Anne Burns, Helen Joyce and Sandra Gollin

Is ‘spoken language’ as presented in textbooks a true reflection of authentic spoken discourse? How can teachers collect and use authentic spoken language in the classroom? What are the main differences between spoken and written language? This practical and accessible handbook encourages teachers of language and literacy to consider why using authentic spoken discourse as part of classroom tasks benefits second language learners.

It provides them with guidelines for collecting, transcribing and using authentic language as part of their teaching program. Tasks for readers and case studies make the book easy to read even for newcomers to this field.