Linguistics For Language Teachers

This book is an accessible introduction to linguistics specifically tailored for teachers of second language/bilingual education. It guides teachers stepwise through the components of language, focusing on the areas of linguistics that are most pertinent for teaching. Throughout the book there are opportunities to analyze linguistic data and discuss language-related issues in various educational and social contexts. Readers will be able to identify patterns in actual language use to inform their teaching and help learners advance to the next level. A highly readable account of how language works, this book is an ideal text for teacher education courses.

Donald Freeman examines how core ideas and practices in educating second language teachers relate to and differ from teacher education in other content areas. He weaves together research in general and second language teacher education with accounts of experience and practice to examine how background knowledge is defined in language teaching. Throughout, Freeman demonstrates how understanding the processes of teacher learning, knowing, thinking, and reflecting are ‘the same things done differently’ in second language teacher education. Educating Second Language Teachers reconsiders pre- and in-service teacher education, and proposes a detailed, comprehensive design theory for teacher education. “A masterful account of the landscape of second language teacher education and the development of its theoretical assumptions and practices. It offers a unique and original conceptualization of the field and will be an invaluable resource for teachers, teacher educators and researchers.” Jack C. Richards, University of Sydney and University of Auckland Additional online resources are available at www.oup.com/elt/teacher/eslt Donald Freeman is Associate Professor of Education at the University of Michigan. Oxford Applied Linguistics Series Advisers: Anne Burns and Diane Larsen-Freeman

This book provides readers with a range of approaches and tools for thinking deeply about conducting research in their own language classrooms. The book's accessible style and content encourage language teachers to become part of a community focused on inquiry, equipping them with relevant terminology and concepts for their own teaching and research (inquiry, data collection, data analysis, bringing it all together). The reader is exposed to various research methods and examples, accompanied by pros and cons and rationales for each. This enables them to select which research approaches resonate most and are relevant to their own teaching. The book is designed to empower language teachers to engage in ongoing research, thus democratizing who might be considered a researcher. It includes a range of activities and reflections that can be adapted for both pre- and in-service language teachers in diverse language classrooms.

Applied Linguistics and Language Teacher Education is aimed at applied linguists who are interested in understanding more about the learning of novice teachers in their classes. The 21 studies in this volume provide information on the complexity of novice teachers learning and use of knowledge in a variety of applied linguistics classes such as SLA, Syntax, Pragmatics, Sociolinguistics, Phonetics and Phonology, L2 Reading and Writing, Testing, and Content Based Instruction. These studies were conducted in a variety of contexts, from North and South America to Europe, Asia and Australia, and look at the preparation of teachers of English, Spanish and Chinese. The book also includes a state-of-the-art summary of research on knowledge acquisition and use which provides applied linguists with a solid basis for developing their ideas about their students learning and use of the knowledge presented in their classes.

This volume explores the defining element in the work of language teacher educators: language itself. The book is in two parts. The first part holds up to scrutiny concepts of language that underlie much practice in language teacher education yet too frequently remain under-examined. These include language as social institution, language as verbal practice, language as reflexive practice, language as school subject and language as medium of language learning. The chapters in the second part are written by language teacher educators working in a range of institutional contexts and on a variety of types of program including both long and short courses, both pre-service and in-service courses, and teacher education practice focusing variously on metalinguistic awareness for teachers, language improvement, and classroom communication. The unifying factor is that collectively they illuminate how language teacher educators research their practice and reflect on underlying principles.

This text provides an introduction to the field of sociolinguistics for second and foreign language teachers. This book provides an introduction to the field of sociolinguistics for second and foreign language teachers. Chapters cover the basic areas of sociolinguistics, including regional and social variations in dialects, language and gender, World English, and intercultural communication. Each chapter has been specially written for this collection by an individual who has done extensive research on the topic explored. This is the first introductory text to address explicitly the pedagogical implications of current theory and research in sociolinguistics. The book will also be of interest to any teachers with students from linguistically diverse backgrounds.

This book argues that Second language teaching has not been well served by recent approaches to the description of language content. The book explores how Cognitive Linguistics offers teachers a description of language that can translate into practical classroom activities.

An engaging guide to grammar, this book introduces linguistic theory and language acquisition research to language teachers.

'Applied Linguistics for Language Education' covers those areas of applied language study that are most directly relevant to language teaching, testing, and teacher education. It focuses on the fundamental questions raised for research by the practice of language teaching and research. The reader is thus introduced to the current research climate through consideration of germane controversial issues. If any conclusion about applied linguistic research in the last twenty years is possible, it is that we cannot take anything for granted!Steven McDonough opens with examples of language teaching, teaching materials, and learning a foreign language, which teachers and language learners will recognise, drawing out questions from these which are addressed throughout the rest of the text. Arguments and data from research of all kinds are brought to bear on these and other background issues that are raised, for example: the nature and effects of classroom discourse; the challenges and utility of linguistic theory and linguistic descriptions; what knowing a second language means for proficiency and for processing; nature and nurture in second language learning; how people process language in classrooms and beyond; the role of instruction and the roles of teachers; and measuring achievement.Complex issues are laid out in a clear and accessible style, and many examples are used, mainly, but not exclusively, from English and learning English as a second language. However, the principles apply to learning or teaching any language as a second or foreign language, and 'Applied Linguistics for Language Education' is the most concise overview of current linguistics presently available.