These two volumes, edited by two distinguished scholars in language education from Singapore, provide basic, essential, up-to-date information about the language situations and development of English language teaching in East Asian countries. Together they form a valuable encyclopedic reference work that will give scholars, teachers, and language policy makers a bigger picture of the Asian region through which they can better understand the position of their own countries and learn from the experience of others. Although the two volumes can be read independently, it is more logical to sequence Language policies and language education before English language teaching in East Asia today because the former provides an overview of language policies and language education in the region from a macro perspective, which helps to set out the necessary contextual background for a micro exploration into issues of English language teaching in the second volume. The editors take pride in the fact that the two books provide an “insiders' perspective,” meaning that all the country-based chapters were written by scholars who have lived in the given country for a long time. Indeed, this helps to establish high credibility for the information provided. On the good foundation that these two volumes have laid, comparative studies across countries in the region can be conducted more easily and efficiently.

In both volumes, the term “East Asia” also covers Southeast Asia (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) and Northeast Asia (Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, China, and Taiwan). Mongolia, in eastern Central Asia, though often neglected in the literature, is also included in these two volumes. In Language policies and language education, 17 political entities are covered, including North Korea, which however is omitted from English language teaching in East Asia today. Both books feature a consistent style and a coherent manner, beginning with the editors' introductions, which lay out some common threads underpinning the chapters and provide an overview of the general situation in each country. The main body of both volumes is the country-based chapters, arranged in alphabetical order. At the end, the editors provide an epilogue that summarizes the main thrusts of the chapters, with an aim to throw light on the future development of language education and English language teaching in the region. For the sake of clarity, I shall discuss the two books separately.

Participants in international conferences on language education are always keen on finding out about the sociolinguistic situations and language education policies in countries other than their own. With the help of Language policies and language education, related information in the Asian region no longer has to be collected piecemeal. This book is easy and convenient to read, and it provides essential foundational information about the development of language policies and language education in 17 political entities. The term “East Asia” is used to cover Southeast Asia and central East Asia. Apart from geographical location, the countries also represent different levels of economic success, with Japan being the “economic miracle” and Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and South Korea the “four little dragons” whose GDP will achieve 98.5% of that of the United States in 2025 (cited in chap. 1). In addition, there are the economically developing countries (the People's Republic of China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Brunei Darussalam, Thailand) and the new members of the open market economy (Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Mongolia). Of the three groups of countries, the third one appears to be the most intriguing because countries like Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam have just rejoined the international community after a long period of political instability and warfare, and information about these countries is relatively scarce. However economically well-developed these countries are, as revealed in this book, they found it necessary to give way to the spread of English under the impact of an open economy and the pressure of globalization. While the newly opened countries need English for new trading and international relations even within the region, the economically more successful countries cling to English as an essential means to maintain their competitiveness.

The introductory and summarizing chapters at the beginning and the end of the book are useful. In the former, the editors set the scene by highlighting the essential factors that affect the development of language policies and language education in different countries. Toward the end of the introduction, they also draw out commonalities among the countries that enable readers to see the significant issues across different countries beyond each factual case. In the last chapter, the editors summarize the important facts about each country to allow readers a quick review of the 17 political entities. Common features across the countries are also highlighted, among which the “national-functional tradition” best depicts the typical experience of many countries in establishing one official national language to serve the need for national unity and identity while also making efforts to preserve dialects to maintain cultural diversity. Nevertheless, for pragmatic reasons of economic and political survival under the great pressure of globalization, foreign languages, especially English, become an indispensable part of language education planning in these countries.

There is no fixed structure for the 16 country-based chapters in this volume; contributors write about the important issues of their own countries under the broad concept of language policies and language education. Since the authors are insiders who know their own countries best, this liberal format gives them autonomy to decide what important issues should be brought to readers' attention. For example, in chap. 7, the authors spell out the unique qualities of Japanese culture that hinder the learning of English. Unlike the other chapters, they also describe Japan's national effort to teach Japanese to speakers of other languages. Such autonomy enables unique communication between each writer and the readers. However, this is not without drawbacks. Because each chapter is structured in a different way with different headings, comparisons across countries are made less easy and efficient. Although some comparison tables supplied by the editors compensate in this respect (e.g., “Literacy in East Asia,” 25; “Languages in education in East Asia,” 26–28), it would be very useful if the volume had included an appendix giving more comprehensive cross-country comparisons on each of the common themes of the chapters.

