In this book, writers from a range of academic disciplines examine a wide variety of text and discourse: from everyday conversation to the literary canon.

Using English provides an invaluable introduction to the study of English for students of language and linguistics. It examines the way in which the English language is used today in different contexts and in many parts of the world, by both native and non-native speakers. Issues of language use in speech and writing, in work and play, and in persuading and informing are explored and illustrated with data and readings from around the English-using world. The reader is introduced to the adaptations and variations in English language use and to debates relating to how these are perceived and evaluated by different groups of users. For this second edition, key material from the earlier bestselling book, Using English: From Conversation to Canon, has been reorganized and updated, and entirely new material has been introduced. This new content is based on recent research in the field, as well as on contemporary thinking about how speakers and writers use the English language to accomplish a huge range of purposes in a variety of linguistic and cultural settings. Drawing on The Open University's wide experience of writing accessible and innovative texts, this book: explains basic concepts, easily located through a comprehensive index, includes contributions by experts in the field, such as Mike Baynham, Adrian Beard, Guy Cook, Sharon Goodman, Almut Koester, Janet Maybin and Neil Mercer, contains a range of source material and commissioned readings to supplement chapters.

The story of English is often presented as one of progress: from a set of Germanic dialects to a fully-fledged national and international language. The emphasis in this book is on the diversity of English throughout its history and the changing social meanings of different varieties of English.

Bringing together the varied and multifaceted expertise of teachers and linguists in one accessible volume, this book presents practical tools, grounded in cutting-edge research, for teaching about language and language diversity in the ELA classroom. By demonstrating practical ways teachers can implement research-driven linguistic concepts in their own teaching environment, each chapter offers real-world lessons as well as clear methods for instructing students on the diversity of language. Written for pre-service and in-service teachers, this book includes easy-to-use lesson plans, pedagogical strategies and activities, as well as a wealth of resources carefully designed to optimize student comprehension of language variation.

In the World Library of Educationalists series, international experts themselves compile career-long collections of what they judge to be their finest pieces – extracts from books, key articles, salient research findings, major theoretical and practical contributions – so the world can read them in a single manageable volume. Readers will be able to follow the themes and strands and see how their work contributes to the development of the field. Language and the Joint Creation of Knowledge draws on the most prominent writing of Neil Mercer, covering his ground-breaking and critically acclaimed work on the role of talk in education, and on the relationship between spoken language and cognition. The text explores key themes, relating theoretical ideas to research evidence and to practical educational situations that improve children’s lives. Offering students and researchers a clear, accessible and up-to-date account of a sociocultural perspective on the relationship between spoken language and cognition, it explains one of the key themes in Neil Mercer’s work – that humans have uniquely evolved the capacity to think together, or ‘interthink’. Offering a crucial insight into the work of Neil Mercer, this selection showcases why his approach has become the dominant paradigm in educational research, and why it is increasingly influential in the psychology of teaching and learning. This unique collection of published articles and chapters, which represent the key themes and range of his research over the last 40 years, will be of interest to all followers of his work and any reader interested in the role of language in education.

Issues in English Teaching invites primary and secondary teachers of English to engage in debates about key issues in subject teaching. The issues discussed include: *the increasingly centralised control of the curriculum, assessment, and pedagogy in the school teaching of English in England and Wales as a result of initiatives such as the National Literacy Strategy *new technologies which are transforming pupils' lived experience of literacy or literacies *the accelerating globalisation of English and the independence of other versions of English from English Standard English. A National Curriculum with a nationalist perspective on language, literacy and literature cannot fully accommodate English *what has become 'naturalised' and 'normalised' in English teaching, and the educational and ideological reasons for this *hierarchies that have been created in the curriculum and pedagogy, identifying who and what has been given low status, excluded or marginalised in the development of the current model of English. Issues in English Teaching will stimulate student teachers, NQTs, language and literacy co-ordinators, classroom English teachers and aspiring or practising Heads of English, to reflect on the identity or the subject, the principles and policies which, have determined practice, and those which should influence future practice.