A compact, user-friendly book authored by David Crystal which draws on his extensive experience and knowledge of the English language. David Crystal regularly receives questions about usage from all over the English-teaching world. In this book he gives his answers to fifty of the topics that are often raised, ranging from general enquiries about the language as a whole to very specific points of grammar, pronunciation, orthography, vocabulary, idiom, and style.

Written in a detailed and fascinating manner, this book is ideal for general readers interested in the English language.

Words, Words, Words is all about the wonder of words. Drawing on a lifetime's experience, David Crystal explores language in all its rich varieties through words: the very building blocks of our communication. Language has no life of its own: it only exists in the mouths and ears, hands, eyes and brains of its users. As we are guided expertly and passionately through the mysteries and delights of word origins, histories, spellings, regional and social variations, taboo words, jargon, and wordplay, the contribution we all play in shaping the linguistic world around us becomes evident. Words, Words, Words is a celebration of what we say and how we say it. It invites us to engage linguistically with who we are: to understand what words tell us about where we come from and what we do. And as they continually shape our lives, it suggests ways that we can look at words anew and get involved with collecting and coining words ourselves.

A compact, user-friendly book authored by Nicky Hockly which draws on her extensive experience and knowledge of using learning technologies in the teaching of languages. It addresses many of the challenges faced by language teachers who are increasingly being required to use learning technologies with little or no support or training.

Publisher description

A compact, user-friendly reference book, investigating current trends in ELT. Trends are wide-ranging and include topics such as: plurilingualism, wellbeing, digital literacies, metacognition, flipped learning, gamification, mediation, and critical thinking, amongst others. The book considers how and why each trend has become important in ELT; explores how the trends are reflected in current practices; and evaluates the trends, looking at their relevance to different ELT contexts and their grounding in research.