A must-read for every language teaching professional, Teaching Language: From Grammar to Grammaring explores the regular, predictable elements of language as well as the potential creativity of its underlying system. By combining a wide range of view points with her own personal experiences and studies, Diane Larsen-Freeman challenges the static descriptive ideas of grammar, based on rules, and promotes the more fluid and dynamic notions of reason-driven grammaring, which she defines as "the ability to use grammar structures accurately, meaningfully, and appropriately." The reader is left not with an encyclopedic set of definitions, but rather with a deeper understanding of the organic nature of language and its acquisition, and a honed set of tools with which to approach language in language teaching.
Diane Larsen-Freeman
Diane Larsen-Freeman is Professor of Education, Professor of Linguistics, and Director of the English Language Institute at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She is also a Distinguished Senior Faculty Fellow at the School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont. Dr. Larsen-Freeman has been a conference speaker in over 50 countries of the world and has published over 100 articles in her areas of interest. Her Thomson/Heinle books include The Grammar Book: An ESL/EFL Teacher\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Course (1999; co-authored with Marianne Celce-Murcia), From Grammar to Grammaring (2003) and the fourth edition of Grammar Dimensions: Form, Meaning, and Use (forthcoming, Series Director). From 1980-1985, Dr. Larsen-Freeman was Editor of the journal Language Learning. In 1997, Dr. Larsen-Freeman was inducted into the Vermont Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1999, she was selected by ESL Magazine as one of "the ESL pioneers". In 2000, she received the lifetime achievement award from Heinle & Heinle Publishers.