Includes index

Introduction; 1. Usage and Use; 1.1 Correctness and appropriacy; 1.2 Usage and use as aspects of performance; 1.3 Usage and use in classroom presentation; 1.4 Aspects of meaning: signification and value; 1.5 Usage and use in the design of language teaching materials; 1.6 Selecting areas of use for teaching language; 1.7 Summary and conclusion; Notes and references; 2. Discourse; 2.1 Sentence, proposition and illocutionary act; 2.2 Cohesion and propositional development; 2.3 Coherence and illocutionary development; 2.4 The relationship between propositional and illocutionary development; 2.5 Procedures of interpretation; 2.6 Deriving discourse from sentences: an example; 2.6.1 Propositional development: achieving cohesion; 2.6.2 Illocutionary development: achieving coherence; 2.7 Conventions of coherence; 2.8 Deriving discourse by arrangement: another example; 2.9 Summary and conclusion; Notes and references; 3. Linguistic skills and communicative abilities; 3.1 The four skills; 3.2 Activities associated with spoken language; 3.3 Activities associated with written language; 3.4 Reciprocal and non-reciprocal activities; 3.5 Linguistic skills and communicative abilities; 3.6 Retrospective and prospective interpretation; 3.7 Assimilation and discrimination; 3.8 Non-verbal communication; 3.9 Summary and conclusion; Notes and references; 4. Comprehending and reading; 4.1 Preview; 4.2 The reading passage as dependent exemplification; 4.3 The reading passage as independent 'comprehension piece'; 4.3.1 Extracts: the problem of authenticity; 4.3.2 Extracts: the comprehending problem; 4.3.2.1 Priming glossaries; 4.3.2.2 Prompting glossaries; 4.3.3 Simplified versions; 4.3.4 Simple accounts; 4.4 Gradual approximation; 4.5 Comprehension questions: forms and functions; 4.5.1 Types of question by reference to form; 4.5.2 Types of question by reference to function; 4.5.2.1 Usage reference; 4.5.2.2 Use inference; 4.6 Other reading exerc

This book develops a rational approach to the teaching of language as communication, based on a careful consideration of the nature of language and of the language user's activities. It will stimulate all language teachers to investigate the ideas that inform their own practice.