Language teaching practice has seen the emergence of various diverse–and in some respects divergent–threads in the last three or four decades, and it is by no means easy to design a coherent course for teachers which encompasses differing ways of analysing the language to be learned, differing views of the language learning process, differing ideas on language skills, and so on. Hedge’s book is organised in a fairly conventional but very logical way, which can conveniently be used to provide the outline syllabus of a teacher-training course. Part 1 is a “A framework for teaching and learning”; the first chapter of this section covers a massive area of ground, exploring language learning theories, learner differences, and the roles of teachers, learners and teaching materials. It might be argued that the coverage here is a little on the thin side, but the chapter is essentially laying the foundation for the rest of the course by briefly setting out some key concepts, and there are plenty of opportunities to return to these issues later. Part 1 also contains chapters on “The communicative classroom” and “Learner autonomy and learner training”; it may be a little surprising to find these topics discussed so early in the book, but the sequence works well enough. Part 2, “Teaching the language system”, looks at teaching language traditionally divided into the areas of “Vocabulary” and “Grammar”, while Part 3, “Developing the language skills”, has chapters on each of the skills of reading, listening, speaking and writing. These examinations from two different angles of what is to be taught provide overlap with previous chapters and opportunities for review and expansion. Part 4, “Planning and assessing learning”, covers the two topics that always seem to get left to the last section of courses such as this, namely course design and classroom assessment (a concept preferred here to “testing” as describing a wider and more positive process of monitoring learning which includes testing as one of its tools). The chapter on assessment is written by Pauline Rea-Dickens.