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ELLIS, R., SLA Research and Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1997, viii +280 pp.
In the Preface this book is described as being ``primarily about the multiple ways
in which second language acquisition research can illuminate language pedagogy''.
Ellis's starting point is that much of SLA research has little to do with language
pedagogy. His aim of teasing out links between what might be called `pure' SLA
research and eective language teaching is not only ambitious but also worthwhile.
In bridging what he calls the `gap' between SLA research and language pedagogy,
Ellis divides the book into ®ve main parts. In the introduction to Part One, which
sets the scene for later chapters, two key questions are broached: ®rst, that of iden-
tifying what SLA has discovered of signi®cance to language teachers; and, second,
how such information might be exploited in the classroom. Part One deals with the
®rst question by sketching dierent traditions and goals of SLA research, and ends
by making the point that there is also a role for teacher-led research, a theme
returned to later. Part Two, entitled ``Making Research Accessible'', focuses on
grammar teaching and grammar learning. Research hypotheses based on the acqui-
sition of L2 knowledge are discussed in the form of a review of the literature. Part
Three, ``The Application of Theory'', includes Ellis's own theory of instructed
second language acquisition as well as chapters on the structural syllabus and
acquisition-compatible grammar tasks. Part Four, ``Second Language Acquisition
Research in the Classroom'', oers ®rst a short overview of some of the research
that has been undertaken in the area of pragmatics, especially speech acts, and then
SYSTEM
System 27 (1999) 119±132
0346-251X/99/$Ðsee front matter # 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S0346-251X(98)00051-7