Critical Book Review

Book I

Tittle : Understanding Second Language Acquisition

Writer : Rod Ellis; Oxford University Press; 1985

Introduction

A number of possible determinants of second language acquisition (SLA) have

now been considered – the learner’s first language (L1), input/interaction, and learner
strategies. One possibility that has not so far been considered is that SLA is governed
by properties of the two languages involved – the target and the native languages.
Wode (1980b), for instance, proposes that language acquisition manifests’
developmental principles’, which he defines in terms of the linguistic properties of the
target language. He argues that the order of development is determined by the nature
of the linguistic rules that have to be acquired.
This proposal is very different from that discussed in the preceding chapter.
There the process of development was explained as the result of inductive strategies
operating on the input data. Although these strategies were defined with specific
reference to SLA, they must nevertheless be seen as general cognitive procedures
which will be involved

Summary

In the introduction of this book, John Clancy and Brigid Ballard talk about a
few misconceptions about ways of writing the essay. And in order to avoid the
misconception so they make some points of writing the essay available in their book.
For example, that essay should be relevant to the set topic in both content and focus,
essay should be read widely and critically in order to accumulate and select the
material, essay should present reasoned argument base on valid evidence and leading
to a clear conclusion, essay not only looked at the selected material but more
importantly at the use you made of it, essay should aim at precision, accuracy, and
appropriateness in language, style and format, and the last is there is no single set of
skill or techniques which will ensure that you produce a satisfactory essay.

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 They also concern with the variety of strategies for handling the reading which
must be covered for an essay. They suggest that skimming is the most effective skill
that can be develop for reading academic text because it make use of the paragraph as
the basic unique of the underlying the structure of the argument. And also in the note
taking for the essay writing, they also recommended some basics criteria to help us
develop our note taking methods. Namely that the guiding principle of the note taking
should be that the content, style, intensity and format of the note suit the purpose for
which you are taking them. And the note also should be accurately identified, flexible
recorded and allow space for cross-referencing and comment.
Before writing the essay they told us to look at the related stages of analyzing
the essay topic in order to identify what we are directed to do with the material, and of
working toward a tentative plan for the essay. They stressed that planning is a process
that takes place continuously through out the preparation for the drafting of an essay,
and that there is no one style of developing a plan which is the best. They also have
provided a practical checklist to cover the aspects of the final drafting which need
special attention in editing. For example, the essay must be as accurate as possible in
details of presentation, checking the specific requirements of the department about the
presentation, know how to handle quotation, format for bibliographies and other
requirements of presentation.
They also suggested that the assessment of the completed essay is an essential
stage in the continuous process of learning. Through analyzing the response of your
lecturer to an essay, through evaluating your own methods of writing, and by
comparing your essay with those other students’, and the last is that the essay should
focus on the data, whether in the form of a book or research finding, and you must
draw your conclusion largely from the material.

Critiques
The aspect of this book which makes me keep enjoying it is the order of the
book that is written in good way, so I can easily get the meaning and the main point of
the book. Even I found some unfamiliar word when reading the book but I can keep
guessing the meaning of the words correctly. And I think that they have been
succeeded in organizing this book. To see the qualification that they have, they must
have good writing.

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 John Clancy and Brigid Ballard choices of subject seem to be very
appropriate. The problem in writing the essay has raised many questions in the last
few years, but after writing the book, some problems in writing the essay may be
solved. It means when writing the essay, I think they keep on focusing on the topic
namely how to write essay and the aspects needed in organizing them.
Other positive aspect of John Clancy and Brigid Ballard is that they are
scientifically objective. In their opinion, I see their approach to the topic is reasonable.
Such a scientific approach does not make the book dry and uninteresting, however.
For example, the research which has been conducted in their campus in order to proof
that the students really get difficulties to write the essay so they help the students who
have problem in writing the essay till they could understand it.
The negative aspect of John Clancy and Brigid Ballard is that the students
exercise in their book is not available. So it seems to decrease the value of the book.

Conclusion
In spite of the fact that the book’s explanation was rather too long, I have to
say that it was still worth reading. In my opinion the book of “Essay writing for
students” by John Clancy and Brigid Ballard is an extremely important topic and a
very good book to be owned.

