Educating Second Language Teachers

"A masterful account of the landscape of second language teacher education and the development of its theoretical assumptions and practices. It offers a unique and original conceptualization of the field and will be an invaluable resource for teachers, teacher educators and researchers." * Jack C. Richards, University of Sydney and University of Auckland *
"[an] extraordinary book... For anyone interested in teacher education this is a vital, compelling and provocative account of a lifetime's work." * Jeremy Harmer, Modern English Teacher *
"Freeman discusses themes in language teacher education literature from the past few decades, all the while adapting his considerable experience as a scholar in this area... worth reading by anyone involved in language teacher training, research, or related policy... Freeman should be applauded for the ease of readability in the book... As with other books in the Oxford Applied Linguistics series, I anticipate that this book will find its place as a formative text in the field." * Applied Linguistics *
"The depth and breadth of Freeman's knowledge and thinking coupled with personal accounts of 'growing up as a language teacher' have resulted in a book that will deepen our thinking about how and why we think and how we apply our thinking in designing teacher education programmes. The book prompts us to re-examine commonly held conceptualizations, practices, and policies in SLTE [Second Language Teacher Education]... hopefully leading to better and fairer practice based on a theory grounded in descriptive rather than prescriptive understandings of educating language teachers." * RELC Journal *
Donald Freeman is one of the leading thinkers in the field of second language teacher education... [In] this volume... he uses his own penchant for categorization, and his remarkable skill at both seeing relationships and creating new relationships, to look with fresh eyes at... second language teaching, identifying what sets it apart from other kinds of teaching... As Jack Richards writes on the back cover of this volume, it is "a masterful account... and will be an invaluable resource for teachers, teacher educators and researchers." I couldn't agree more. * Teacher Trainer *
"Educating Second Language Teachers is strongly supported by Freeman's vast experience in language teaching education... [He] not only revises old notions, but he also provides a new design theory and poses central challenges in teaching languages, which will benefit all readers. While novice teachers will gain a complete and up-dated picture, experienced professionals will feel stimulated by the dynamic perspective on linguistic matters. Undoubtedly the book offers a solid foundation that will bolster the language preparation of new generations of language teachers." * Linguist List *
"The several key texts by this author on language teacher education over the last quarter of a century have perhaps had more effect on teachers and teacher educators around the world than those by anyone else currently involved in the profession... extremely enlightening..." * EL Gazette *
"Donald Freeman is one of three main scholars in the field of TESOL who have had a large influence on how I have come to understand the field. The book presents his perspective on his own journey and is illuminated with wonderful personal narratives that keep reminding us that 'teachers matter', although he does not use these words... It also presents us with a new doorway at the end of the journey, through which we are invited to enter Freeman's vision of the future of Second Language Teacher Education... Educating Second Language Teachers is a must-read as it more than helps to map out the terrain, and thus contributes to elaborating our understanding of teaching language teaching." * ELT Journal *