本书原著1997年出版,作者M·威廉姆斯和R·布尔登是两位分别来自应用语言学和教育心理学两个为同领域的英国学者。本书所建立的理解教与学过程的“社会建构主义模式”是对上述理论的整合与诠释。“社会”一词在这里取其微观意义,即“人与人相互关系的”、“群体的”等含义,而不是与政治、经济密切相关的宏观意义上的“社会”。社会建构主义模式的要义是:知识是由个人自己建构的,而不是由他人传递的,但这种建构发生在与他人交往的环境中,是社会互动的结果;该模式确认了学生、教师、任务、环境四个方面的多种因素学习过程的影响,而处在**位置的当然认识建构的主体——学生,后三者则构成的学习中的中介因素和外围环境,对学习者的个人知识建构着极为重要的思想精华,特别注重学习者的全人发展——除认知发展外,还有以元认知为特征的学习能力的发展、积极的自我概念和个性品质的发展。本书在阐明社会建构主义的一般思想的同时,将其与语言教学的特殊问题相联系,试图帮助读者将教育心理学的新观点、新思想应用于对语言教与学过程的认识理解、乃至实际行动中。
在当前我国外语教学改革不断深入和素质教育的推进的形势下,本书所揭示的思想对我们外语教育工作

总序
导读
1 An introduction to educational psychology:behaviourism and cognitive psychology
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Educational psychology
1.3 Approaches to educational psychology
1.4 The positivist school
1.5 Cognitive psychology
1.6 Conclusion
2 Further schools of thought in psychology:Humanism and social interactionism
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Humanistic approaches
2.3 Social interactionism
2.4 A social constructivist model
2.5 Conclusion
3 What do teachers bring to the teaching-Learning Process?
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Studies in effective teaching
3.3 A constructivist view of education
3.4 A constructivist view of teaching
3.5 The teacher as reflective practitioner
3.6 Teachers'beliefs
3.7 Conclusion
4 What can teachers do promote learning?
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Feuerstein's theory of mediation
4.3 Application of mediation theory
4.4 Investigating mediation in language classrooms
4.5 Conclusion
5 The contribution of the individual student to the learning process
5.1 Introdction
5.2 Some problems with the notion of indvidual differences
5.3 An altemnative approach
5.4 The development and importnce of self-concept
5.5 Locus of control
5.6 Attribution theoty
5.7 Conclusion
6 What makes a person want to learn?Motivation in language learning
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Early psychological views on motivation
6.3 Motivation in foreign and second language leraning
6.4 A Cognitive view of motivation
6.5 A social definition of motivation
6.6 A proposed definition of motivation
6.7 A model of motivation
6.8 Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
6.9 Perceived value of the activity
6.10 Arousal
6.11 Learners'beliefs about themselves
6.12 Setting and achieving goals
6.13 The involvement of significant others
6.14 Summary
6.15 Drawing it all together
6.16 Conclusion
7 How does the learner deal with the process of learning?
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Learning strategies
7.3 Skills and strategies
7.4 Learnig to learn
7.5 Metacognitive strategies
……
8 The place of tasks in the language classroom
9 The learning context
10 Putting it all together
References
Subject index
Author index

本丛书精选自剑桥大学出版社为语言教师设计的多套论著和教程,均为当代语言教育领域的力作。由当今国际语言教育界的权威人士编者并由国内英语教育界专家学者撰写前言或导读。本丛书的20个选题是目前英语教师*需要了解的课题。本丛书可作为英语教师继续教育和师范院校英语和系的教材,并可供在职大中学教师和语言教育研究者使用。