The Application of Linguistics to TESOL: Once More

Abstract

Strong pleas have been made for the application of linguistics to teaching English to speakers of other languages; this paper supports this point of view but with the stipulation that it be a broadly based, flexible approach, not necessarily following one stated theory. Examples are given of insights into English grammar from such diverse points of view as those held by Jespersen, Fillmore, Gleason, and others, none of which seems to be found in ESL textbooks to date. Some of the grammatical items discussed are the common sex pronoun they; sentences such as The potatoes are cooking and Mother is cooking; the negative of modals; the count or non-count usage of nouns; and contrastive points of view with bring-take, lend-borrow, and sell-buy. Many of the items involve some form of situational or contextual ambiguity which can be resolved through the introduction of presupposition into their interpretation. Thus, the conclusion is reached that the pedagogical emphasis on the use of context in teaching ESL is often necessitated by the actual language item itself.