The ideas in this book began as a few notes on the back of a napkin, scribbled together with Alison Phipps, whom I must thank first for our rich and rewarding years of friendship, for her collegiality and support, for her sharp mind, brilliant ideas, and deep humanity, for helping to draw the occasional bright idea out of me, for the inspiration and motivation to think beyond the narrow confines of the language classroom in order to help recognize the potential of language teaching and learning, for showing me that understanding the complexities of language and learning is useless unless it serves the larger purpose of fostering human capabilities, creativity, and compassion.

I also want to offer Heidi Byrnes tausend Dank, for encouraging the writing of this monograph beyond the confines of an academic article. Her feedback and guidance early in the project were essential for seeing the big picture of what the book should be about.

Thank you to Wander Lowie for his encouragement and support throughout the writing process, and his patience with my delays and many questions. I am also very grateful to David Block and Rick Kern for their rich and detailed feedback and instructions for revising the first draft; I did my best to address all of their concerns and wishes. Thanks, too, to Kate Miller for her skillful editing of the manuscript, and to Shalini Chawla for her patience and attention to detail in the production phase.

I am inexpressibly grateful to Bridget Swanson for her keen and brutally honest reading and editing of drafts of this monograph, for what I call her bird's‐eye perspective of issues of language teaching, and for her unwavering encouragement throughout!

I want to thank Monika Böhme for the many insightful and inspiring conversations we had about language teaching and language learners, which were helpful in focusing many of the discussions in these chapters, as well as keeping them grounded in what teachers actually do, or can do, with their students. Likewise, the many discussions I had on the topics in these chapters were invaluable, and so I am very grateful to Claire Kramsch, Christina Frei, Hiram Maxim, Cori Crane, Chantelle Warner, Steve Thorne, David Gramling, Susanne Rott, Barbara Schmenk, Thor Sawin, Julio Torres, Lisa Parkes, Jerry Won Lee, Bettina Matthias, Carl Blyth, Dave Malinowski, Heather Willis Allen, Friederike Tebben, Per Urlaub, Rosemarie Tracy, Stephan Breidbach, Tessa Wegener, and Sébastien Dubreil.

I am forever grateful to all of the graduate students I have had the pleasure to work with over many years, who provided both inspiration and insights through our many interactions about language teaching and my many visits to their classes. Thanks to Eric Blankenship, Kristin Brehm, Patrick Carlson, Matt Cooper, Natalie Eppelsheimer, Jonathan Fine, Friederike Kaufel, Rose Jones, Erin Kelly, Franz Kuzay, David Lamme, Alex Lotz, Susan Morse, Simona Moti, Steven Nave, Yao Pei, Mohammed Rafi, Jaime Roots, Rebecca Schuman, Henrik Sponsel, Jacob Schaubs, Xuxu Song, Magda Tarnawska Senel, Jessica Wood, and Jason Wilby.

Also, without the amazing friendship, hospitality, and support of Gail Hart and Dennis Perchak, I am certain I would not have had the peace and quiet I needed at crucial stages of the work.

Finally, I want to thank Ursula Levine for the support and encouragement through the years I worked on this book. While writing is a solitary activity, her belief in me was crucial. Just as much, I am grateful to my children, Hanna, Annika, and Sam, especially for their understanding for the many days I was gone in order to research and write.

To all of those who gave feedback and comments on parts or all of the book, the usual disclaimer applies: Any shortcomings of the work are entirely on me.

本书中的想法始于餐巾纸背面的几条便条，与艾莉森·菲普斯（Alison Phipps）一起，草，我必须首先感谢我们多年丰富而有益的友谊，她的同事和支持，敏锐的头脑，出色的想法，以及深厚的人性，帮助我们从中吸取偶尔的聪明主意，激发灵感和动力，在语言教室的狭窄范围之外进行思考，以帮助认识语言教学的潜力，并向我展示这种理解语言和学习的复杂性是没有用的，除非它能达到培养人类能力，创造力和同情心的更大目的。

我还想提供Heidi Byrnes tausend Dank，以鼓励作者撰写此专着，而不是发表学术文章。在项目初期，她的反馈和指导对于全面了解本书的内容至关重要。

感谢Wander Lowie在整个写作过程中所给予的鼓励和支持，以及他对我的耽搁和许多问题所表现出的耐心。我也非常感谢David Block和Rick Kern为修订初稿提供了丰富而详细的反馈和说明。我尽力解决了他们的所有担忧和愿望。也要感谢Kate Miller对手稿的熟练编辑，以及Shalini Chawla在生产阶段的耐心和对细节的关注。

我对布里奇特·斯旺森（Bridget Swanson）敏锐而残酷的诚实阅读和编辑本专着的稿件，我所谓的她对语言教学问题的鸟瞰图以及始终如一的鼓励表示由衷的感谢！

我要感谢莫妮卡·博姆（MonikaBöhme）关于语言教学和语言学习者的许多有见地和鼓舞人心的对话，这些对话有助于使这些章节中的许多讨论集中起来，并使他们根据老师的实际能力或可以做什么做基础，和他们的学生一起。同样，我在这些章节中就主题进行的许多讨论都是无价的，因此，我非常感谢克莱尔·克拉姆施（Claire Kramsch），克里斯蒂娜·弗莱（Christina Frei），希拉姆·马克西姆（Cori Crane），尚特尔·华纳（Chantelle Warner），史蒂夫·索恩（Steve Thorne），大卫·格拉姆林（David Gramling）， Thor Sawin，Julio Torres，Lisa Parkes，Jerry Won Lee，Bettina Matthias，Carl Blyth，Dave Malinowski，Heather Willis Allen，Friederike Tebben，Per Urlaub，Rosemarie Tracy，Stephan Breidbach，Tessa Wegener和SébastienDubreil。

我永远感谢所有与我合作多年的研究生，他们通过我们在语言教学方面的许多互动以及我对他们课堂的多次访问，提供了灵感和见解。感谢Eric Blankenship，Kristin Brehm，Patrick Carlson，Matt Cooper，Natalie Eppelsheimer，Jonathan Fine，Friederike Kaufel，Rose Jones，Erin Kelly，Franz Kuzay，David Lamme，Alex Lotz，Susan Morse，Simona Moti，Steven Nave，Yao Pei， Mohammed Rafi，Jaime Roots，Rebecca Schuman，Henrik Sponsel，Jacob Schaubs，Xuxu Song，Magda Tarnawska Senel，Jessica Wood和Jason Wilby。

而且，如果没有盖尔·哈特（Gail Hart）和丹尼斯·佩尔恰克（Dennis Perchak）令人惊奇的友谊，热情好客和支持，我相信我在工作的关键阶段将不会拥有我所需要的和平与宁静。

最后，我要感谢厄休拉·莱文（Ursula Levine）在编写本书的过程中所给予的支持和鼓励。虽然写作是一种孤独的活动，但她对我的信仰至关重要。同样，我感谢我的孩子汉娜（Hanna），安妮卡（Annika）和山姆（Sam），尤其是我在为研究和写作而离开的许多天中对他们的理解。

对于所有对本书的部分或全部内容提供反馈和评论的人，通常都适用免责声明：作品的任何缺点都完全在我身上。