ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to raise some key issues about language and learning and their practical impacts upon teaching and learning in the classroom. The beginning teacher will be aware of the many theories about language and learning that are available for consideration and the need for a thoughtful and practical synthesis of these. It is the task of other texts to present the key facets of these learning theories and to debate their detail and weight (Moon et al 2001). This chapter does not argue for any easy relationship between the two elements of theory and practice; and still less does it present a case that the school placements of trainee teachers are simply about ‘applying’ theories about learning to practical contexts. It does press the view that what is regarded by educational communities as authoritative, supportive theory about learning (and teaching) needs to be taken and given shape by practical reworkings so that new understandings emerge. In addition, what is essentially a symbiotic relationship between the theory and practice of teaching and learning means that each element – theory, teaching, and learning – is changed by the relationship. Each is enhanced by the others and new supports for teaching and learning are created.
