As such it has the difficult task of mediating between academic expertise and lived experience, attempting to reconcile opposed interests and perspectives. This clearly written introduction provides a concise but comprehensive overview of the most pressing and controversial issues surrounding contemporary language use today, including intercultural communication, political persuasion, new technologies, the growth of English, language in education, and foreign language teaching and learning.

    To make sure you get the most value for money possible I've also included the FREE eBook: "How to Study: 20 Tips to Get the Best Grades". It contains my best best advice on time management, goal setting and how to get the best grades with the least effort. It's advice that also transfers brilliantly well to professionals and the self employed who want to get ahead of the competition.----------HOW TO SPEED READ: FREE EXCERPT BELOW----------TECHNIQUE TWO- SEE MORE, MOVE YOUR EYES LESSAnother barrier to higher reading speeds is, again, learnt as a child. We learn to read by looking at one word at a time. It is perhaps the only way we can learn to read, but it offers a second obstacle by asking our eyes to move their fixation again, and again: which is time consuming.The human vision is much more capable than being asked to merely look at specifically one word at a time. You don’t have to move your eyes onto every word to be able to read a sentence.A quick step to become aware of this is to focus your sight in the middle of a sentence and notice that as you do so, you can in fact read the words around the central word, indeed without moving your sight from the center you may be able to read the whole sentence with your eyes resting at just this one space. If this is difficult, or the sentence is simply too long, mark two points in the sentence, one a third of the way in, and one two thirds of the way in, and use those as points to rest your eyes on while you read each word of the line of text. Using your wider vision, and attempting to see more will further help you to improve the speed at which you read as you minimize time spent moving your eyes.A useful technique is to use the above method and draw two lines down the page you are reading, dissecting it into thirds. Now practice moving your eyes only between these two points and reading all the words without any further eye movement. If you are struggling to take in the all the words in the line, try and relax your eyes, make them feel slightly lazy so that they aren’t focused so narrowly. Let your gaze be weaker, and soon you will be able to see more than you had before.

    And learning these idioms and phrases will not only help you speak English better, it'll help you understand Americans better!Idioms are presented in 25 lively dialogues which tell the entertaining story of an American family, complete with illustrations. The book comes with an audio CD of all of the dialogues. Contains dozens of helpful exercises & six crossword puzzles to reinforce the material, with convenient answer key for self-study. About the AuthorAmy Gillett has taught ESL (English as a Second Language) in both the United States and Europe. She holds a BA degree in literature fromStanford University, an MA from Stanford in Russian & East European Studies, and an MBA from Cornell. She speaks several foreign languages.Her writing has appeared in many national magazines and newspapers, including MAD Magazine, Family Circle, and the San Francisco Chronicle.

    'Unfortunate English' contains humorous and accessible etymology for words with grisly backgrounds.

    Designed specifically for native-English speakers approaching Japanese as a second language, this book presents 142 essential Japanese sentence patterns, first by giving equivalents in English, then following with Japanese translations. Each pattern is accompanied by a concise, easy-to-follow explanation and several Japanese example sentences that demonstrate its usage. In addition, practice sections for each pattern allow the student to test his or her understanding of the material presented.Japanese Sentence Patterns for Effective Communication is organized into twelve chapters according to communicative function, including such tasks as making simple, declarative statements about people and things in the world; making comparisons; talking about events in the past, present and future; expressing desire, conjecture and intention;stating causes or reasons; making requests; asking and giving permission; and using the passive and causative-passive voices. Extensive charts at the back of the book outline the rules for inflecting and conjugating adjectives and verbs-essential to fluent communication.

    Supplementary learning material for the text Genki II Beginner's Japanese, including grammar practices and the Chinese characters (Kanji).

    N. Volosinov's important work, first published in Russian in 1929, had to wait a generation for recognition. This first paperback edition of the English translation will be capital for literary theorists, philosophers, linguists, psychologists, and many others.Volosinov is out to undo the old disciplinary boundaries between linguistics, rhetoric, and poetics in order to construct a new kind of field: semiotics or textual theory. Ladislav Matejka and I. R. Titunik have provided a new preface to discuss Volosinov in relation to the great resurgence of interest in all the writing of the circle of Mikhail Bakhtin.

