Psychology for language teachers. A social constructivist approach by Marion Williams and Robert L. Burden is the result of the "collaboration between two colleagues from very different professional backgrounds: one…comes from the field of applied linguistics while the other is an educational psychologist" (Introduction, p.1) who committed themselves to exploring the wide areas covered by educational psychology and its implications for language teaching.

The authors' purpose is to guide teachers to reflect upon their contribution in what determines and affects the psychological process of language acquisition. In this way a means is offered to them to underpin their teaching strategies and methodologies on a social constructivist perspective. The book, in fact, aims to remind teachers of the importance of their role as mediators in a person-centred learning process within a wider context than the classroom, and of interaction between them the learner (often referred to as person) and the environment. The individual, therefore, is regarded as a whole, as centre of education and psychological theory and practice.

The approach of the text is essentially a constructivist one in that it relies on the awareness that each individual in involved in constructing his own reality. It is thus stressed that the process of learning sharply differs from one individual to the other, even when the experience that leads to learning may seem rather similar. In spite of relativism and unpredictability of the learning process, however, a framework is offered within which the close interaction of learning and education can be observed and analysed.

The basic assumption is that individuals' development and concept of the self are the result of their social interactions with others and the context, and that language is the means through which people can be dynamically related to the social world, thus playing an effective role within it. A comprehensive analysis is therefore carried out dealing with the psychological and social factors which affect people's competence in using a language, especially a foreign language.

The authors, however, stress that theirs is "a book about psychology for language teachers" (p.2), which purposely avoids strict focusing on L1 and L2 teaching. It rather addresses language teachers in providing them "with an introduction to a number of key issues and recent developments in psychology that will help them to understand better the ways in which their learners learn and which will provide a fund of knowledge from which to draw to inform their classroom practices" (p.2).

The book, therefore, is seldom interspersed with examples to illustrate the application of the ideas presented to foreign language classroom: grids and comments related to scholars' experience are more likely to be found. Nor would one find prescriptions about how to put these theories into practice, because situations concerned with individuals, either teachers or learners, differ one another.

The 'freedom of choice' left to readers is well emphasised by how often the verb to underpin is used; psychology is a support, it does not provide an absolute truth by which one is enslaved. It lays foundations teachers may build on.

For this reason, teachers are rather 'challenged' to choose what best meets their needs, so as to face them in ways that are personal to them.

In order to underpin their beliefs about how teachers and students are related to each other within a context affected by many factors (emotional, affective, cognitive), the authors identify four key elements underlying this process of mutual interaction: learner, teacher, task and context itself.

These topics are eventually developed in the chapters in which the book is divided.

Chapters 1 and 2 offer a short but exhaustive survey of educational psychology in the context of education, where many a psychological and social factors interact. This process is observed from an interactionist perspective, in which the key aspects of the teaching-learning situation previously mentioned start being analysed.

Chapters 3 and 4 deal with the teacher's contribution to the educational process and especially in the latter suggestions about strategies are offered for teachers to adopt, so that they may support their students' involvement in learning.

In the following chapters (5-6-7) relevance is given to aspects concerning the learner in his peculiar individual identity, the role played by motivation and the way learners make use of the learning opportunities offered by the context their everyday is related to.

Chapter 8 describes the meaning and role of tasks, regarded as the way in which teachers' beliefs are displayed and put in practice in classroom activities,! so that any inputs, stimuli coming form both the inside and the outside contexts can be effectively turned into learning experiences.

The concept of context and of its related educational issues is thoroughly examined in chapter 9; chapter 10 finally summarises contents and aims of the book.

Beginning with a preview and ending with a summary of what has been discussed, each chapter allows the reader to maintain his attention so he is reminded of important issues and helped to see how they are linked. This kind of internal organisation reflects the 'wrestle with words and ideas' the authors must have fought in handling such a complex, burning topic: "at the end of each chapter we felt the need to return to the previously completed chapters to revise and renew what we had written. This we have come to see as entirely appropriate, because it is an illustration in practice of exactly what we are writing about, the process of construction and reconstruction of meaning" (p.1).

Despite the complexity of the areas covered and dealt with in the text, however, those who take the trouble to read it in its entirety are likely to be rewarded in terms of new perspectives and awareness on the learning process; those who only dip into it might find the references to previous points made somewhat disjointed, due to numerous backward flashbacks, unless they are already well acquainted with psychological issues.

I decided to review this book because since I have started teaching I have always been interested in understanding what helps teachers and students find a common path to walk along while trying to build together something meaningful to both. I also share the concept of teachers as mediators in the learning process, because it implies that they must continuously feel themselves learners too.

The text let me have an effective overall view of the main issues of educational psychology also for its plain language, in that it is not too 'academic' nor is it simplistic. Moreover, despite the lack of direct examples, the book makes sense not only to experts but to 'freshers' too because, as the authors themselves enhance, it does not require any previous knowledge of psychology dealt with and the conclusion acts as a sort of springboard to move on to the next chapter, in that it suggests what may be eventually read.

In a way this could represent a shortcoming, because it may slow down the pace of particularly interesting chapters (like Chapter 6); on the other hand it may well meet the requirements of those who are interested in skimming through the book only.

Notwithstanding the feeling towards its structure and approach, however, Psychology for language teachers is a very useful handbook for those teachers who regard psychology not as an 'inside' gift but rather as a key to a better understanding of learners, colleagues, the whole context in which they work and themselves.

REVIEWS

A Teacher training experience at NILE IPG97