Zoe HandleyDepartment of Education, The University of York, York YO10 5DD, United Kingdom

E-mail address: zoe.handley@york.ac.uk

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2013.01.009

Fremdsprachen lehren und lernen: Ruck- und Ausblick, Karl-Richard Bausch, Eva Burwitz-Melzer, Frank G. Konigs,Hans-Jurgen Krumm (Eds.). Narr Verlag, Tubingen (2011), p. 253.

A thirtieth anniversary usually marks a milestone and Fremdsprachen lehren und lernen: Ruck- und Ausblick(Learning and teaching foreign languages: review and outlook) edited by Bausch, Burwitz-Melzer, Konigs and Krummpays due homage to the 2010 Jubilee conference organised by the Justus-Liebig University in Gießen: the anthologyfeatures a variety of contributions by distinguished German scholars, who present their personal take on the past andfuture of research into foreign language teaching. So as to avoid unpleasant surprises by any non-native speaker ofGerman venturing to purchase it, let me say from the outset that this book might test the motivation of even the mosthardened reader. This is due not only to the editing (e.g. densely printed pages and small font size) but also to thecontributions themselves: in many cases the (over-) indulgence in convoluted and long-winded sentences seemssomewhat disproportionate to the subject matter at hand. Patient readers, however, will be rewarded by making itthrough its twenty-three chapters, and find some genuinely interesting discussions surrounding conceptual andempirical issues. On the scale of popularity, learner orientation in foreign language teaching appears to rank at the top,although the exploration of methodological aspects of research in applied linguistics is similarly well-liked.

The book is divided into threemain sections differing in length and number of chapters, plus a foreword and a closingchapter. Section 1 is by far the largest; it features ten personal evaluations of 30 years of Spring conferences. In theirfunction as discussion forums, the authors argue, the Spring conferences have served as valuable tools to critically assessdifferent research approaches and their ontological underpinnings. Section 2 is fairly short; it consists of five chapters andpresents current research strands. Letme hasten to add, if only parenthetically, that this section looks somewhat forlorn inthemiddle of thebook.Given that the last section returns to empirical issues, it is striking that less space is dedicated to the“what” of research into foreign language teaching, than to the “why” and “how”.More chapterswould have addedweightto this section; it is, for instance, surprising, that CLIL is onlymentioned in passing in this anthology, although it appearsto become increasingly popular in German-speaking countries just like in Europe on thewhole (e.g. Dalton-Puffer et al.,2010). Section 3 comprises seven chapters, in which the current state of empirical research in Germany is scrutinized. Ingeneral, it is fair to say that the German research scene appears to remain fairly sceptical about quantitative researchapproaches; noticeably, great care is taken to avoid any possible suspicion of positivism. It is also striking that thelimitations of qualitative studies are discussed with much less ardour than those of quantitative studies and that mixedmethods studies do not seem to enjoy the same popularity as in other countries (e.g. Dornyei, 2007). However, acomparison of the different contributions suggests that despite those who dismiss quantitative research as ‘Flie-genbeinzahlerei’ (literally: counting the legs of flies), support for quantitative and mixed-methods research is growing.

As all chapters cannot be covered here, the e admittedly partial e focus in this review will be on issues and con-tributions that struckme as particularly interesting from an outside perspective. As a short introductory reading, I wouldlike to recommend the second chapter in Section 1, where ClausGnutzmann summarises the genesis and development ofthe Spring conferences. Concepts developed are sounded out as to their relevance, and future challenges are outlined. Auseful tabular overview listing the main topics of the conferences is provided in the appendix. I also enjoyed WolfgangHallet’s contribution (Chapter 3) and his plea for larger guiding goals in foreign language teaching.He points towards theneglect of foreign literature in FL classrooms, one of the oddities of teaching practicewhich, the author argues, has neverbeen justified on scientific reasons or aligned to an overarching didactic goal. It is alsoworth looking at Karin Kleppin’scritical scrutiny of the quality of foreign language teaching in higher education (Chapter 5). Some of the didactical woesdescribedmaywell resonatewith problems faced by other European countries. It appears, for instance, that maintaining,let alone improving, language competencewithin the frameworkof a language degree at university proves a considerable

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challenge. Some students resort to paying for extra language tuition in order to gain the competence level required. Theauthor emphasises the importance of language centres to alleviate these problems; however, better integration into theuniversity, more financial support and qualified staff (familiar with the particular demands of universities) are needed totarget language provision at the specific needs of the heterogeneous student body.

