Archive for the ‘Linguistics book reviews’ Category

Here are the links for stuff I have published here and elsewhere so far this month that you might have missed, in case the heat makes me lose the rest of my energy and I forget at the end of the month:

On Usingenglish.com (theeeeeeey’re back!)

Why does my teacher use games in an adult class?

Why does our teacher make us read difficult authentic texts?

How British is your English? Questionnaire and explaining unknown vocab speaking practice worksheets- one of my favourites!

Elsewhere on TEFLtastic

Korean speakers- common vocabulary mistakes in English

Determiners practice- starting presentations- designed to go with Market Leader, but also suitable for whoever else is unlucky enough to need to tie those two topics together…

Classroom language TEFL workshop notes- with accompanying teacher training worksheets below

Ranking classroom language- teacher training pairwork worksheets

Simplifying classroom language- teacher training worksheets, with tips on using gestures in class to give instructions etc.

Classroom language further reading and links

Teaching likes and dislikes and free time activities teacher training workshop plan

Business English pron worksheets section (the worksheets are old, but the section is new)

Intelligent Business Worksheets and Games section- also useful for other Bus Eng classes

Market Leader worksheets and games- ditto

My stuff elsewhere on TEFL.net

In the Idea Thinktank

15 games for the language of likes and dislikes

15 classroom language games

15 punishments for pre-school English classes

15 Business English games for describing your company and job

15 criteria for good kindergarten worksheets

In TEFL.net Articles

15 good reasons to write TEFL reviews

In TEFL.net reviews

A History of English Language Teaching Second Edition review

And if the heat is keeping you awake instead of making you sleepy, you can have a look at June’s links too (newly updated as I’d forgotten about the reviews):

New articles, worksheets and reviews June 2008

All from the book The First Word, that rare gem- a popular science book about linguistics. It drags a bit at the end, but these are from the interesting middle bit (just after the bitchy beginning bit where she lays into Chomsky- hurrah!)

“it appears that dolphins name themselves. [They] produce a distinct individual sound that develops in their first year of life whenever they meet another dolphin. It’s always the same, and always distinct from any other dolphin’s whistle” pg 118

“dolphin babies also pass through a babbling phase [like human babies before they produce their first word]… baby bats babble as well.” pg 143
 
“elephants in Kenya have been recorded making almost perfect reproductions of the sound of trucks from a road nearby” pg 145
 
“Hoover, a harbor seal at the New England Aquarium… surprised visitors by saying ‘Hey, hey, you, get outta there!” pg 146

“researchers found that humans aren’t the only species with the ability to identify different [human] languages based on their characteristic rhythms” pg 151

“no animal communication system has an equivalent for ‘no’”
 
“vervet monkeys use a fall in pitch to mark the end of an utterance and… other vervets seem to interpret this as a signal to take a turn in vocalizing, like humans do” pg 155

…a dash of realism, a big dollop of the painfully obvious and a side serving of hedging their bets:

“…for teachers, the distilled research finding that positive attitudes and motivation contribute to successful learning yields little useful insight into their day-to-day problems of how to motivate little Samantha in Class 2B and keep her motivated.

Fundamentally, two key principles seem crucial to the maintenance of motivation: first, motivation must emanate from the learner, rather than be externally regulated by the teacher;second, learners must see themselves as agents of the processes that shape their motivation.” 

The first sentence is a breath of the fresh air of realism in the usually bs smelling world of applied linguistics. Not sure what to do with the information in the second sentence, in fact I’m half tempted to say it “yields little useful insight into…”. 

And so the book goes on, telling us that (in my own simplistic words, based on my limited understanding):

-When they move to a foreign country kids are more likely to get a native or near native level than adults (but we don’t know if that tells us anything relevant about students studying a few hours a week in their own country) (Chapter 2- Age and Good Language Learners- Carol Griffiths)

- The students who are more likely to progress quickly, especially at lower levels, tend to be extrovert but the ones in the top classes tend to be people who are introverted but can look at the big picture and take guesses in an intuitive (i.e. not anally retentive) way. But again, we don’t know what that means for classroom practice,e.g. whether we should just use and try to reinforce students’ strengths or whether we should concentrate on developing their weaknesses (Chapter 4- Personality and Good Language Learners- Madeline Ehrman)

-Despite not being able to come up with any statistical evidence, the writer and we all know that the fact that fitting in for boys means not being seen to be studying too hard can be a problem for teachers. Boys also have different motivations and preferred ways of learning to girls (Chapter 5- Gender and Good Language Learners- Martha Nyikos)

- Students who are in higher level classes tend to use more strategies for language learning such as reading newspapers. It can be difficult to determine if they actually do some of these things because they have a high level rather than reach the level because they do these things, and even more difficult to determine if those study skills can and should be forced on students who don’t use them (Chapter 6-Strategies and Good Language Learners- Carol Griffiths again. Is she sleeping with the editor? Oh, she is the editor…)

- Etc

Etc. being a very useful word to hide the fact that I’m making comments about the book when I’ve only read a quarter of it. Oh well, surely that’s what blogs are for- half formed judgements and thinking aloud. The real review will be along in a month or so on TEFL.net reviews. Books I’ve been flicking through that I would highly recommend are:

A History of ELT

The Experience of Language Teaching

And it is quite possible I will end up recommending Lessons from Language Learners in the end as well, now I’ve got that little rant off my chest…

I’ve been reading “English as a Lingua Franca: Attitude and Identity” (hence “the ELF” of the post title) by Jenny Jenkins, and although its a much easier read than that Pseuds Corner book title might make you think, the main reaction so far is “Who cares?”

To summarize 37 pages in 37 words, the concept of English as a Lingua Franca is that as more and more English is used between non-native speakers a new variety or varities of English are being created that are just as valid and important as Glaswegian English or even RP and SAE- and much more relevant than those forms to most students studying English. So far, so fascinating- if we are in the process of the language and teaching changing, you can probably tell from the post below that I’d be happy to have something to shake things up. The important little grammar word here, though, is “if”.

Let’s see what Prof Jen Jen has to say about it: (more…)