    But what exactly is it? And how might we gain more of it for ourselves? This entertaining and, yes, eloquent book illuminates the power of language from a linguistic point of view and provides fascinating insights into the way we use words. David Crystal, a world-renowned expert on the history and usage of the English language, probes the intricate workings of eloquence. His lively analysis encompasses everyday situations (wedding speeches, business presentations, storytelling) as well as the oratory of great public gatherings.   Crystal focuses on the here and now of eloquent speaking—from pitch, pace, and prosody to jokes, appropriateness, and how to wield a microphone. He explains what is going on moment by moment and examines each facet of eloquence. He also investigates topics such as the way current technologies help or hinder our verbal powers, the psychological effects of verbal excellence, and why certain places or peoples are thought to be more eloquent than others. In the core analysis of the book, Crystal offers an extended and close dissection of Barack Obama’s electrifying “Yes we can” speech of 2008, in which the president demonstrated full mastery of virtually every element of eloquence—from the simple use of parallelism and an awareness of what not to say, to his brilliant conclusion constructed around two powerful words: dreams and answers.

    What do I set up as aims for my next lesson with this class and what kind of activities will help to achieve those aims? How do I deal with this reading text in class? What amount of out-of-class work can I reasonably expect my learners to do? How do I make best use of a textbook I am not entirely happy with? These are just a few examples of the many questions typically asked by teachers which she addresses in this book.Although insights from research can help, there are no 'right answers' provided. Instead, the aim is to give you a solid foundation of knowledge which you can use to evaluate and apply your own ideas about teaching and learning.The book is organized into four parts.- Part One ('A framework for teaching and learning') looks at insights from research into learners, learning, and language in use and discusses how these have influenced methodology and materials in ELT. Specific topics covered include: the use of communicative tasks in the classroom, the concept of learner strategies and how you can train your students to develop them, the growth of interactive methodology and its consequences in changing the roles of teacher and learner.- Part Two ('Teaching the language system') focuses on vocabulary and grammar, and Part Three ('Developing the language skills') on the traditional four language skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. There is also discussion of how these different areas fit together.- Part Four ('Planning and assessing learning') moves on to wider issues. Chapter 10 on course design refers back to topics covered earlier in the book. Chapter 11 deals with the relationship between teaching and different forms of assessment.There is an Introductory task at the start of each chapter (with supporting guidance notes), as well as a Discussion topics and projects section - which can be used for group discussion - at the end.The book also has a complete glossary, further reading suggestions at the end of each chapter, a bibliography, and a full index.

    Did you know that your answers to just a handful of questions can predict the zip code of where you grew up? Speaking American offers a visual atlas of the American vernacular--who says what, and where they say it--revealing the history of our nation, our regions, and the language that divides and unites us.

    Scheisse! introduces readers to the fine art of cursing and basic slang to spice up their German speech.If you think you have a fairly good command of German, think again. For it's a sure bet that Frau Schultz never taught you those nasty little guttural curses and humiliating invectives so expressive of real low German speech. But relax--here at last is the one book that can introduce you to the very worst beer-hall German. Scheisse! is an indispensable guide to off-color German colloquialisms and profanities--lascivious bedroom slang and boozy insults, jeering scatological put-downs and scurrilous ridicule. This hilarious illustrated cornucopia of creative expletives, guaranteed to vex, taunt, aggravate, and provoke as only overwrought low German can, will help you master the fine art of German verbal abuse--with triumphant one-upmanship.

    Its usage is common in such current political hot spots as the Balkans, Central Asia, and the Near East.Among the highlights of" Teach Yourself Turkish are: An in-depth study of how the language was formedA phonetic approach to the spoken languageThe grammar and rules of written TurkishVocabulary exercises to make learning easier

    Recognized as THE book for teaching academic reading skills, the fifth edition continues to introduce students in the humanities, arts, and social sciences to a basic knowledge of German that they can use independently to begin to read specialized literature in their respective fields.

     Step into the hidden world of death care and explore the challenge of removing the deceased from the often-difficult, regularly awkward, and sometimes downright bizarre circumstances in which they die, the art and science of embalming, and the intrigue of forensic pathology. Sias is a veteran death investigator, former funeral director/embalmer intern, and paramedic with twenty-eight years of emergency response experience.

    This compact volume offers an integrated guide to the major grammatical concepts needed for writing and speaking Swedish.