What to expect from this chapter

This chapter covers essential linguistic concepts and their applications in language teaching. This course is designed to provide pre-service and in-service teachers with the knowledge and skills they need to become successful language teaching professionals. We will cover a wide range of linguistic concepts, from phonetics and phonology to syntax, semantics, and discourse analysis.

In this course, we will explore the sounds of language, including the various places and manners of articulation, and how they are used to create words and sentences. We will also study the sound patterns of language, such as phonemes, minimal pairs and sets, phonotactics, co-articulation effects, and word-formation processes like compounding, blending, and derivation. In addition, we will delve into morphology, which involves the study of morphemes, their types, and their functions in creating meaning in language. We will also examine grammar and syntax, including generative grammar, syntactic structures, deep and surface structure, structural ambiguity, and transformational rules.

Furthermore, we will look at semantics, which is concerned with the meaning of words and how they are combined to create meaningful sentences. We will explore the different types of lexical relations, such as synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy, prototypes, and collocation. We will also examine discourse analysis, which involves the interpretation of language beyond the sentence level and the study of how language is used to convey meaning in different contexts.

Finally, we will discuss second language acquisition (SLA) and how linguistic concepts are applied in language teaching. We will cover essential topics such as acquisition barriers, affective factors, transfer, and interlanguage.By the end of this chapter, you will have a deep understanding of linguistic concepts and their applications in language teaching. You will be able to use this knowledge to create effective language learning materials and deliver engaging language lessons to your students.