Functional English Grammar: An Introduction for Second Language Teachers

Cambridge Language Education

by Graham Lock

This text explores ways in which English grammar enables speakers and writers to represent the world, to interact with one another, and to create coherent messages. The hardback edition provides second language teachers with a functional description of English grammar, in which grammar is viewed not as a set of rules but as a communicative resource. It explores ways in which English grammar enables speakers and writers to represent their experience of the world, to interact with one another, and to create coherent messages. Each chapter includes a focus on areas of difficulty for second language learners, numerous authentic examples, tasks that allow the reader to apply the concepts introduced, and discussion questions. A final chapter covers issues in the learning and teaching of grammar, and reviews methodological options for the second or foreign language classroom. Assuming no previous study of linguistics or English grammar, Functional English Grammar is suitable for self-study or as a textbook in teacher education programs.

Genres: Teaching

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Hayden · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is both excellent and terrible. It has some incredible concepts in here that helped me understand English in a much more theoretical and intellectual level. I was able to learn a lot about how and why certain rules are in place and how certain rules build off of other rules.

That being said, oftentimes the most important concepts in the book are presented, defined, and exemplified in less than five sentences. I seriously struggled in comprehending a significant portion of the concepts we were learning in class because the book does a very poor job in defining them. Many times, it will introduce a new topic in one or two sentences, often without any examples, and then give you practice problems to work. If there are examples, they are frequently so different from the practice problems or real life problems that it is difficult to extrapolate any connection whatsoever. It brings to mind the meme of someone in math class. In class: 2x5=10. On the test: A train traveling vertically at 350 knots collides with a pack of hippos traveling horizontally at 61,436 hectometer per microseconds. If the train continues on its current path, how long will it take a woman in La Paz to bake a cake using only the collective breath heat from her church friends. It is absurd.

I enjoyed the concepts and learning more about the rules of English, but please, please, do not make a student read this book. This was the hardest graduate class book I've ever had to read.

[Ann Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Boy, how little I really know about grammar and how it functions. This text is thorough and, with careful work, practical...though I do not know how often I will be referring to nonergative or ditransitive verbs in everyday conversation.