Have you ever studied linguistics and been confused or even lost in the world of phonology and phonetics? Ever wished you had a simple resource for either you or your students to use that actually made sense? Then ‘English Phonetics and Phonology. A Practical Guide (4th edition)’ by Peter Roach is for you. It is not only a textbook but a full basic course in the field of phonetics and phonology, suitable for either individual study or a class.
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Reviews
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TEFL ReviewsReviews of books (and occasionally other resources such as software and games) of special interest to English teachers, edited by Alex Case. New reviews are added regularly. If you would like to review books for TEFL.net, please read this. Reviewed Feb 2010 by Lara Promnitz-Hayashi | Filed under Pronunciation | Leave a Comment »
Reviewed Feb 2010 by Carmela Chateau | Filed under Linguistics | Leave a Comment »
As this book was first published in 1976, with subsequent editions in 1983, 1989, 1998 and finally a fifth edition in 2008, it would appear that many people are interested in learning more about psychololinguistics, and that the subject requires regular updating. Jean Aitchison is an accomplished writer, well able to simplify complex topics without too much dumbing down, and the first chapters make an entertaining and illuminating read. No prior knowledge of the subject is necessary, and most language teachers will be fascinated by the insights provided into the whys and hows of language in the brain. Reviewed Jan 2010 by William Peters, Ph.D. | Filed under Skills: Writing | Leave a Comment »
 Writing to Communicate Designed for intermediate level students, these books are plainly written with a lot of sound and timeless good sense about clear writing. Engaging and illustrated with scores of telling examples, these plainspoken how-to books identify those qualities that most typically distinguish good writing from bad and provide practical measures for avoiding common pitfalls. Some key tips given in the books are: do’s and don’ts for achieving concision, clarity, and flow; pointers on using punctuation; writing gracefully; citing sources; and structuring essay writing. There are tons of lessons and assignments here that you can use in class from the day you get the book as the lessons are very straightforward and easy to use. Each writing strand has its own chapter divided into a set of lessons that help you teach any of the major writing genres, including persuasive essays, literary essay Reviewed Jan 2010 by Glenda Inverarity | Filed under Vocabulary | Leave a Comment »
 Rules, Patterns and Words This book takes the idea of the nowadays well-known ideas of collocations and “chunking” several steps further towards developing a theory of explaining how lexis determines grammatical patterning, and offers many examples to illustrate how and when this happens. More precisely, this book shows how lexical phrases, frames and patterns give the reader links between grammar and vocabulary, and suggests that by studying this the learners will be empowered with added meaning-making ability. As such, it does a good job of placing this link between grammar and vocabulary at the centre of language learning pedagogy. Furthermore, the book made me aware that recognizing these patterns is a crucial skill that all teachers should have and learning teachers must develop. Reviewed Jan 2010 by Tom Alder | Filed under Skills: Listening | Leave a Comment »
 Listening in the Language Classroom Listening in the Language Classroom is, as the title suggests, a book with a very specific focus. The author considers ‘listening’ as a neglected area in language teaching, and a skill sufficiently independent of others to warrant special consideration. He also rejects the idea that listening abilities develop naturally through repeated exposure to language and believes that listening classes involving CDs and accompanying comprehension questions do little more than test listening, rather than teach listening. Listening is seen, first and foremost, as a process- and a complex one at that, involving factors that native speakers take for granted and therefore neglect when trying to teach it. The back cover tells us that ‘the book proposes a radical alternative to the comprehension approach’. This might suggest that Field recommends burning books and Reviewed Jan 2010 by Paula Swenson | Filed under ESP Materials | Leave a Comment »
 Introduction to International Legal English Introduction to International Legal English is targeted toward intermediate-level learners who are either studying or currently practicing law. It focuses on commercial law vocabulary, since this is the most widely used in the International Legal Community. While this text and CDs are not a preparation for the ILEC exams, they should provide a good lead in for those headed that direction, as Krois-Lindner and TransLegal are also responsible for the exam prep text, International Legal English. Each of the book’s 10 units focuses on a different area of commercial law and the book provides 3 actual Reviewed Jan 2010 by Alex Case | Filed under Teaching | 1 Comment »
Reviewed Jan 2010 by Carmela Chateau | Filed under Linguistics | Leave a Comment »
Louw suggested in 1993 that semantic prosody can be reversed- either intentionally, to create irony, or unintentionally, thus revealing insincerity. It may also perhaps reveal non-native language competence, as when a student’s supervisor was thanked for “his persistent help and advice”, (as quoted by Hunston in 2007). Semantic prosody may therefore be a useful area of study for the language teacher, and concordance analysis can serve as a valid proxy for native-speaker experience. Reviewed Dec 2009 by Richard Brown | Filed under Teaching | Leave a Comment »
Teacher Training Through Video is a classic remake. While this 2 DVD series was originally recorded on good old fashioned VHS in the early 1990s, the teaching techniques and principles it demonstrates are absolutely timeless. Once you accept that fashion has moved on somewhat, you are left with an impressive range and depth of material for teachers, trainers and trainees at all levels of experience to tap into. The DVDs are broken down into 12 sections, each featuring key teaching approaches and techniques. They are Lesson Planning, Total Physical Response, Early Production, Language Experience, Beginning Literacy, Dialogue/Drilling, Information Gap, Focused Listening, Role Play, Problem Solving, Life Reviewed Dec 2009 by James Taylor | Filed under Teaching | Leave a Comment »
 Advanced Learners Advanced Learners by Alan Maley is part of the Oxford University Press series Resource Books For Teachers. It is designed to give teachers ideas on how they can enable advanced learners to move to the next level of proficiency. As the author points out, this is an area rarely dealt with in ELT material, and as such occupies a spot in an underappreciated, undervalued and yet important element of the student ability spectrum. The book consists of nine chapters, each concentrating on a particular area of study, such as grammar, the tools of the trade (dictionaries, thesauruses etc) and the four skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking). Maley’s best work is in the |
Since the phenomenon was first described by John Sinclair in 1987 and given its name by Sinclair and Louw, semantic prosody has been much debated by corpus linguists, with various interpretations being put forward. The first example to be described was “set in”. John Sinclair remarked that “The most striking feature of this phrasal verb is the nature of its subjects. In general, they refer to unpleasant states of affairs.” This book by Dominic Stewart sets out to provide a critical evaluation of this phenomenon (only in a hardback edition1, so it is probably intended mainly for the library market or as a university textbook).