Book Review 1

Johnson, Karen E. (2009). Second Language Teacher Education: A Sociocultural Perspective. New York: Routledge [pp. x + 148; ISBN: 978-0-415-80079-2 (hardback)] A comprehensive view of the epistemological underpinnings of sociocultural theory in the field of second language teacher education (henceforth SLTE) is the first thing this book gives to the reader. The author uses ‘epistemology’ rather than ‘belief’ “because the foundation of what I do as a teacher educator is built on the epistemological stance I embrace” (Johnson, 2009, p. ix). The book provides the reader with an understanding of issues such as L2 teaching, L2 learning, collaborative coaching, collegial coaching, expert coaching, classroom interaction maximization, peer coaching, scaffolded learning, teacher language awareness, teacher professional development and many more things. This text helps fill in a gap in the literature of SLTE and contributes to the understanding of teacher learning and L2 teacher education. Upon reading this book, one feels the sense of pleasure and thought provocation. It makes the reader reflect on L2 teacher education and connects the cognitive dimensions of such a complex activity to the social dimensions.