Books for Students (reviews published in TLT)
Contact: Julie Kimura — jaltpubs.tlt.pub.review@jalt.org
Bake sale—Kamata, S. Gemma Open Door for Literacy, 2022. [Laura Murata is a professor and a single mother. Kazu, the father of her daughter’s friend, is also raising his son on his own. Laura and Kazu meet at a holiday bake sale and plan to go out for dinner on Christmas Eve. The Open Door Series comprises graded readers written for those who struggle to read. A lesson plan is available on the publisher’s website.]
Essential writing 1: From sentence to paragraph—Kenney, J. Kinseido, 2023. [This introductory writing textbook for beginner and pre-intermediate level learners covers the rules and elements of sentence structure and emphasizes aspects that Japanese learners of English find challenging. Aimed towards those with a TOEIC L & R score of 400-500.]
* Globalisation and its effects on team-teaching—Fujimoto-Adamson, N. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2020. [The author reveals the connections among global issues, policymaking, and local practices as they relate to team-teaching in English language classes in the Japanese junior high school context. Examining this particular context provides the reader with valuable insights as well as a model of research methodology into team-teaching in wider context—a greatly under researched subdiscipline.]
* Language support for immigrants in Japan: Perspectives from multicultural community building—Hattori, K., Shinya, M., & Otachi, K. (Eds.). Rowman & Littlefield, 2023. [In this edited volume, contributors examine language support practices in both formal and non-formal education, ranging from night school to community-based language classes. The contributors encourage the development of systems in Japan that foster equitable and inclusive language policies.]
New frontiers—Hong, T., Powell, G., Koe, T., & Scafaru, M. Compass Publishing, 2020. [This six-level course helps teenage students learn about English in the 21st century. Aimed towards those with a CEFR of A1-B2.]
On point (2nd ed.)—Anderson, P., Foster, L., Robinson, S., & Hong, T. Compass Publishing, 2022. [This new edition includes new and updated readings on current topics. Students can participate in engaging activities to build specific reading and thinking skills, as well as guided writing tasks related to each topic. In addition, discussion activities help students form and support their opinions. Online materials include audio files as well as other resources.]
Promoting reflection on language learning: Lessons from a university setting—Curry, N., Lyone, P., & Mynard, J. (Eds.). Multilingual Matters, 2023. [This book was written by academics working at a university in Japan to present an overview of their efforts to promote learner reflection within their institution. The authors also provide practical tools and activities for teachers to become better equipped to facilitate student success and satisfaction.]
Re-envisioning EFL education in Asia—Muller, T., Adamson, J., Herder, S., & Brown, P. S., (Eds.). iTDi, 2023. [The authors re-envision EFL teaching and learning through chapters that address contemporary 21st-century issues in which Asia comes into its own as a center of language teaching pedagogy and research. Both teachers and researchers will learn how to re-envision language teaching in their own contexts.]
SGDs × discussion—Yoshihara, R., Hayashi, C., Itoi, E., Iwamoto, N., & Morrell, A. Kinseido, 2022. [Students learn about a wide range of world issues through reading passages and then discuss SGDs as ways to deal with them. Self-study audio download is available.]
* Talking point—Harris, J. Leeming, P. Abax, 2021. [This two-book series takes a task-based approach to making presentations. Units focus on academic talks given by a variety of English speakers. Students have access to the publisher’s LMS, which includes video and audio listening activities, as well as voice recognition.]
! What is language?—Kane-Hinohara, E. Perceptia Press, 2023. [What is Language? follows a CLIL approach. Each of the 15 units is scaffolded for learners, with a progression from lower- to higher-order thinking skills. There is a mix of communicative focus-on-form tasks through explicit teaching of the Academic Word List and academic language skills. Productive tasks include pair work in scaffolded discussions and individual presentations. Audio tracks are available for download.]
