Book Description
English at the Workplace, a coursebook prescribed for students of Stream B at the University of Delhi, has been specially prepared to enhance the proficiency of those students who have not yet gained the required competence in using English confidently. It recognizes - and builds upon - the fact that these learners are not children and have some mastery over at least one language and some understanding of how languages function. It utilizes to the maximum the resources that the adult learner (as opposed to the young learner) brings to second language learning. Therefore, the units of this coursebook are not centred around content or themes that merely provide the context for language practice and use. Instead, the units are built around issues that are crucial to the process of language learning: what are the things that a good learner does to maximize learning; how does culture affect the way in which we use languages; how do different languages mark intimacy or show respect. Students think, read, speak and write about these issues and in the process not only sharpen their analytical and cognitive skills but their language proficiency as well. Research has shown that adults learn better by monitoring their speech while young learners profit more from drills and repetition. If the adult learner understands these issues, his mastery over the language becomes that much easier and that much more confident. This coursebook is, in many ways, a basic primer to linguistics. English at the Workplace also recognizes that at least in language learning the teacher does not help his pupil to learn anything by saving them the trouble of trying to do it themselves . This book, too, will work best if the teacher lets learners actually use the language by reading, writing, speaking and listening in pairs and groups within the class. The classroom is a place where genuine and real use of language can and should take place. Moving away from controlled and the
