Book title: THE PROCESS OF TEACHING AND LEARNING: A Précis of General Didactics

Author: Erasme Rwanamiza

Publisher: Fountain Publishers

Reviewed by: Solomon Asaba

Books, like meals, come in two forms: they could either come as ordinary servings, prepared by ordinary cooks or they could be extraordinary works of art from a top chef. The former will do the basic job of satisfying your hunger; the latter will leave you craving for more, and possibly send you hunting around for the recipe. Dr. Erasme Rwanamiza’s The Process of Teaching-and–Learning is the work of a chef.

The author’s stated motivation for writing the book was to provide a theoretical background in understanding the process of teaching and learning for educators, and aim that I think he fulfils satisfactorily.

Dr. Rwanamiza attempts, with considerable success, what many have been ineffective at: to marry relatively involved technical and theoretical concepts with a popular, practical presentation.

In structuring his book, the author adopts the classical form, beginning with a definition of Didactics, after which he proposes a model for the Didactical action. Next, we get into the meat of the book, as Dr. Rwanamiza proceeds to examine the entire teaching-and-learning process, which is broken down into the three theoretical stages of Planning, Implementation and Evaluation.

However, throughout the book the author emphasises the overlapping nature of these ‘stages’ in the actual practice of teaching and learning since at any point in time during the teacher-student interaction, planning, implementation and evaluation are happening simultaneously to achieve the set didactical objectives.

He goes into considerable technical detail in providing the steps to be taken in defining educational objectives, suggests possible approaches to achieving them, and proposes a framework to instruct the evaluation of how far the original objectives have been met at different stages of the didactical journey.

While Dr. Rwanamiza’s work is certainly a good sourcebook for the most standard material on the philosophy and theory of didactics, what I find most appealing about it is the manner in which he appeals to established authorities in educational theory, without placing them on the pedestal of infallible idols.

In this way, the book distinguishes itself as an indispensible reference for education students and enthusiasts, while encouraging a critical approach to the study of didactics and serving as a possible launching pad for future developments in the field in question.

I recommend it highly as a worthy introduction to the field of didactics for Undergraduate teacher-trainees, a constant reference for practicing teachers and policy makers in the field of education, and a trusty compendium of the foundational principles of the field for those who would aspire to a more specialised training in the areas of Didactics, Pedagogy and Curriculum studies.