Language Misconceived


Book Description

Linguistics is important. An understanding of linguistic principles is as essential to the layperson as it is to the language scholar. Using concrete examples from politics, law, and education, this book shows how people misconceive language every day and what the consequences of misconceptions can be. Since the meanings of words are often fuzzy at best, this volume argues for a flexible approach to meaning and definitions, and demonstrates how this approach can help us understand many conflicts. It is an alternative way of viewing and doing sociolinguistics. Language Misconceived: Arguing for Applied Cognitive Sociolinguistics is intended primarily for graduate and Ph.D. students of linguistics, especially those interested in applying linguistics to fields like politics, law, and education. It may also be recommended to seasoned linguists as well as researchers in communication, sociology, psychology, and education.







Contexts - Historical, Social, Linguistic


Book Description

These papers are offered by colleagues and students past and present on the occasion of Professor Toril Swan's sixtieth birthday. The scope of the book broadly reflects the interests Toril has pursued throughout her career at the universities of Trondheim, Tromsø and Stavanger. Topics covered by the nineteen papers in this volume range across the fields of onomastics, adverbials, language and gender, diachronic and synchronic syntax, comparative linguistics, metaphor, and discourse.




Heavenly Errors


Book Description

Astronomy is one of the most misunderstood scientific disciplines. With the participation of undergraduate students, Comins has identified and classified, by origin and topic, over 1,700 commonly held misconceptions. 20 illustrations.




Metacognition in Language Learning and Teaching


Book Description

The Open Access version of this book, available at https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781351049139, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license. This volume offers an exhaustive look at the latest research on metacognition in language learning and teaching. While other works have explored certain notions of metacognition in language learning and teaching, this book, divided into theoretical and empirical chapters, looks at metacognition from a variety of perspectives, including metalinguistic and multilingual awareness, and language learning and teaching in L2 and L3 settings, and explores a range of studies from around the world. This allows the volume to highlight a diverse set of methodological approaches, including blogging, screen recording software, automatic translation programs, language corpora, classroom interventions, and interviews, and subsequently, to demonstrate the value of metacognition research and how insights from such findings can contribute to a greater understanding of language learning and language teaching processes more generally. This innovative collection is an essential resource for students and scholars in language teaching pedagogy, and applied linguistics.




Language and Conflict


Book Description

What role does language and communication play in conflict? Why do people engage in or get drawn into quarrels? How can our awareness of the social rules of language use prevent disputes? In this illuminating and accessible guide, Karol Janicki takes the reader on a tour through the field of conflict in language. Using real-life examples, the book examines how language usage influences conflict, and what people can do to avoid or resolve it. Language and Conflict - Ends each chapter with a story that neatly summarizes the key discussion points in a clear, digestible format - Provides useful 'hands-on' tips and further reading recommendations for those who want to explore the subject further. This book is ideal reading for undergraduates studying discourse analysis, language and communication, sociolinguistics, or applied linguistics, and for general readers new to the subject of language and conflict.




Ontologies of English


Book Description

A critical examination of the ways in which English is conceptualised for learning, teaching, and assessment in a range of domains, from both social and cognitive perspectives. Researchers and postgraduates working on English in L1 and L2 educational contexts will find it valuable for research and collaboration.




Global Linguistic Flows


Book Description

This cutting-edge book, located at the intersection of sociolinguistics and Hip Hop Studies, brings together for the first time an international group of researchers who study Hip Hop textually, ethnographically, socially, aesthetically, and linguistically. It is the harvest of dialogue between these two separate yet interconnected areas of study. A missing gap in the Hip Hop literature is the centrality and an in-depth analysis of the very medium that is used to express and perform Hip Hop -- language. Global Linguistic Flows fills this gap.




English Learning Made Easy- Strategies and Approaches


Book Description

Books are always our best companion. The idea of writing or editing a book remains always in our mind. Our students come from semi-urban background and not very fluent in English reading, writing and speaking. English is not just a Second language to them, but it is completely a foreign language to the rural background pupils. So, we research innovative techniques to make them familiar. This continuous research motivates us to edit a book on the topic. We can well see the potential of the book as it is not just about the ‘Teaching’ of English but basically about ‘Learning’ English as such. But of course it will be very helpful for ELT, per se. The book making is a long process and it needs a careful study of area, topics and research methodologies, along with very intensive and extensive genuine research work before we start. The very first thing which struck our mind was to choose the topic which could be beneficial for students and teachers both. Our undergraduate students, who actually lack Basic English speaking, reading and writing standard, gave us many new topics to write. They and their problems motivated us to collect opinions of our fellow colleagues on the wider perspectives of the chosen topic and edit a book on the subject. We have endeavored to cover many areas which need to be given emphasize when we teach or learn English. Our main focus is to give tricks and useful tips to enhance and learn English as a second language.




Language Matters


Book Description

Is Ebonics really a dialect or simply bad English? Do women and men speak differently? Will computers ever really learn human language? Does offensive language harm children? These are only a few of the issues surrounding language that crop up every day. Most of us have very definite opinions on these questions one way or another. Yet as linguists Donna Jo Napoli and Vera Lee-Schoenfeld point out in this short and thoroughly readable volume, many of our most deeply held ideas about the nature of language and its role in our lives are either misconceived or influenced by myths and stereotypes. Language Matters provides a highly informative tour of the world of language, examining these and other vexing and controversial language-related questions. Throughout, Napoli and Lee-Schoenfeld encourage and lead the reader to use common-sense and everyday experience rather than preconceived notions or technical linguistic expertise. Both their questions and their conclusions are surprising, sometimes provocative, and always entertaining. This thoroughly revised second edition updates the book with a new co-author, and includes new chapters on language and power, language extinction, and what it is linguists actually do. Language Matters is sure to engage both general readers and students of language and linguistics at any level.