Why do questions about idioms often leave us "tongue-tied" in our classrooms? This book takes a look at learning and teaching idioms from two perspectives. First is a survey of recent work on learning and teaching idioms from diverse perspectives in the linguistics and educational research literature. The survey includes definitions of idioms from theoretical and pedagogical literature, focusing in particular on cognitive, cross-linguistic, and social constructionist research. Second is a summary and critique of idiom textbooks and classroom practices from around the world.

Based on ethnographic and policy data collected over a ten-year span at a university in the People's Republic of China, this book analyses the history of English Language Teaching (ELT) polices in Chinese higher education. The book uses the university as a lens in which to investigate the creative imaginations and divergent (re)appropriations of teaching methods, learning materials, and language use in the Chinese ELT context. Book chapters move beyond mere descriptions of tensions and point to the local understandings and practices of English teachers (both local and foreign) and students. Working together, these teachers and students are constantly articulating new social and political conditions and meanings outside and inside given discourses and traditions of ELT. The book's main argument is that these multiple stakeholders must be given a more prominent role in shaping policy and curriculum at universities and other English language contexts around the world.

This edited book addresses ways in which 'bodies' conceived broadly - get languaged, and ways in which ideas of 'normalcy' and 'normal' bodies are held in place and reproduced. The articles show how it is through this medium that people with ailments or 'unusual' bodies get positioned and slotted in certain ways. The present volume represents a departure from other works in at least two ways. First, it brings in discourses around bodies per se into language-related research, a realm that previous research has not directly engaged. Second, it ushers in discussions about bodies by critically addressing the language by which experiences around bodily breakdowns and ailments occur. Calling attention to a host of discourses - biomedical, societal, poststructuralist - and drawing on a variety of disciplinary perspectives, critical theories, ethnographically gathered materials, and extant data, the chapters pierce the general veil of silence that we have collectively drawn regarding how some of our most intimate body (dis)functions impact our everyday living and sense of "normalcy".

This is a practical guide to planning, conducting and presenting a sociolinguistic research project. Written in an accessible and engaging style, the book begins with a brief review of what sociolinguists study and how they study it, before guiding students step-by-step through the research process. It presents a range of qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis methods, including surveys, interviews and corpora, supported by examples from both published researchers and student projects. Drawing on the experiences of their own students, the authors provide supportive guidance on common areas of difficulty, such as framing questions, selecting participants and interpreting data. The final part shows you how to organise and write up your findings. Chapters are further enriched with hands-on activities and discussion questions. This is an essential companion for budding sociolinguistic researchers with a desire to understand the linguistic landscapes around them and communicate their findings to others.