Section 2 starts with a contribution by Karin Aguado (Chapter 11) and deals with textual skills. The author crit-icises the neglect of explicit references to text-bound writing in school curricula by arguing that schools need to fosterstudents’ ability to critically read and produce complex texts in the foreign language.While no one would quibble withthe notion that students need textual skills, including a firm knowledge of text characteristics and genres, more couldhave been said about how insights gained in this strand of research can inform teaching practice. Another line ofenquiry is outlined by Lars Schmelter (Chapter 15), who looks at student text books. The author points towards thedifficulty of researching text books in their complexity and highlights some of the challenges in that respect. Given theneed for empirical research on text books on the one hand and the scarcity of existing investigations on the other, theauthor makes some suggestions on how to make text book research feasible. He also provides some illustrative ex-amples of studies looking at specific aspects of schoolbooks, which may help to make them more student-friendly.

Attention should also be drawn to Section 3, Chapter 18. Jurgen Quetz’ article deals with what he perceives to be aparadigm shift from learner orientation to competence and standard orientation, with the latter leading to a gradualopening to quantitative research designs. Readers may enjoy the insightful retrospective view on the use of researchmethods in German applied linguistics. While acknowledging the contributions of early explorative studies, the authoris critical of the strong reliance on qualitative small scale studies, stating that these appear to have diminished Germanapplied linguistics in such as way that they not only operate largely unnoticed by the public but are also no longer givenany attention by sponsors (p. 187). In that sense,moremixed-methods studies are to bewelcomed according toQuetz, inparticular if the current (political) interest in competence standards continues to advance. Of course, he does not fail tocast a critical eye on a development which implies by definition a move away from the individual learner to monitoringand testing standards. He is also careful to point out limitations of attention-grabbing large scale studies like DESI.1

However, Quetz’s call for a balanced methodological training to enable doctoral students to cope with the demandsofmixed-methods studies seems very sensible indeed, in particular because the study of researchmethods forms part ofthe doctoral degree programmes in many other applied linguistics departments in Europe.

Theconcluding sectionbyWolgangZydatiß, provocatively titled inValentin’s terms“The futurewasbetter in thepast, aswell”, provides a satirical review and fictitious dystopian outlook on the future of applied linguistics which is well-worthreading, not least because of its condensed and very pointed representation of unresolved issues and future challenges.

One of the main merits of this book is the fruitful mix of numerous authors’ voices, which will hopefully serve tobring fresh impetus for new ideas to the field. I would like to recommend it to all those interested in foreign languageteaching and familiar with the German language.

References

Dalton-Puffer, C., Nikula, T., Smit, U., 2010. Charting policies, premises and research on content and language integrated learning. In:

Dalton-Puffer, C., Nikula, T., Smit, U. (Eds.), Language Use and Language Learning in CLIL Classrooms. John Benjamins Publishing

Company, Amsterdam.

Dornyei, Z., 2007. ResearchMethods inApplied Linguistics. In: Quantitative, Qualitative andMixedMethodologies. OxfordUniversity Press, Oxford.

Vera BusseCarl von Ossietzky Universitat, Fakultat I Bildungs- und Sozialwissenschaften,

Institut fur Padagogik, 26111 Oldenburg, GermanyE-mail address: vera.busse@gmail.com

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2013.01.012

1 Deutsch-Englisch-Schulerleistungen-International/German English Student Assessment International.

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