emotion and regulation: An exploration in Japan—Morris, S. Multilingual Matters, 2025. [This book helps us understand how language teachers regulate and use their emotions to best serve themselves and their students. It advances research in the field by providing an in-depth theoretical discussion of emotion regulation in a Japanese context. The book primarily focuses on strategies language teachers employ to regulate their own emotions, motives that help to regulate such emotions, and various contextual factors that shape their decisions.]
* Navigating English policy and practice in Japan’s primary schools—Ferguson, P. Multilingual Matters, 2025. [The author investigates recent changes in language education policy and EFL implementation in Japan’s public elementary schools. Through interviews with policymakers, principals, and teachers, he examines challenges in creating, transmitting, and implementing this new policy. He reveals policy contents and the political and socioeconomic rationale for introducing EFL into Japan’s curriculum. The book aids understanding of macro-level discourses on progressive and conservative views of schooling and how globalization affects attitudes toward English education. It will interest researchers in language policy, second language acquisition, teacher education, and Japanese studies.]
