Rezensionen 237 Veronica Smith, Tertiary Language Learning. Changing Perspectives and Practical Responses. Tübingen: Gunter Narr, 2010. Margit Reitbauer In Tertiary Language Learning: Changing Perspectives and Practical Responses Veronica Smith focuses on a group of learners which has so far been largely neglected in research and pedagogy, namely adult learners of English at tertiary level. Her ambitious attempt to create a coherent pedagogical framework for adult learners through Scenario-based Learning can be regarded as successful. Smith surveys recent developments in Second Language Learning and integrates insights from genre analysis and skills-based English for Specific Purposes teaching with the aim to help tertiary language learners to master genres relevant to their studies and to acquire intercultural pragmatic competence. Her approach to Second Language Research is pedagogically motivated since she bases it on her rich teaching experience. Second language teachers interested in recent developments that relate to language teaching and learning practice are provided with a comprehensive survey and are given insight into the multi-faceted process of language learning in adult learners. Smith is one of the few authors who acknowledge the fact that adult language learners approach their language learning tasks as individuals with their own learning preferences and styles and their personal negative and positive experiences. Thus, she pleads for a re-evaluation of the role of motivation in learning and aims to create a combination of cognitive and linguistics challenges with the help of tasks that have real world relevance for the learners. Smith’s model of tertiary language learning is based on the communicative and interactive approach to language learning and focuses on the development of enabling skills which provide learners with powers of analysis and the ability to infer, deduce, abstract, classify and evaluate language also by drawing on L1 experience. Smith sees L1 skills as a valuable source that can provide linguistic insights. Moreover, she considers translation between two languages as an intercultural process that can help to develop cultural and pragmatic competence. In Chapter 1 Smith deals with communicative approaches to language learning. She points out that these approaches have introduced the idea that language teaching should focus on language used for genuine communication. Widdowson’s (1978) claim to focus on language as use as opposed to usage is introduced along with the differentiation between usage type exercises, which direct attention to manifestations of language, and use type exercises, which show operations in meaningful context. Smith also mentions attempts to operationalize communicative language learning for adult learners which were made by the Council of Europe in 1973 when the guideline System Development in Adult Language Learning was published, which ultimately led to the design of notional-functional syllabuses. The author admits that the notionalfunctional approach never totally replaced the structural syllabus. According to Smith, the notional-functional syllabus design has had a lasting influence on ESP and provides a valuable tool for determining skills and discourse types for learners. She then describes task-based learning, which was developed by Prahbu (1987) and foregrounds the cognitive challenge of completing tasks with real-world relevance. Rezensionen 238 Thus task-based learning can be seen as a milestone in the development of Scenario-based Learning. Finally Smith claims that more recent examples of taskbased learning as described in Ellis (2003) focus on project-based learning and on the development of autonomous learning (Skehan 1996), two other key concepts taken up in her Scenario-based Learning approach. Chapter 2 deals with theoretical approaches to Second Language Learning. Smith describes cognitivist and constructivist approaches and outlines how the interest of researchers has shifted from methods to products of language learning and the internal processes involved. In these approaches findings from cognitive psychology provide the explanatory framework. Language learning is not treated substantially differently from other types of learning and the idea is prevalent that practicing subskills until they can be performed automatically is sensible. Adherents of models of instructed language learning claim that explicit knowledge may become implicit and that formal instruction facilitates the automation of both implicit and explicit knowledge whereas meta-linguistic knowledge does not become procedural, i.e. implicit. Critics of these models like Pishwa (1998) refer to the brain’s power of self-organization and see a great deal of interaction between implicit and explicit learning. At the end of Chapter 2 Smith refers to a shortcoming of cognitivist, constructivist and communicative models of language teaching, namely that they largely ignore the question of how to address formal accuracy. Chapter 3 is a very short summary of factors relevant in tertiary language learning. Smith takes a closer look at recent developments in LSP research, which originally focused on the lexicon (Fluck 1985) and later on text-linguistic and discourse analytical approaches (Roelke 1999). What is most noteworthy here is that Smith sees language negotiation among peers as an extremely useful tool which often produces more output than a native speaker/ learner condition. She agrees with Firth (2009), who claims that more and more text conventions from languages other than English are introduced, e.g. in English for Academic Purposes (EAP), and that the implications of English as a lingua franca discourse for Second Language Acquisition and ESP are likely to become one of the main themes in the coming years. Finally, Smith raises the issue that learners who learn the second language without instruction are off the research radar although they could help to test and refine models of Second Language Acquisition. Chapter 4 describes the development of enabling skills in language learning, which form the foundation for Scenario-based Learning as later introduced in Chapter 5. Based on findings from cognitive learning theory Smith describes language learning as a complex cognitive skill which can be practiced through raising the awareness of learning processes. This is reflected in the Three Component Model of Enabling Skills, in which three didactic dimensions are incorporated: (1.) the cognitive component, which refers to the activation of cognitive skills and the promoting of individual language awareness and strategies; (2.) mega-skills for language learning such as the ability to deal with language input and appropriate response/ output, and (3.) the didactic dimension, in which scenarios provide a framework for interaction and language related activities on the lexico-semantic and the discourse