English Language Myths: 30 Beliefs that Aren't Really True

by Adam Brown

The aim of the book is to dispel beliefs about English which are held by English teachers in Singapore, Southeast Asia and beyond. These beliefs are either wide of the mark or stated too strongly. However, they are widely held, and thus are taught in schools and in exercise books, and appear in tests and examinations. The 30 chapters(corresponding to 30 myths examined) cover the nature and status of English, grammar, morphology, pragmatics, typography, spelling and pronunciation. The approach adopted shows that many of the beliefs held by teachers are not substantiated by what speakers of English actually do. Quotations from literature, reference books and from corpus data are given to support the analysis. Features
- The first book to deal with English language myths, especially those widely held by English teachers.
- The author is an authoritative figure in his field, and has many years of experience in training English language teachers in South East Asian countries.
- The discussions that focus on South East Asia and Singapore in particular make this book very relevant to both English language teachers and students in the region.

Paperback

First published September 1, 2002