College For Women library issue 3 2013-2013 | Page 6

A textbook I teach and enjoy!!
Dr. Dina El-Dakhs, Assistant professor, English Department

Who reads a textbook for
pleasure??? Few people, I believe…
Very often, a textbook is read for
study purposes, whether to get a
high grade if you are a student or
to prepare for class if you are a
teacher. This, however, does not
apply to the new textbook I chose
for my Language Acquisition course
(ENG342). The book, entitled An
introduction to psycholinguistics
(second edition) by Dannay D.
Steinberg and Natalia V. Sciarini
(published by Pearson Education
Limited) is a real work of art. Art???
Yes, it is. Art is meant to be enjoyed,
and that is how I really feel reading
this book. As the title suggests, the
book offers an introduction to the
field of Psycholinguistics; a relatively
recent branch of Linguistics that
examines the areas of language
comprehension, p r o d u c t i o n ,
acquisition and dissolution.

The book consists of three
parts; (1) First-language learning,
(2) Second-language learning and
(3) Language, mind and the brain.
Each part is composed of a number
of chapters that discuss every theme
6

in more depth. An example is the
first part, on first-language learning,
which includes chapters on how
children learn language, the deaf
and language, reading principles
and teaching, wild and isolated
children and the critical age issue for
language learning, and animals and
language learning.

So what is so special about
the book? The most important
thing is that it addresses intriguing
questions that anyone interested in
language, not only a linguist, will
find interesting. Examples are: (1)
What does a fetus in the mother’s
uterus learn about language?, (2)
When does a newly born baby come
to recognize a mother’s voice?, (3)
When do children start to understand
and produce words/sentences?, (4)
When and how do children learn to
read?, (5) What is the critical age
beyond which human beings cannot
learn a first/second language?, (6)
Who is better at second language
learning; very young children, older
children or adults? Are you interested
already? Well, these are only a few
of the questions for which the book

provides simple and straightforward
answers.

Not only are the answers
straightforward (that is, can be easily
understood by non-specialists), but
they are also research-based. For
every question raised, a number
of relevant studies are reported
that show different researchers’
perspectives on the issue. Then,
through careful examination of
the study procedures the writers
guide the reader to reach the best
conclusions. This also has the added
advantage of enhancing the reader’s
critical thinking skills and stimulating
his/her “inner research interest”. After
examining the studies, you come up
with your own questions too, and
sometimes develop your own ways
to address the research questions at
hand.

So, if you are looking for a
good read on language learning and
processing, don’t hesitate to borrow
this book from our PSCW library
or one of your ENG342 friends. I
promise you an exciting journey, full
of interesting discoveries…. Enjoy.