pragmatic level. The teacher’s role is that of a facilitator who helps the learner develop enabling skills. One point of criticism that could be raised against Smith’s approach to developing enabling skills is that she does not include grammar in her lists of language dimens- Rezensionen 239 ions since she is convinced that learners at tertiary level have acquired grammar exhaustively and may only lack the knowledge to use their grammatical knowledge in a coherent way. To me this statement seems contradictory in so far as it takes us back to the criticism raised by Smith in Chapter 2, where she states that the question of how to provide for grammatical accuracy is ignored in most approaches. This partly also holds true for her own approach. In the activities introduced in Chapter 4 language learning work is organized in recursive work cycles. Both teacher and peer feedback play an important role there. Problems are also raised by the learners themselves, which prepares the ground for meta-linguistic feedback. Smith agrees with Adams (2007) on the role of learnerlearner feedback, who argues that for developmental purposes peer feedback is equivalent to native speaker feedback. Chapter 5 outlines the implementation of Scenario-based Language Learning. This approach advocates language-in-action as the main classroom activity for intermediate and advanced learners and sees reflection on language as a legitimate task. Therefore Smith’s approach to Scenario-based Language Learning cuts across the traditional classification of tasks in pedagogical, rhetorical, cognitive and psycholinguistics categories as defined by Ellis (2003). It fosters semi-autonomous learning, includes elements of project-based and task-based learning but puts greater emphasis on the communication processes and their outcomes. The scenarios are generated by the students themselves and run over several weeks. They involve planning processes and feasibility studies. Smith presents two examples which were tested in the Business English program at Klagenfurt University, Austria. The first example is a scenario that was used for entry level learners, the second for students with a higher level of proficiency. The topic chosen for the entry level was the Klagenfurt City Arcade, a controversial shopping center. At the entry level stage the teacher provided the initial input. Students had to evaluate the impact of the shopping center on existing city-centre retail businesses. In the scenario for advanced students the initial input was no longer provided by the teacher. Students had to develop a business plan for a small enterprise that the group or one of the learners would set up in the region. This more complex framework involved research into the legal framework for entrepreneurship, social security payments, taxation and so on. The teacher commented on the viability of the ideas, provided a reality check as an outsider and gave language input wherever necessary. In both scenarios presented in Chapter 5 the closeness to the students’ environment in terms of content and skills makes up for the lack of authenticity of the language context. In this respect Scenario-based Learning is more than a communicative game since learners are engaged in cognitive processes that will further their language acquisition. Chapter 6 deals with the assessment of speaking and writing skills in Scenariobased Learning. The assessment scales provided by Smith allow a fine-grained distinction and are well suited for learners at higher intermediate or advanced levels of proficiency. Likert scales are used for performance ratings. Along a scale of six, the students’ relative performance is evaluated. One of the main advantages of the scales used by Smith is their flexibility, which allows re-categorizing of students’ performance in relation to a particular criterion. Thus, a learner who has not reached C1 proficiency for a particular criterion can be re-categorized as B2. Both group score Rezensionen 240 sheets and individual assessment sheet are provided. One of the strongest points in Smith’s approach to assessment is the incorporation of group feedback as a nonthreatening format for the evaluation of the final report, which is the product of joint editing. Her assessment criteria mirror the work in the classroom and are transparent to learners. She admits that sometimes it might be necessary to collect materials from individual writers in the form of study reports to get a clearer picture of individual skills. In Chapter 7 Smith presents eight theses which sum up her model of tertiary language learning. This somewhat repetitive chapter mainly deals with proposals already made in chapters 3 to 6. Smith argues that the development of a communicative and interactive approach to language teaching must involve the development of enabling skills. Moreover, she claims that the integration of reading, writing, speaking and listening skills in the course of learning are a prerequisite for Scenario-based Language Learning. The integration of these skills requires a commitment to what Widdowson (1978) calls use of language. Another thesis states that practical pragmatic text comprehension and its assessment will require the explicit treatment of metaphors and metonymies. This thesis is supported by her claim that metaphor is the driving force behind new word coinage in English today. Smith concludes by stating that Second Language Acquisition is intercultural and must be oriented towards particular text types which have a culturally specific character. Summing up one can say that Smith manages to present an interesting multifaceted approach that opens up new perspectives for tertiary language learning. Smith goes beyond the raising of research questions and provides practical responses for language teachers at tertiary level. References Adams, R. (2007). “Do second language learners benefit from interacting with each other? ” In: A. Mackey (ed.). Conversational Interaction in Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: OUP. 29-51. Council for Cultural Co-operation (1973). System Development in Adult Language Learning. Strasbourg: Council of Europe. Ellis, R. (2003). Task-based Language Learning and Teaching. Oxford: OUP. Firth, A. (2009). “Doing not being a foreign language learner: English as a lingua franca in the workplace and (some) implications for SLA.” IRAL 47. 127-156. Fluck, H.-R. (1985). Fachsprachen. Tübingen: Francke UTB. Pishwa, H. (1998). Kognitive Ökonomie im Zweitsprachenerwerb. Tübingen: Gunter Narr. Prahbu, N.S. (1987). Second Language Pedagogy: A Perspective. Oxford: OUP. Roelke, T. (1999). Fachsprachen. Berlin: Erich Schmidt Verlag. Skehan, P. (1996). “A Framework for the Implementation of Task-based Instruction.” Applied Linguistics 17/ 1. 38-62. Widdowson, H.G. (1978). Teaching Language as Communication. Oxford: OUP. Margit Reitbauer English Department University of Graz