Teaching and Learning in early years

This book is an attempt to distil the current state of knowledge about the ways in which young children (up to the age of 7) develop and learn, to show how educational principles derive from this, and to illustrate these principles with practical examples drawn from work in early years classrooms. It is principally directed at early years trainee teachers, but it is also hoped that it contains material which will be of interest to the whole range of teaching and non-teaching professionals and other adults concerned with the education of young children. .

There follows a section on basic principles and approaches, which discusses issues related to the management of the early years learning environment. This is followed by a series of chapters concerned with play and language, the basics of early years education. A further section examines the wider curriculum of the arts, maths, technology and science, the social sciences and physical development. Each chapter examines basic principles and illuminates them with inspiring, practical examples of classroom, outdoor and out-of-school activities.

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Discourse analysis and the study of classroom language and literacy events : a microethnographic perspective

The purpose of this book is to provide a description of an approach to the discourse analysis of classroom language and literacy events. The approach can be described as a social linguistic or social interactional approach. It combines attention to how people use language and other systems of communication in constructing language and literacy events in classrooms with attention to social, cultural, and political processes.

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Dictionary of Language and Linguistics

The present dictionary differs fundamentally from these monumental works. In its scope and format, it fills a gap which, in spite of David Crystal’s Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics (Oxford 19852), has existed up until now: in a handy one-volume format, this dictionary provides a thorough overview of all areas of linguistics. Not restricted to specific theories, it encompasses descriptive and historical, comparative and typological linguistics, as well as the applied subdisciplines. Along with the traditional core areas (phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics), interdisciplinary fields (such as sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics and ethnolinguistics), as well as stylistics, rhetoric and philosophy of language are represented. In addition, the dictionary includes basic terminology from logic, mathematical and computational linguistics as well as applied linguistics; finally, descriptions of individual languages and language families are provided. With this broad range of content and its succinctly written articles, this dictionary is meant for both students and professional scholars in linguistics and allied fields.

This book is the result of over twenty years of development, in which numerous scholars from Germany and other countries were involved. The first German edition appeared in 1983 as the result of this author’s ten-year efforts. Owing to the rapid development of linguistics, a second, completely revised edition became necessary.

Seventeen scholars revised, corrected and extended the texts of the first edition. Their work was based on dozens of peer reviews and, no less importantly, on their own research.

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Computer-mediated Communication for Linguistics and Literacy: Technology and Natural Language Education

Computer-mediated Communication (CMC) is an amazingly multi- and inter-disciplinary subject area that spans fields as diverse as computer science, information technology, communication studies, linguistics, literacy, education, business, ethics, and law. Given this vast subject-matter it would be practically impossible for any single volume to cover all aspects of CMC to any appreciable depth. There is thus the need to focus on one or the other of these component disciplines.

Within this wider, interdisciplinary arena, this book, titled, Computer-mediated Communication for Linguistics and Literacy: Technology and Natural Language Education, occupies an important position. It has a clear focus on the linguistic, literacy and educational aspects of CMC. The book investigates the way humans communicate through the medium of information technology gadgets. Based on extensive research on how we use natural languages like English and Chinese in media such as emails, MSN, and mobile phones, the book outlines new forms and ways of speaking, reading, and writing in an age in which there is a pervasive presence of communication technologies in offices and homes. This interaction between human language and technology has created new forms and uses of language and literacy the study of which has given birth to this exciting new field of Computer mediated Communication (CMC) that we are about to delve into.

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Appraising Research in Second Language Learning

This book is written to guide student and novice researchers through their critical reading of a research paper in the field of second language learning. They will be shown ways of approaching the appraisal of the abstract and the introductory section of the study, both of which set the stage by describing the rationale as well as the objective of the work. Similarly, the reader will be given ideas about how to assess the method and procedures section so that he or she can decide, for example, whether the research design was appropriate, and what precautions were taken to guard against threats of validity to the findings. They will become more familiar with, and confident about, interpreting results from commonly-used descriptive or inferential statistical procedures and checking how appropriately these have been presented. Finally, the reader should be in a position critically to evaluate the researcher’s own interpretation of the findings in terms of the extent to which the conclusion is justified, can be generalized, and has limitations.

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An Introduction to Discourse Analysis: Theory and Method

Discourse analysis considers ho language, both spoken and written, enacts social and cultural perspectives and identities. In this book, James Pual Gee introduces the field and presents his unique integrated approach it.

Assuming no prior knowledge of linguistics, the author presents both a theory of language-in-use and a method of research. Clearly structures and written in a highly accessible style, An Introduction to discourse Analysis incorporates perspectives from a variety of approaches and disciplines, including applied linguistics, education, psychology, anthropology, and communication, to help students and scholars from a range of backgrounds to formulate their own views on discourse and engage in their own discourse analysis.

The second edition has been completely revised and updated and contains substantial new material and examples of oral and written language, ranging from group discussions with children, adults, students, and teachers to conversation, interviews, academic texts, and policy documents.

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