Introduction

This unit is designed to get you started, and invites you to consider some key issues related to the teaching of language – language being the operative word here – since the focus of this book is less on methodology than on the nature of language itself. Nevertheless, since it is written for language teachers, questions of methodology will inevitably enter into the discussion.

Tasks

1 Opinions about language learning and teaching

Consider these statements. To what extent and in what respects do you agree/disagree?

• a Learning a language is first and foremost a question of learning its grammar.

• b It is the language teacher’s responsibility to know as much as possible about the language itself.

• c Grammar is best learned deductively – that is, by studying rules and then applying the rules to examples.

• d Grammatical terminology is best avoided in the classroom.

• e Giving learners complete rules, even if these are more complicated, is better than giving them half-rules.

• f Language should always be studied in its typical contexts of use, rather than in isolation.

• g English doesn’t have very much grammar, compared to some languages.

• h The most important part of grammar is the verb system.

• i There is a standard grammar of English that is shared by all its varieties.

2 Read this text and answer the questions:

Text type

• a What kind of text is this? What features of the layout tell you this?

• b What is the overall purpose (or function) of the text – is it, for example, to advertise, to inform, to complain, to criticise?

• c Identify any stylistic features that are typical of this kind of text, for example, the use of the present tense in the title.

Text organisation

Put these facts in chronological order:

• a The shopkeeper slammed the gunman’s fingers in the till and threw a bottle at him.

• b The shopkeeper chased the gunman out of the shop.

• c The gunman was chased out of the shop by a customer.

• d The gunman was arrested.

• e Police searched the gunman’s home.

• f The gunman is starting a prison sentence.

Why has the above order been chosen for the text, rather than the chronological one?