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Book II
Title : The Natural Approach Language Acquisition in the Classroom
Writer : Krashen, Stephen D., Tracy D. Terrell; Prentice Hall

Introduction

Sutanto Leo and his team who had written the book also said that there are so
many problems found in writing the essay. In proving the reality they made a small
scale survey that shows the students’ problems in writing are limited vocabularies,
difficulty in organizing the ideas, no ideas to write, no motivation to write and that
last is lack of confidence in grammar. They also explain why six authors would
publish a book of academic writing, why not just one or two authors. They also said
that the book “English for Academic Purpose: Essay writing” that they had written is
a practical book, which give solution to the problems. in this book, they show the
reader the basic principle of writing, meaningful reading for academic writing,
deciding on a topic and title, writing an introduction, writing a development section,
writing citations, data gathering, commenting on data, writing a conclusion, writing
an abstract, reference, summary, review, and revising and editing. Sutanto Leo and his
team seem to have good qualification which is necessary to deal with this subject.
They are lecturer in one of the university in Maranatha Christian University. They
present their idea in their book in good order and combine theory and practice in
writing in each unit. I found it very interesting in reading this book because it is easy
to understand although some of the vocabularies are not familiar to me.

Summary

There are three principles that need to be considered in academic writing

namely content, register and topic. Where the content of the writing must be clear,
specific and relevant, and the register in academic writing must be formal, to the point
and concise. And the offences of the academic writing must be plagiarism, and
sensitive issues. In meaningful reading for the academic writing could be done
through the quick reading like speed reading, skim reading and scan reading. And the
second can be done by slow reading. It does not mean that we must read the book
again in detail. And the third is moderate speed reading that can be done by giving the
highlighting, and underlining.
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 After that we can decide a topic that we are going to write and decide the title
of the writing, is some thing that we have to do before writing the essay. After
deciding what to write, we can write the introduction. An introduction consists of at
least one paragraph. And the length of the introduction depends on the length of the
essay. After making the introduction, we can continue into development section. Each
of paragraphs of the development section should have one main idea. This idea
determines which sentences are appropriate in that paragraph.
After that we write the citations. When we write citations, we can not avoid
citing from others’ work because what you are writing must be based on previous
ideas of other people. And it is important for you to how citations are categorized, so
that you can decide the how you will cite from sources. Knowledge about citation
categorize can prevent you from producing the incorrect citation format or using the
same format to often.
Data gathering is also needed in writing the essay. And the gathering primary
resources can be from interview, and questionnaire. And commenting the data is also
considered is very important. And the last is writing the conclusion. A good
conclusion would highlight the reliability of the author and increase readers’
conviction in what they have read. In general, a good conclusion will summarize main
points, give personal opinions, give a challenge to the readers for change of
conceptual belief or for action and the last is give suggestion for further research.

Critiques

I like the book and I keep enjoying reading it because the book is written in
good way and good order, and even the book is explained in point per point. So, I can
easily get the meaning and the main point of the book. Even I found some unfamiliar
word when reading the book but I can keep guessing the meaning of the words
correctly. And I think that they have been succeeded in organizing this book. To see
the qualification that they have, they must have good writing.
Leo Suatanto and his team choices of subject seem to be very appropriate.
Because the book which is written by them may answered the problems of essay
which rose in the last few years, but after writing the book. It means when writing the
essay, I think they keep on focusing on the topic namely how to write essay and the
aspects needed in organizing them.
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 Other positive aspect of Leo Suatanto and his team is that they put exercises in
each of topics that can help the students in master the topic of the essay and even they
are scientifically objective. In their opinion, I see their approach to the topic is
reasonable. Such a scientific approach does not make the book dry and uninteresting,
however. For example, the research which has been conducted in their campus in
order to proof that the students really get difficulties to write the essay so they help
the students who have problem in writing the essay till they could understand it.
The negative aspect of Leo Suatanto and his team in writing the book is that
they do not write the summaries in their book so the reader find it difficult to find the
meaning of the explanation of each topics because the explanation of the topics is
quite complicating. So it seems tolr decrease the value of the book.

Conclusion
In spite of the fact that the book’s explanation was rather too long, I have to
say that it was still worth reading. In my opinion the book of “English for Academic
Purpose: Essay writing” by Leo Suatanto and his team is an extremely important
topic and a very good book to be owned.

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The Conclusion of the Book Analyzing
Each book has its own weaknesses and its qualifications. But after
analyzing the both books I can conclude that the book which is written by John
Clancy and Brigid Ballard is better than the book which is written by the Leo
Sutanto and his team. Why do I say that because the way how they organize
their idea into written text is far different. John Clancy and Brigid Ballard wrote
it in better order. and the sentence used in John Clancy and Brigid Ballard is not
too complicated or easier to understand then the sentence in Leo Sutanto and his
team’s book. And Leo Sutanto keep explaining the each topics without giving
any suggestion to the reader what should be done or should not be done by the
siwriter when they are going to write the essay writing.

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 REFERENCES

Ellis, Rod. 1985. Understanding Second Language Acquisition. New York: Oxford
University Press.
Krashen, Stephen D. & Tracy D. Terrell. 1968. The Natural Approach Language
Acquisition in the Classroom. United Kingdom: Prentice Hall.