One oddity in the book is that although the other chapters are balanced fairly, with opposing arguments evenly consid- ered, Chapter 6 is extremely supportive of TBLT and swiftly rejects all objections to its superiority. Studies that find fault with TBLT are dismissed as flawed and the message appears to be that TBLT can be adapted to cover any perceived weaknesses. However, the idea of TBLT as described in this chapter is nebulous and poorly defined. This chapter would be greatly improved with the addition of some sample tasks that clearly illustrate how TBLT can be applied in real classrooms and show different aspects of how it can be adapted to address various SLA principles. Exploring Language Pedagogy through Second Language Acquisition Research is aimed at teachers who may not necessarily have read extensively in the SLA literature. Rather than relying on esoteric texts from the SLA literature, the book makes frequent references to common pedagogical texts such as Scrivener (2005) and Harmer (2007) and so could be easily grasped by teachers who have completed popular pre-service training courses such as the University of Cambridge Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA). However, I would hesitate to recommend this book to novice teachers, as much of the value comes from being able to evaluate one's own teaching practice with the hindsight of having attempted various methods and techniques and observed their effects on different students and classrooms. As such, this book would be better suited as part of a Masters-level programme in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) or as professional development for more experienced teachers. Each chapter in the book also includes a number of discussion questions designed to promote further engagement with the materialdthese questions would be of an appropriate level for post- graduate students or experienced teachers. In contrast to past texts that have attempted to bring SLA theory to teachers, Ellis and Shintani's book gives a fair amount of credit to language teachers. Rather than assuming that teachers simply need to be made aware of empirically proven SLA principles in order to achieve the most effective teaching, Ellis and Shintani allow for the idea that, in language teachers' attempts to make the best out of the difficult and complicated situation that is the real-life classroom, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry and compromises must be made. Along these lines, I would argue that teachers should take a nuanced view of the suggestions made in this book, and incorporate them into their own practice only after careful intro- spection and consideration of how they might fit in the particular classroom context. Despite its prescriptive tone in some parts, this book brings a fresh perspective to the problem of incorporating theory into practice, and its approachable nature may help to bridge the chasm between SLA researchers and language teachers in a way that respects both sides for their knowledge and expertise. References Harmer, J. (2007). The practice of English language teaching (4th ed.). Harlow: Longman. Hedge, T. (2000). Teaching and learning in the language classroom. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Lightbown, P., & Spada, N. (2006). How languages are learned (3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Schmidt, R. (1990). The role of consciousness in second language learning. Applied Linguistics, 11(2), 129e158. Scrivener, J. (2005). Learning teaching: A guidebook for English language teachers. Oxford: MacMillan Education. Glenn M. Davis Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China E-mail address: gdavis@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2014.08.002 Focus on Content-based Language Teaching, Patsy M. Lightbown. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK (2014).174 pp. The new volume in the series Oxford Key Concepts for the Language Classroom focuses on Content-based language teaching (CBLT), one of the topics at the center of debate today in both academic and institutional policy contexts in the hope of discovering effective teaching methods and approaches to content and language learning. The book provides both a general and specific view of Content-based language teaching. In particular, the choice of title indicates an intention to deal with a global phenomenon which also has different applications at the local level. The term Content-based language teaching in- cludes all the approaches relevant to it, such as Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), Immersion Education, Submersion, Sheltered Content Instruction and Bilingual Education. More specifically, the author's decision to use the word teaching rather than instruction indicates broader attention to the concept from a pedagogic point of view as opposed to the more restrictive one implicit in the term instruction. The book examines contexts in which academic subjects are taught in a language different from that of the learners; the other language can refer to a second language or a foreign language. It is aimed at teachers of students from 5 to 18 years of Book reviews / System 46 (2014) 176e182 177