Teaching Foreign Language Skills

Teaching Foreign-Language Skills provides a complete course in methods of foreign language teaching for both student-teachers and practicing teachers who wish to bring their methods up-to-date. The material is intended to apply to the teaching of any foreign language and every aspect of the field is thoroughly covered in the light of the most recent research in language learning. Miss Rivers gives equal attention to the development of all four language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. She emphasizes the interdependence of all these skills, for she believes that training in the oral skills of listening and speaking is essential to the development of fluent reading and writing. In her discussion of each area of foreign-language teaching, Miss Rivers provides the student with an introduction to some area of theoretical study in linguistics or psychology which will prepare him for reading professional literature with understanding, for assessing new trends as they develop, and for developing new ways of presenting language material which are valid from a theoretical point of view.
The book does not provide examples in any particular language, for it is felt that the student should develop these for himself in the particular language he will teach in the light of the principles and techniques with which he has been acquainted in the book.
Teaching Foreign-Language Skills should be used in association with visits to foreign-language classes to see master teachers at work, for it is there that the novice teacher will acquire ideas about the presentation of specific sections of work in the language he will be teaching. Study of this book will provide him with a theoretical understanding of what is involved in language teaching.