Learning from Diane: Her Achievements and Profound Influence on Researchers and Language Teachers in China

Abstract

Professor Diane Larsen-Freeman has been an enduring and highly influential contributor to the field of applied linguistics, English language teaching, in general, and especially grammar teaching. She has inspired many thousands of language teachers, student-teachers and academicians in applied linguistics. Her research in Second Language Acquisition and her later research interest in introducing complex systems to the field of applied linguistics has had a great impact on research in applied linguistics. The book she co-authored with Cameron put a completely different perspective on language and language studies. Her book on teaching approaches also attracted thousands of readers who specialize in language teaching. The video made on different teaching methods covered in the book is also a good demonstration helping learners identify the features of different methods. What’s more, her coinage of the word “grammaring” and the concept of form-meaning-use she advocated in the book series Grammar Dimensions has shed light on people’s understanding of grammar and grammar teaching, thus transforming the way of teaching grammar. Her numerous publications of influential books and papers have great impact on researchers and language teachers in China.