Customer Reviews

Moodle 1.9 for Second Language Teaching

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Review of Moodle 1.9 for Second Language Learning by Jeff Stanford, Packt Publishing, 2009

I can start with what is not superb about this book: if you don't teach language or language acquisition, this book is probably not for you, although you could likely get something out of it.
As someone who, for the past five years, has had a job that involves assisting faculty in using instructional technology, I've read a lot of books about software and how to use it. Some of those books were lifesavers, but most of them were not. I expected Stanford's book to be one of the better ones because I had met him at EDUCA in 2009, and he had great things to share in his presentation on using Moodle for second language teaching. As I began reading Moodle 1.9 for Second Language Teaching, I realized that Stanford doesn't hit his audience with all he knows during his presentations, and for good reason. It would overwhelm.
Most of the instructional technology books I read require that I make the leap from "how x works" to "how to use x in the electronic classroom." Stanford's book makes that leap for the reader. This book approaches using Moodle from the perspective of a language instructor. Stanford delineates the educational theories he uses, and he assists the reader in putting together structured, organized, effective teaching tools rooted in the communicative approach to language learning. This book is very different from, say, a book on how to use Moodle. This book only covers how to use Moodle to teach a second language. That is, there are instructions regarding setting up a Moodle site, making the site effective for teaching, using different tools in Moodle, etc., but all directions are geared toward creating a Moodle space for teaching a second language.
The directions are clearly presented and illustrated, and tips or tricks are included so that readers don't have to learn from their own trials and errors. I appreciated the author's going the extra mile, so to speak, to assist the readers in using Moodle effectively. I have often encountered instructional technology books that provide information regarding how to do x but fail to mention that x is glitchy on y machines so download the free z add in, and here's the trick to installing that, and you'll be fine. Stanford covers tricks and tips like that, as well. It is clear that the author is expert at using Moodle, knows the pitfalls as well as the advantages, and makes recommendations to assist readers so that they don't have to learn from their own mistakes. His examples are timely and interesting, and he shares great materials that readers can easily replicate in their own classrooms. He shares the html code for basic tasks and recommends various audio and video tools that work well in Moodle. The sample activities he provides are broken down into vocabulary, speaking, grammar, reading, writing, and listening--56 activities in all, with additional activities in later chapters. He even incorporates a section on making your Moodle site look good.
I will keep this book on my desk, and I'm sure I'll be recommending it to fellow language teachers. In a nutshell, if you use Moodle, and if you teach language acquisition, you will benefit from this book. To learn more about this book visit [..].

If you'd like to look at chapter 8 on "Listening Activities," check it out here:[...].

I am an EFL teacher, program administrator, and co-moderator of the Moodle for Language Teaching Community. Six reviewers on this site have given a highly critical but positive review of Jeff Stanford's book. In over ten chapter-by-chapter reviews, we provide a detailed analysis of each activity in this massive encyclopedia of knowledge of Moodle in foreign language teaching. A downloadable, electronic version of the book is available from the publisher, Packt Books. If you are interested to read over 15,000 total words of commentary, I refer you to the forums on moodle dot org (registration required). Look for the "course" called "Moodle for Language Teaching".

Here is an except from one of the reviews:
"Released in November 2009, Jeff Stanford has produced a herculean, 500-plus page handbook for applying the Moodle open source LMS to the specific needs of foreign language teaching. Given the pervasive use of online LMSs in teaching today, any language teacher needs to be aware of the options available for enhancing the online components of teaching and learning in their `blend' of face-to-face and web-based activities. Though anyone can suggest omissions to the book, it is actually hard to argue that any more needs to be added to this already comprehensive edition. In addition to the ten chapters provided in the print and pdf-file versions of the book, two additional chapters, Chapter 11: and Chapter 12: are available for download at the Packt website. Furthermore, Chapter 8, on listening skills, is available from the publisher for free download as a sample to encourage readers to purchase the book. The full Table of Contents is viewable as well."

"One of the qualities of this book, is the recipe-book structure that it sticks to throughout the chapters. This has been pointed out by earlier reviews (see Miguel Guhlin and Mary Cooch for example). By recipe-book, I mean the book walks a teacher through, step-by-step, how to accomplish various objectives, often with detailed screenshots. What is the best structure of a book on language learning? The outline of this book suggests it favors a skills approach (four chapters on speaking, reading, writing and listening) supported by a knowledge approach (2 chapters on vocabulary and grammar) and class management approach (3 chapters on setup, assessment, and extensions). I like this because these categories are familiar to most language teachers and thus will be easiest for them to locate information. It assumes you will browse, like a reference book, rather than read start-to-finish. It does not offer a complete course or curriculum, instead of resists promoting one method, offering more generic tools that all can use. For this reason, reviewing the table of contents is essential first reading as it will guide your browsing. Unfortunately, I found the table of contents somewhat difficult to read due to formatting or font selection. In future editions, formatting across the book needs attention so it is both easy and a pleasure on the eyes."

As an EFL and German teacher who moonlights as a Moodle administrator, I found this book to be extremely helpful. The regular Moodle bible "Using Moodle", while good left lots of blank spaces. This book fills in the blanks and gives the teacher a great number of ideas. I can highly recommend this book and not just to language teachers.