赖特本等著的《语言学习机制/外语教学法丛书》特点是在论述非常专业化的问题时能够运用深入浅出的语言，同时也提出了许多研究的方法，组织学生进行有关的活动来验证理论。这种通过研究活动来验证理论的方法对于外语教师来说是发展研究能力的一种极其重要的手段。

本书适用于广大的大、中、小学外语教师，特别适用于年轻教师的培训，对于攻读外语教学理论的硕士生和博士生来说，也是一本不可多得的参考读物。

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1 Learning a first language

 Milestones and patterns in development

Early childhood bilingualism

Developmental sequences

Summary

 Theoretical approaches to explaining first language learning

Behaviourism: Saywhat I say

Activity: Analysing children's speech

Innatism: It's all in your mind

The interactionist position: A little help from my friends

 Summary

2 Theoretical approaches to explaining second language learning

Activity: Learner profiles

 Behaviourism

 Innatism

Universal Grammar

Krashen's 'monitor model'

 Recent psychological theories

Information processing

Connectionism

 The interactionist position

 Summary

3 Factors affecting second language learning

Activity: Characteristics of the 'good language learner'

 Research on learner characteristics

Intelligence

Aptitude

Personality

Motivation and attitudes

Learner preferences

Learner beliefs

Age of acquisition

Activity: Comparing child, adolescent, and adult

language learners

 Summary

4 Learner language

 The concept of learner language

Activity: The Great Toy Robbery

 Developmental sequences

Grammatical morphemes

Negation

Questions

Activity: Learners' questions

Activity: More about questions

Relative clauses

Reference to past

 Movement through developmental sequences

 New ways of looking at first language influence

 Summary

5 Observing second language teaching

 Comparing instructional and natural settings for language learning

Activity: Natural and instructional settings

Activity: Classroom comparisons: teacher-student

interactions

 Classroom observation schemes

Activity: Observing the kinds of questions you ask

your students

 Feedback in the classroom

Activity: Analysing classroom interaction

Summary of transcripts

Activity: Observing how you respond to students' errors

 Summary

6 Second language learning in the classroom

 Five proposals for classroom teaching

1 Get it right from the beginning

2 Say what you mean and mean what you say

3 Just listen.., and read

4 Teach what is teachable

5 Get it right in the end

 The implications of classroom research for teaching

 Summary

7 Popular ideas about language learning: Facts and opinions

1 Languages are learned mainly through imitation

2 Parents usually correct young children when they make grammatical errors

3 People with high IQs are good language learners

4 The most important factor in second language acquisition success is motivation

5 The earlier a second language is introduced in school programs, the greater the likelihood of success

6 Most of the mistakes which second language learners make are due to interference from their first language

7 Teachers should present grammatical rules one at a time

8 Teachers should teach simple structures before complex ones

9 Learners' errors should be corrected as soon as they are made in order to prevent bad habits

10 Teachers should use materials that expose students only to language structures they have already been taught

11 When learners are allowed to interact freely they learn each others' mistakes

12 Students learn what they are taught Conclusion

Glossary

Bibliography

Index