Memory, Meaning, and Method: Some Psychological Perspectives on Language Learning [Paperback]

Earl W. Stevick (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 18, 1996 | ISBN-10: 0838455697 | ISBN-13: 978-0838455692 | Edition: 2

This thoroughly revised edition updates and restates Earl Stevick's classic account of what occurs in the learning and teaching of languages. It includes insights into memory as it relates to language learning and presents language learning as a "total human experience". This text also focused on a balanced presentation of experimental and personal insights and is appropriate for methods courses.

Product Details

• Paperback: 282 pages
• Publisher: Heinle ELT; 2 edition (January 18, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0838455697
• ISBN-13: 978-0838455692
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #496,358 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A True Classic, November 16, 2010

By 

Stephen Pellerine (In a bookshelf somewhere) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Memory, Meaning, and Method: Some Psychological Perspectives on Language Learning (Paperback)

This is not the best book on memory. This is not the best book on Language Teaching. This is however one of the best first attempts (I am aware of) to seal in a book the badly needed interdisciplinary linking of Language Teaching and the Cognitive Sciences.

The book looks at the pacing, spacing, and repetition of instruction that learning theorists address in looking at acquisition. Unfortunately the Language Teaching world, especially TESOL, is often caught up in either structuralist or functionalist curricular frameworks that evoke nothing more than the working memory system. Stevick himself is not so direct with such assertions, but very academically and diplomatically presents various kinds of memory than a language/TESOL instructor would benefit in being aware of.

He makes comments on six traditional methods that will be familiar to any experienced TESOL instructor: Grammar Translation, The Reading Method, ALM, Silent Way, and Community Language Learning. This makes the book quite unique and interesting.

If you have an interest in cognition and learning as a TESOL this will be a great read. But be honest, if this is not a deep interest to you - the book will be a slog.