Interview

Steven J. Molinsky

Page 1 | Page 2

Tell us about the Word by Word Vocabulary Development Program.
Word by Word is a conversational picture dictionary program. Over 3000 words are illustrated through light-hearted illustrations, and students are given the opportunity to practice these words through short conversations. Our goal in writing Word by Word was to provide students with communicative practice with every word on every page! In addition, every lesson offers students writing and discussion opportunities as a way of relating the vocabulary words to their daily lives and experiences. The Word by Word program also contains Workbooks, playing cards for vocabulary games, a Teacher's Resource Book with more than 900 motivating classroom activities, and a songbook and karaoke-style song album of original songs to accompany each of the thematic units of the dictionary.

How was writing a book like Voices of Freedom different from a more general EFL/ESL textbook?
In Voices of Freedom, US citizenship content, rather than language structure development was the key guiding principle in developing the curriculum. For our other more "general" ESL/EFL books, we strive for a very carefully constructed grammatical sequence as its core, with content and functional language development tied to the grammatical foundation.

What are the core concepts of developing a new series of textbooks?
First, determine the target audience for the book. Who are the students, and what are their language learning needs? Once that has been established, a carefully constructed, well-sequenced grammatical syllabus must be developed to meet the needs of the target audience. That will be the driving force of the curriculum. Simultaneously, comes an analysis of the topics most relevant to prospective users of the book. Combining the grammatical core with relevant topics and situations will also lead to the inclusion of the functional language expressions tied to those structures and contexts.

You've written your best-known books as part of a team or partnership with Bill Bliss. How did you come to work together, and how does the collaborative process work? Do you prefer this collaborative style?
Bill Bliss and I started working together more than twenty-five years ago. He had actually been a student of mine when I taught Russian. We bumped into each other on the street one day in August of 1975, got into a conversation, and realized that we had something new in common. I had just switched from the Foreign Language Department to the TESOL Program in the School of Education, and he had just begun an ESL teaching job in Boston. We decided right then and there that we would like to begin working together on a textbook. We spent three years developing a manuscript that eventually became Side by Side.

Our basic writing style has remained the same during all these years. We sit across a table from each other and present our ideas. We write them down, analyze them, and decide together which ones we like. By the time we finish a lesson, we can't remember which ideas were his and which were mine, and it's not important! This collaborative style results in a blending of the best that each of us has to offer. And that's why I can't imagine working any other way!

Do you prefer writing or teacher training? How much of your schedule is taken up with the latter?
I enjoy both very much. In fact, I wouldn't want to give up either. These days, most of my time is spent writing. I go into the university just two half-days a week to teach my methodology courses. I enjoy the stimulation of working with graduate students. My courses are populated with bright, energetic, culturally sensitive students -- many of them from Asia, in fact. Working with these students has greatly enriched my life.

What plans do you have for the future?
Now that we have completed the revision of the Side by Side textbook series and have completed work on our new Side by Side Interactive CD-ROM program, we will be undertaking revisions of some of our other texts. After that, we plan to develop textbook series for other market segments.

I look forward to many more years of creative work. In fact, I'm not sure I ever want to stop! People sometimes say to me, "You work too hard!" The truth is, I don't consider what I do "work." If it has to be defined as "work," then I guess I'm fortunate to derive so much enjoyment from it.

You've visited Japan many times over the years. What are your impressions of English language education here?
I've seen a great deal of effort toward empowering learners of English with the skills necessary for effective communication in the language. And I'm sure these efforts will continue and expand in the future. I am continually impressed by the dedication and the enthusiasm that Japanese teachers of English have for their work. I always look forward to visiting Japan and spending time with the many teachers I've had the pleasure of meeting during my visits.

What do like to do that's not education-related?
My favorite activity is playing the piano. I'm fortunate to have been born with the ability to play the piano by ear. If I remember a melody, I can play it. I'm not sure how I do it, but I've had that ability since the age of twelve. I took classical music lessons from the age of six, but as I began to develop the ability to play by ear, I would upset my piano teachers by "improvising" classical pieces of music they were attempting to teach me.

I also write music. The irony is that I'm the linguist who can't write lyrics! I write very pretty melodies (most of which sound like soundtracks from sad French movies), but I have to rely on others to write the lyrics. Someday I might be brave enough to try to get my songs published. The truth is, I have more confidence in my book-writing ability than my song-writing ability!

Thank you very much for speaking with us.
It was a pleasure!

Page 1 | Page 2

<<Back Number | Top | Recent Issue>>