Today we have a guest post by our friend and colleague Alice Llanos Stress and intonation can play a huge role in creating meaning. We all know that the phrase “excuse me” can sound polite, sassy or even downright rude depending on the stress and intonation given to […]
In 2017, Hurricane Harvey dumped a trillion gallons of water on Houston, Texas. Familes were separated, homes were flooded, and people were stranded on rooftops and in attics. Houston was not the only city affected that year. Around the world coastal cities coped with devasting floods, and people […]
What if it turns out we are taking language much too seriously? In Language Play, Language Learning, Guy Cook writes about play as education or training. Play teaches skills and flexibility, he writes, and in human society, it helps people create and maintain socially agreed on rules. Games […]
Last spring, Maissa and Bushra were discussing fall courses, and Bushra casually mentioned that she was not planning to take grammar. “It’s all online.” She said, “I don’t need it.” Bushra has a point. Youtube has made it possible for anyone with a cell phone to post a […]
What if there is not just one way to categorize and describe grammar? What if there are several? What if one grammar exists inside another and that exists inside a third? This view of the way language is organized for communication comes from Complex Systems Theory […]
Being able to speak effortlessly is a great luxury. Expert speakers can assume that their messages and the intentions behind their words are coming across in exactly the way they intend. If they do think about sounds, confident speakers generally focus on the […]
In recent conferences there has been a call for instruction in the “hidden” language of pragmatics, but the field is only just beginning to figure out how to create classroom materials. What if the materials are already out there? What if we could use plays? Most course book […]
