Job Discussion Forums

[Noor]

I am hoping someone reading this board has a copy of this and will be kind enough to help with a small bit of scanning, or maybe if you've already got an electronic copy, a simple file transfer.

I'm looking for a copy of the chapter on Arabic speakers. I'd buy the book, but at $30.00 the price is a bit steep for only 19 pages.

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Learner English: A Teacher's Guide to Interference and other Problems (Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers)
Swan & Smith, 2001

Google Books: http://books.google.com/books?id=VdAYL5EGqYwC&pg=PP1&dq=A+Teacher%27s+Guide+to+Interference+and+Other+Problems+(Cambridge+Handbooks
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If you know of a better and/or more thorough source on the topic, references would be greatly appreciated.

[veiledsentiments]

Did you try just googling the topic? ...the search here? How about the TESOLArabia website? It isn't an immense topic - 19 pages is about right, and the majority of differences are obvious - like the different alphabet and the fact that it is written in the opposite direction. Many people think comparing the languages is not important... and I know teachers that have taught in the Gulf for 10+ years and haven't caught on to many of the differences. If you get a job with the better employers, there is bound to be a book on their shelves about it.

I actually learned most of the differences by asking the Egyptian teachers and even the students when I was doing my first teaching in Cairo. It is soon obvious when all the students make the same errors... like the p/b problem and the fact that there is no indefinite article in Arabic. The other difference that will cause the most difficulties, if you teach writing, is that the run-on/comma splice error in English is perfectly correct in Arabic. They can write a whole page in Arabic without a full stop. Also, repetition is good in Arabic. It is a real challenge to change them over to the concise prose of English, and to get them to see where they need a full stop.

VS

[Stephen Jones]

Buy it anyway. It's not just the 19 pages that are useful. You'll learn a lot from the other stuff as well.

[Noor]

Thanks, VS and SJ. I have googled a bit on the subject. Just wanted to see what Mr Swan and Smith are presenting. It's not that pressing that I need to shell out $30.00. Maybe I'll find a copy in a library (if no one else responds here).

[Stephen Jones]

Try and get your institution to buy it.

[15yearsinQ8]

swan is a well published academic in the field - 2001? i doubt anything is really 'new' in this chapter - see his other publications on the subject

never get a tefl dept to buy anything - go to your employer's librarian to purchase starightaway