Job Discussion Forums

jpvanderwerf2001 · Joined: 02 Oct 2003 Posts: 1117 Location: New York

For those of you who have taken (or are taking) an MA in Applied Linguistics: What books would you recommend one reads in preparation for embarking on that journey? Were there any books that you wished you'd read before starting? Any other tips you'd give in that regard?
I'm not anticipating starting my MA (online) before next fall/winter, but I'd like to go in well-prepared.
Input greatly appreciated.

ibasiram · Joined: 24 Mar 2003 Posts: 107

Does the university not have a recommended reading list on its website or something?
If not, then how about books like "The English Verb" "Language Teaching Matrix" (Richards) "The Lexical Approach" (Lewis) "Task Based Learning"..thhose books are sure to give you some help until you can get your hands on a recommended reading list

i'm sure people here have other ideas.

By the way, if you're doing it by distance, is it easy to get your hands on TEFL books there in Vladivistok?

jpvanderwerf2001 · Joined: 02 Oct 2003 Posts: 1117 Location: New York

That's one reason why I want to get planning early: Getting books here is no easy chore. You can now order from amazon.com, but you have to be careful--if you order anything that costs over 5000 rubles you face a huge import tax (something like 4500 rubles!!). Therefore, if you need many books you have to order them all in roughly $125 increments. How convenient Wink

The bureaucracy here never ceases to amaze.

thelmadatter · Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 9:37 pm Post subject: journals

Most reading for masters programs are based on journal articles rather than textbooks as they are more up-to-date

Try this page with links to various journals. Dont be overwhelmed, just browse then read articles that seem interesting. For a number of the sites, only the older articles are available free but they are still good for general reading.

http://virtuallanguagelaboratory.wikispaces.com/TeacherPublications

This site is my wiki. Feel free to join and add any sites I dont have yet!

Justin Trullinger · Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 11:35 pm Post subject:

Thanks Thelma. (From distance grad students the world over.) Nice wiki.

Best,
Justin

PS- depending on your areas of focus and previous experience, I'd recommend "From Input to Output," by Bill Van Patten, "About Language," by Scott Thornbury, and "From Grammar to Grammar" by Diane Larsen Freeman.

thelmadatter · Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 12:44 am Post subject: wiki

Still needs work... all recommendations welcome... joining even better!

steki47 · Joined: 20 Apr 2008 Posts: 1029 Location: BFE Inaka

Great thread! I am shopping for EFL books at the moment. I have two questions.
1. Any recommendations on linguistic dictionaries? I am debating between Longman's and Oxford's.
2. What basic/intro applied linguistics books do you like? I am looking at the Oxford one recently. It is a weighty ( and pricey) tome, but does seem to cover most of the bases.
Thanks!

fluffyhamster · Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2009 9:46 pm Post subject:

Steki, by the Longman and Oxford linguistics dictionaries, do you mean the Richards et al (eds) one of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, and the Matthews' Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics? If so, they aren't bad, but the former is only okay as far as it goes (i.e. is generally pretty basic and unexciting, and seems to have suffered a bit in the editing - proofreading, typography etc - in the Third edition), whilst Matthews has never been the easiest of writers (so you may find some of his entries a little too concise).

A few recommendations (the books within each group are arranged in a roughly decreasing order of complexity):

D. Crystal, A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics (6th edition due out soon?) - more expensive than the Matthews, but at least it's not too concise
M.Aronoff & J.Rees-Miller (eds), The Handbook of Linguistics

B.Aarts & A.M.S.McMahon, The Handbook of English Linguistics
S.Chalker & E.Weiner, The Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar
T.McArthur (ed), The Oxford Companion to the English Language
M.Pearce, The Routledge Dictionary of English Language Studies

A.Davies & C.Elder (eds), The Handbook of Applied Linguistics
K & H.Johnson (eds), The Encyclopedic Dictionary of Applied Linguistics

Edit: I guess by the weighty and pricey OUP AL tome, you mean the OUP US one edited by Kaplan: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=i4dnIPvGx6cC&printsec=frontcover . That looks a good book, but the Blackwell Handbook of AL seems better organized and is probably cheaper. Less authoratitive but breezier than either Handbook is the Introduction to AL edited by Norbert Schmitt; and if you're content to start off more with a light survey of AL that is definitely primarily language teaching-focussed, then the Cambridge Guide to TESOL isn't bad either.
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=-MRQIQAACAAJ (unfortunately not previewable)
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=NHxOXpII6ssC&printsec=frontcover

Blackwell actually do a whole range of Handbooks, including one on SLA (the Google Book link actually opens out on page with a list of their Handbooks):
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=tH5-z_zgtQUC&pg=PR2&dq=blackwell+handbook+second+language+acquisition

An old link that might still be of some interest:
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=32133

steki47 · Joined: 20 Apr 2008 Posts: 1029 Location: BFE Inaka

Fluffyhamster, many thanks for the extensive list and clarifications. Much appreciated. I am surfing through Amazon and ebay to find a couple of good reference guides. Some of those texts are a bit pricey, so I will do some bargain hunting.
Incidentally, I found some writing on Japanese linguistics while searching for books from your list. May pick that up, too.
Thanks again!