The Nature of Language: A Short Guide to What's in Our Heads

Why a book on the nature of language? The answer is surprising in this new book by Bill VanPatten. Language just isn't what most of us think it is-and because of that, the need to know about the nature of language takes on new importance for teachers who really want to teach for acquisition, who truly want to teach for communicative ability and proficiency. It provides teachers with one of the important arguments for striking out on their own and exploring new methods and alternative curricula and assessments. Engaging and reader friendly, this book will challenge every teacher's ideas about what winds up in learners' heads. It will lead teachers to question the content of most current textbooks and the practices contained in them.

About the Author
Bill VanPatten, Ph.D. (University of Texas), has had a long, distinguished career in language acquisition and language teaching. He has held positions at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, the University of Illinois at Chicago, Texas Tech University, and most recently Michigan State University. He has published eight books, eight edited volumes, five college-level textbooks in Spanish and French (including movies and one telenovella for students), more than 130 articles and book chapters, and stories and fiction for students of Spanish. He is a frequently invited guest speaker and has lectured around the world. He was the host of Tea with BVP, a call-in talk show for language teachers, and now hosts its follow-up show, Talkin' L2 with BVP. When not engaged in such endeavors, he writes fiction. His debut novel is Seidon's Tale.