Creating Contexts for Language Practice

Discourse Analysis in Second Language Research. Larsen-Freeman Diane, ed. Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House Publications, Inc., 1979–1980. Pp. 283.

“…Over the last seven years, Celce-Murcia has been developing contextual analysis as a means of investigating linguistic structures and forms in a large speech corpus. The analysis is appropriately called "contextual", with reference to Hymes' (1971) seminal work on language in context, as well as Slager's (1973) popular article on contextualization. Through contextual analysis, Celce-Murcia and her students have been able to provide linguistic descriptions of the meanings, functions, and frequency of occurrence of a number of structures and forms in a systematic, empirical way.…”