This book offers a comprehensive perspective on metalinguistic knowledge and processes, and presents a coherent argument for building an element of language awareness into the language curriculum at all educational levels. It offers a balanced perspective on first and second language acquisition, classroom talk, language use in the multicultural work place, translation, Esperanto, whole language, historical perspectives, critical pedagogy, the education of language teachers, the teaching of grammar, phonology, and writing.

This book raises the issue of what a teacher needs to know about English in order to teach it effectively. It leads teachers to awareness of the language through a wide range of tasks which involve them in analysing English to discover its underlying system.

Questions About Language sets out to answer, in a readable yet insightful format, a series of vital questions about language, some of which language specialists are regularly asked, and some of which are so surprising that only the specialists think about them. In this handy guide, sixteen language experts answer challenging questions about language, from What makes a language a language? to Do people swear because they don’t know enough words? Illustrating the complexity of human language, and the way in which we use it, the twelve chapters each end with a section on further reading for anyone interested in following up on the topic. Covering core questions about language, this is essential reading for both students new to language and linguistics and the interested general reader.

With examples of conversation, this book is a lively account of social and intellectual import of everyday talk about language.

Knowing About Language is an essential and comprehensive introduction to and discussion of the value of linguistics in the secondary and post 16 curriculum. Split into three easily accessible parts, each chapter draws on theoretical and practical reasons for developing language awareness for the teacher and student, the impact of government and institutional policy on teaching and teacher knowledge, and explores recent research about the value of linguistic knowledge to support student attainment. Expert contributors show how recent innovations in linguistics can support language teaching by providing a range of practical ideas that can be used in the classroom. Knowing About Language is a valuable theoretical, critical and practical guide for the teacher and researcher, and anyone interested in applied linguistics and the study of language in education.Written by authors who are passionate about the value of language study both as a classroom topic and more generally, this book acts as a resource to inform and support teachers in wider aspects of their role by demonstrating the powerfully enabling nature and inherent value of language study and linguistics in secondary and post-16 curricula.

This core textbook exposes students to the key theories, ideas and assumptions which underpin language study. Enlivened by a wealth of debates from across the field, it provides an accessible and engaging introduction to the history of linguistic theory and the variety of theoretical approaches to language study. Balancing theory with application, the first few chapters present an overview of the key issues in language theory, while later chapters focus on the application of language theory and serve as a starting point for readers to investigate various approaches for themselves. Written in response to the needs of teachers of English language undergraduates, this is an ideal volume for all students studying English language, whether as a single subject or as part of a more general degree programme.

In Literature About Language Valerie Shepherd brings together linguistic theory and literary criticism and examines languages as a theme in a range of literary texts. By looking at the work of writers such as Swift, Joyce and Sontag she discusses the power of story-telling and metaphor to shape our thinking and examines the communicative capacities of non-standard English and the strengths of women's writing in a male language world. By turning to the work of writers such as Hardy, Cummings, Lodge and Gordimer, however, she also demonstrates the ways in which language can be constrained by its users and by social and cultural pressures. Written specifically for a student audience, Language About Literature presumes no prior knowledge of linguistic theory and each chapter concludes with a set of practical exercises. An invaluable text for A-level and undergraduate students of language, literature and communication studies.

Rising enrollments of students for whom English is not a first language mean that every teacher – whether teaching kindergarten or high school algebra – is a language teacher. This book explains what teachers need to know about language in order to be more effective in the classroom, and it shows how teacher education might help them gain that knowledge. It focuses especially on features of academic English and gives examples of the many aspects of teaching and learning to which language is key. This second edition reflects the now greatly expanded knowledge base about academic language and classroom discourse, and highlights the pivotal role that language plays in learning and schooling. The volume will be of interest to teachers, teacher educators, professional development specialists, administrators, and all those interested in helping to ensure student success in the classroom and beyond.

First Published in 2001. This book is for teachers and student teachers who are interested in language, in children's understanding of language and in the teacher's role in developing children's knowledge about language. It suggests activities for the primary classroom which help children to look at language, at how it is used and how it works. It contextualises the approaches underpinning these activities so that their intentions and purposes are made clear.

How do meaningless marks and sounds become the meaningful words of a natural language? To what do words having referential significance refer? What is the meaning of the words that do not have referential significance? Can ordinary language really do what it appears to do, or is this an illusion? Dr. Adler maintains that these fundamental questions are not satisfactorily treated in the two main philosophies of language that have dominated twentieth-century thinking on the subject - the syntactical and 'ordinary language' approaches. Drawing upon the tradition of Aristotle, Aquinas, Poinsot, and Husserl, Dr. Adler's own discussion exemplifies the third approach, which he describes as "semantic and lexical." In this now -classic work, the fruit of more than 50 years' concern with the philosophy of language, Dr. Adler advances a powerful theory of meaning and applies it to some outstanding philosophical problems. In unpretentious and uncluttered prose, he provides a limpid introduction to a number of knotty philosophical issues and at the same time issues a challenge to some of the most tenacious doctrines of the modern world.