Linguistics for Language Teachers Lessons for Classroom Practice

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.

Table of Contents

List of tables

List of figures

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1: The Components of Language

1. Introduction
2. Linguistics and Language Teachers

1.3 The Layers

1.4 Linguistic competence

1.5 Myths and Truths About Human Language

1.6 Descriptive Linguistics

1.7 How to use this book

Chapter 2: Phonetics: The Sounds of Language

2.1 Introduction

2.2 Why do we need a phonetic alphabet?

2.3 Articulatory phonetics: How sounds are produced

2.4 Consonants

2.4.1 Places of Articulation

2.4.2 Manners of Articulation

2.5 Consonants in other languages

2.6 Vowels

2.6.1 Diphthongs

2.6.2 Phonics vs. Phonetics – What’s the difference?

2.7 Vowels in other languages

2.8 Suprasegmentals

2.8.1 Length

2.8.2 Stress

2.8.3 Pitch

2.9 Syllable-timed vs. Stress-timed languages

2.10 The importance of the [ə] in improving pronunciation in English

Recommended Websites

Further Reading

Exercises

References

Chapter 3: Phonology: The patterning of sounds

3.1 Introduction

3.2 What does it mean when we say we know a word?

3.3 Phonemes and Allophones

3.4 Natural Classes

3.4.1 Canadian Raising

3.4.2 Vowel Length in English

3.5 Phonological Processes

3.6 Syllables

3.7 How to help students improve their pronunciation in a second language

Further Reading

Exercises

References

Chapter 4: Morphology: The analysis of words

4.1 Introduction

4.1 Morphemes

4.2 Classifying Morphemes

4.3 Allomorphs

4.4 Inflection

4.5 Other Morphological Processes

4.6 Teaching Principles of Word Formation to Students

Recommended Websites

Further Readings

Exercises

References

Chapter 5: Syntax: The Analysis of Sentences

1. Introduction

5.2 Constituency

5.3 Parts of speech

5.4 Phrase structure

5.5 Drawing Tree Diagrams

5.6 Clauses

5.7 Movement

5.8 Application to Teaching and Learning

Further Reading

Exercises

References

Chapter 6: Semantics and Pragmatics: The Study of Meanings

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Lexical Semantics

6.2.1 Sense and Reference

6.2.2 Word Relations

6.2.3 Homophony and Polysemy

6.3 Phrasal Semantics

6.4 Pragmatics

6.4.1 Context

6.4.2 Culture

6.4.3 Attitude and Perspective

6.4.4 Having Effective Conversation: Grice’s Maxims

6.4.5 Speech Acts

Exercises

References

Chapter 7: Language in Society

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Dialect

7.3 Language variation

7.3.1 Geography

7.3.2 Social Class

7.3.3 Gender

7.3.4 Age

7.4 Language and Identity

7.5 Language and Discrimination

7.6 Nonstandard Dialects

7.6.1 African American English

7.6.2 Chicano English

7.7 Incorporating Sociolinguistics in the Language Classroom

Further Reading

Exercises

References

Chapter 8: Languages in Contact

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Contact Situations

8.3 Borrowing

8.3.1 Lexical Borrowing

8.3.2 Structural Borrowing

8.4 Pidgins

8.5 Creoles

8.6 World Englishes

Exercises

References

Chapter 9: History of English

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Prehistory (to c. 450)

9.3 Old English (c. 450 – c. 1150)

9.4 Middle English (c. 1150 – c. 1450)

9.5 Modern English (c. 1450 – present)

9.6 The Great Vowel Shift

9.7 Northern Cities Chain Shift

Exercises

References

Chapter 10: Bilingualism and language policy

10.1 Introduction

10.2 Prevalence of Bilingualism in the World

10.3 Misconceptions about Bilingualism

10.4 Bilingual Education Programs

10.5 Helping Students Become Bilingual

Further Reading

Exercises

References

Chapter 11: Writing systems

11.1 Introduction

11.2 Written Versus Spoken Language

11.3 Writing Systems

11.3.1 Logographic Systems

11.3.2 Phonographic Systems

11.4 Learning to Read and Write

References

Exercises

Glossary

Index

Sunny K. Park-Johnson is an assistant professor in the College of Education at DePaul University. She received her Ph.D. in linguistics from Purdue University. Park-Johnson directs the Bilingual-Bicultural Education Minor and co-directs the Bilingual Language Development Lab. Her research interests include bilingual and heritage language development and maintenance, morphosyntax, and the intersection of theoretical linguistics, applied linguistics, and education.

Sarah J. Shin is Associate Provost for Academic Affairs at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, where she is also a professor of education. She received her Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of Michigan and specializes in bilingualism, heritage language education, and TESOL teacher preparation. Shin is the author of Bilingualism in schools and society (Routledge, 2018), English language teaching as a second career (Multilingual Matters, 2017), and Developing in two languages (Multilingual Matters, 2005).