On the subject of English : the linguistics of language use and learning / Henry Widdowson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Widdowson, Henry, Author.

Series:

Trends in linguistics. Studies and monographs ; Volume 330.

Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs [TiLSM] ; 330

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English philology.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 272 pages).

Place of Publication:

Berlin ; Boston : De Gruyter Mouton, 2020.

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

The globalized use of language calls into question conventional ways of thinking in linguistics,applied linguistics and language pedagogy.This book critically examines this thinking from an historical, at times satirical, perspective and proposes an alternative conceptualization.The first section defines a number of key concepts about communication which are taken up in subsequent sections and shown to be relevant to the different but related areas of language study. Issues about the relationship between linguistics and applied linguistics set the scene for a discussion of the nature of discourse, and then how this bears on the understanding of the globalised use of English as a lingua franca.The final section considers the implications of this perspective on communication for how the subject of English language teaching might be redefined.The book is relevant for anyone who sees the need for a critical consideration of established concepts in linguistics and language pedagogy.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Acknowledgements

Contents

Introduction: Only connect!

Section 1: Theoretical bearings

Preamble

Section 2: Linguistics and applied linguistics

1. Contextual meaning and the legacy of J. R. Firth

2. Linguistic creativity and Jakobson's poetic function

3. Applied linguistics, interdisciplinarity and disparate realities

4. On the applicability of empirical findings

Section 3: The analysis and interpretation of language use

5. The pretext of interpretation

6. Interpersonal positioning and genre conventions

7. "So the meaning escapes". On literature and the representation of linguistic realities

8. Critical practices: On representation and the interpretation of text

9. The novel features of text. Corpus analysis and stylistics

10. The unrecoverable context

11. Macbeth and the third murderer. An exercise in forensic stylistics

Section 4: English as a lingua franca

12. ELF and the inconvenience of established concepts

13. ELF and the pragmatics of language variation

14. ELF, adaptive variability and virtual language

15. The cultural and creative use of English as a lingua franca

16. Creative incompetence

Section 5: Linguistics in language learning and teaching

17. The role of translation in language learning and teaching

18. Bilingual competence and lingual capability

19. Competence and capability: rethinking the subject English

20. Reversions

References

Name Index

Subject Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 29. Feb 2020)

Current Copyright Fee: GBP17.50 0.

ISBN:

9783110619669

3110619660

9783110617108

3110617102

OCLC:

1129217417