Because this book aims to provide basic essential information on the language policies and language education development in different countries, the chapters mainly give a descriptive account of facts, with only occasional critical discussion of issues. This may lead to an impression that language planning and education in these countries will be successfully carried out as long as a policy is in place. Details about how well the language policies are implemented and the difficulties encountered during the implementation process are not mentioned in most of the chapters. However, the bibliographies at the ends of chapters provide useful clues for interested readers, especially helpful for outsiders who do not know where to begin.

While Language policies and language education mainly provides descriptive facts about policies without much critical discussion about how successfully the policies are carried out, English language teaching in East Asia today complements it by providing in-depth micro analyses of the difficulties and dilemmas that different Asian countries are facing in connection with English language teaching (ELT). Like the former, this volume is an encyclopedic resource giving comprehensive accounts of the ELT experiences of 16 different countries in Asia (excluding North Korea).

This volume consists of 27 contributions covering 16 countries. There are two main parts: The first four chapters form the first section, which deals with general issues around ELT. The first chapter is an overview of the ELT situation in East Asia; the second addresses the issue of mutual intelligibility among varieties of English; the third is about the role of SEAMEO Regional Language Centre in Singapore in developing ELT among the members of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations). The fourth shows how computer technology can be used as a self-access tool for students to learn English. The second section consists of 23 chapters about ELT development in 16 countries. Although the four articles in the first section add information beyond that given in the country-based chapters and thus bring a wider perspective to the volume, none but the first chapter is essential for readers to understand the ELT situation in the region. Despite this, I found Tony Hung's chap. 2, “English as a language of wider communication in East Asia today: The issue of mutual intelligibility,” very intriguing. Hung asserts that L2 speakers of English do not need to conform to native standards. Some inner-circle features of English are in fact unnecessary for L2 speakers as long as the prime rules of “intelligibility” and “clarity” are fulfilled. Through this, Hung helps to voice the rights and identity of Asian speakers as users of English as a language for wider communication rather than as failed native speakers (Cook 2002). In fact, such an urge for an Asian identity underpins many of the country-based chapters, especially when these countries are considering what English to teach. For example, in chap. 8, Lawrence Jun Zhang echoes Hung's point in calling for a more liberal view toward the English language. He says that “trainee-teachers in China should at least have the chance to be exposed to different varieties of English,” and “China/Chinese English should not be despised” (146). Similarly, in chap. 12, Nobuyuki Honna & Yuko Takeshita are optimistic about the future of ELT in Japan provided that “Japanese students can be assured that they can speak English and sound Japanese at the same time” (217).

The 16 countries in the volume represent different stages of ELT development, and as a result, the problems that they encounter are different. In countries that have just departed from prolonged political instability and are at the preliminary stage of practicing ELT in schools (e.g., Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam), there is an outcry over scarce resources, such as not having enough textbooks, teaching aids, and qualified English teachers. In countries with rich experience in ELT (e.g., Hong Kong, Brunei Darussalam, Japan), ELT practitioners are crying out for solutions to enhance the effectiveness of English language teaching. Although these places have a long history of teaching English, they still find themselves caught in a maze, struggling hard to find the way out of the three dilemmas described by the editors in the epilogue: traditional vs. modern (old ways of teaching remain unchanged while the new teaching methodology is adopted only as official rhetoric); continuity vs. change (teachers continue to use traditional methods of teaching they regard as effective); and quantitative vs. qualitative (many teachers are needed yet their proficiency and knowledge in the language has to be improved). Such challenges are especially pertinent when most of the ELT pedagogical thinking and principles are imported from the West and cannot be easily transplanted into the Asian context without much modification. The above dilemmas are especially well illustrated in chap. 9, where Alice Chow & Angela Mok depict the winding road along which English language teaching in Hong Kong has developed, highlighting the tensions between tradition and new innovations during different periods of transition in Hong Kong. According to the authors, the tension between the government and school practitioners is always acute when the former is considered to be placing “excessive faith in the western language teaching approach which has yet to be proven effective for the local language classroom, which still operates within the traditional, examination-oriented education system” (160). Although Hong Kong has much experience in adopting innovations in ELT, after almost three decades it is still searching for the model that best suits the local context and culture. Though the authors appear a little pessimistic, the experience of Hong Kong does help to caution developing countries that success in ELT takes a lot more than just abandoning “outdated” teaching approaches (i.e., the grammar-translation approach). As pointed out in Lawrence Jun Zhang's chapter, no one method of ELT can suit the needs of all EFL countries: “A compromise between the western approach and the local culture is therefore necessary to cater for the needs of the EFL learners” (147).

In brief, these two books contribute significantly to the literature of language policies and language education, and they provide a very useful starting point for comparative studies across countries in the Asian region. They are therefore highly recommended for language educators, researchers and policy makers, not just in Asia but in all countries around the world.