This paper explores the applications of pattern grammar and local grammar in English language teaching, focusing specifically on the design of teaching materials. It shows that grammar patterns can be systematically analysed from a local grammar perspective, and further argues that the practice of local grammar analyses helps to raise language…

Many studies have found EFL/ESL learners over/under/misuse linking adverbials. Because their use is specific to genre and register (Biber et al., 1999), and news writing is a compulsory course for EFL journalism majors at many Chinese universities, this study investigates their usage patterns in news and suggests teaching material design for the…

Idioms, because of their cultural and figurative aspects, cannot be readily comprehended and used appropriately; hence, they need to be taught explicitly by means of instructional materials in language classrooms. Knowledge of idioms constitutes an important component of learners' communicative competence (Bachman, 1990) since idioms as part of…

Because of the language changes that have taken place in the People's Republic of China since 1949, Chinese can be seen as a language divided between the pre-1949 varieties and the post-1949 ones. What is taught in the United States does not reflect the current Chinese situation, partly because most of the native language teachers in the United…

This paper attempts to provide guidelines for writers who are preparing new materials as well as to offer suggestions to language teachers who must use prescribed texts. The basic assumption is that scientific grammars only describe the production of language by native speakers, while pedagogical grammars are sets of rules ordered in such a way as…

A project used a concordancing program with a corpus of academic texts to introduce students unfamiliar with the language of academic discourse to some important, frequent, and significant items in English academic vocabulary. It has developed materials for classroom and independent use intended for native speakers as well as learners of English…

Three projects were designed to develop and evaluate materials for use with aphasic children (perceptually handicapped with language problems). The first project presented stimulus pairs in varying modality conditions. Results suggested that, although the aphasic children were not capable of improving their auditory discrimination performance,…

Second language learning today requires new materials. One type of learning unit suggested would have a simple format, limited scope and objectives, and diversity of content, form, learning strategies and activities. In spite of the problems involved in the production of this format, such units might be worked out in teacher-training programs, by…

This guide is designed to provide teachers of English for academic purposes (EAP) with background information and tools to design and conduct courses for students who are either native speakers or non-native speakers of English. Chapter topics include: definition and scope of EAP and related study skills; assessment of student needs, by case study…