Volume 29 in the Studies on Language Acquisition.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

SECTION I: Theoretical Perspectives on Language Learning and Teaching

1) Approaches to language learning and teaching: Towards acquiring communicative competence through the four skills / Esther Uso-Juan and Alicia Martinez-Flor

SECTION II Listening

2) Towards acquiring communicative competence through listening / Alicia Martinez-Flor and Esther Uso-Juan

3) Areas of research that influence L2 listening instruction / Michael Rost

4) Learning How to listen using learning strategies / David J. Mendelsohn

5) Academic listening: Marrying top and bottom / Tony Lynch

6) Teaching listening: Time for a change in methodology / Goodith White

SECTION III Speaking

7) Towards acquiring communicative competence through speaking / Alicia Martinez-Flor, Esther Uso-Juan and Eva Alcon Soler

8) Areas of research that influence L2 speaking instruction / Martin Bygate

9) Questions as strategies to encourage speaking in content-and-language-integrated classrooms / Christiane Dalton-Puffer

10) Turn-taking awareness: Benefits for teaching speaking skills in academic and other contexts / Rebecca Hughes

11) Teaching speaking: A text-based syllabus approach /
Anne Burns

SECTION IV Reading

12) Towards acquiring communicative competence through reading / Esther Uso-Juan and Alicia Martinez-Flor

13) Areas of research that influence L2 reading instruction / William Grabe

14) Developing strategic L2 readers by reading for authentic purposes / Anne M. Ediger

15) Finding a path to fluent academic and workplace reading / Mary Lee Field

16) Teaching reading: Individual and social perspectives / Eddie Williams

SECTION V Writing

17) Towards acquiring communicative competence through writing / Esther Uso-Juan, Alicia Martinez-Flor and Juan C. Palmer-Silveira

18) Areas of research that influence L2 writing instruction / Ann M. Johns

19) Techniques for shaping writing course curricula: Strategies in designing assignments / Barbara Kroll

20) Written in, written out: Who sets the standard for academic writing? / Christopher Tribble

21) Teaching Writing: Orienting activities to students’ goals / Alistair Cumming

"Current Trends in the Development and Teaching of the four Language Skills builds connections from theory in the four language skills to instructional practices. It comprises twenty-one chapters that are grouped in five sections. The first section includes an introductory chapter which presents a communicative competence framework developed by the editors in order to highlight the key role the four skills play in language learning and teaching. The next four sections each represent a language skill: Section II is devoted to listening, Section III to speaking, Section IV to reading and Section V to writing. In order to provide an extensive treatment of each of the four skills, each section starts with a theoretical chapter which briefly illustrates advances in the understanding of how each skill is likely to be learned and taught, followed by four didactically oriented chapters authored by leading international specialists. These pedagogical chapters deal specifically with four key topics: 1) areas of research that influence the teaching of a particular skill; 2) an overview of strategies or techniques necessary for developing a particular skill; 3) an approach to the academic orientation of a particular skill, and 4) unique aspects of teaching each skill. Moreover, all chapters incorporate two common sections: pre-reading questions at the beginning of the chapter in order to stimulate readers' interest in its content, and a section entitled suggested activities at the end of the chapter in order to allow readers put the ideas and concepts presented into practice. The accessible style and practical focus of the volume make it an ideal tool for teachers, teacher trainers, and teacher trainees who are involved in teaching the four language skills in a second or foreign language context." (Publisher's Website)