In My Library

In no particular order, here are some books in my personal library that play an important role in my work:

Bevis and Lucas trace the history of international students from colonial times to publication of the book, focusing on in-bound foreign students in what would become and is the United States of America.

This book argues that U.S. institutions of higher education must increase their awareness of international student issues. Andrade reviews related research and highlights creative solutions and programming for the successful support of international students.





In this original book, Beyond Methods: Macrostrategies for Language Teaching, B. Kumaravadivelu presents a macrostrategic framework designed to help both beginning and experienced teachers develop a systematic, coherent, and personal theory of practice. His book provides the tools a teacher needs in order to self-observe, self-analyze, and self-evaluate his or her own teaching acts.

Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy,Third Edition, by H. Douglas Brown, is a widely acclaimed methodology text used in teacher education programs around the world. This user-friendly textbook offers a comprehensive survey of practical language teaching options, all firmly anchored in accepted principles of language learning and teaching.

This is a clear and practical introduction to second language acquisition (SLA) by Muriel Saville-Troike. It explains in non-technical language how a second language is acquired; what the second language learner needs to know; and why some learners are more successful than others.

In An Introduction to Applied Linguistics, Alan Davies sets out to show that applied linguistics is better understood by doing it than studying or reading about it. Beginning with the history and definitions of applied linguistics, he then looks at the full spectrum of 'institutional' and 'non-institutional' uses of language, spanning not only language learning and teaching but also language as a socio-psychological phenomenon.

Teaching ESL Composition:Purpose, Process, and Practice by Dana Ferris and John Hedgcock is a text for ESL writing teachers and prospective teachers that blends current reviews of research with extensive coverage of practical topics related to the teaching of ESL writers in academic settings.

Concise Encyclopedia of Pragmatics (COPE) 2nd edition is an authoritative single-volume reference resource comprehensively describing the discipline of pragmatics, an important branch of natural language study which deals with the various implied meanings of a given idea imparted in speech.

Assuming no prior knowledge of linguistics, An Introduction to Language by Victoria Fromkin, Robert Rodman, and Nina Hyams is appropriate for a variety of fields--including education, languages, psychology, anthropology, English, and teaching English as a Second Language (TESL)--at both the undergraduate and graduate levels - an indispensable reference for students of applied linguistics and language teaching.

How Languages are Learned, by Patsy Lightbown and Nina Spada, presents the main theories of language acquisition, considering their bearing on language teaching. It discusses the effects of factors such as intelligence, personality, and age. It helps teachers assess the merits of different methods and textbooks. This new edition includes more information on theories of first language acquisition and early bilingualism, and the affects of motivation and style.

Register, Genre, and Style by Douglas Biber and Susan Conrad describes the most important kinds of texts in English and introduces the methodological techniques used to analyze them. Three analytical approaches are introduced and compared, describing a wide range of texts from the perspectives of register, genre, and style. The primary focus of the book is on the analysis of registers.

An Introduction to Discourse Analysis by James Paul Gee. What is language for? Many people think language exists so that we can “say things” in the sense of communicating information. However, language serves a great many functions in our lives. Giving and getting information is by no means the only one. Language does, of course, allow us to inform each other. But it also allows us to do things and to be things, as well. In fact, saying things in language never goes without also doing things and being things.

Second Language Writing, by Ken Hyland is a highly accessible and authoritative approach to the theory and practice of teaching writing to students of English as a Foreign/Second Language. While assuming no specialist knowledge, the book systematically sets out the key issues in second language writing instruction to offer both pre- and in-service teachers a guide to L2 writing instruction grounded in current theory and research.

Designing Language Courses: A Guide for Teachers by Kathleen Graves is a clear and comprehensive overview of course design. This text provides a practical guide to designing language courses by encouraging teachers to explore ways of planning and organizing content, and evaluating materials.

This handbook by Susan Feez with Helen Joyce is a practical guide for teachers and would be useful for language teachers working within any outcomes-based curriculum. The book explores the implementation of an outcomes-based curriculum in language classrooms.

The Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English by Douglas Biber, Stig Johansson, Geoffrey Leech, Susan Conrad, and Edward Finegan is a revolutionary, corpus-based reference grammar of English, based on the ways English grammar is really used. The book looks at four text types — conversation, fiction, news reportage, and academic prose — and reports statistical findings as well as the reasons for a particular grammatical choice.