Looking for Problems

When you are considering problems students might have with the language area you
are teaching, you need to do some research.

Remember that before consulting a dictionary or reference book, think carefully about
how you are using the language in the lesson you are teaching. The dictionary will
provide you with all possible meanings of the word but it is important to focus on what
it means in the context of a lesson.

When you do need to find out more about the language, here are some books to help
you:

The grammar reference book you bought for the course i.e.

 Swan, M (2002). Practical English Usage, Oxford University Press.

 Swan, M, Walter, C (1997). How English Works: A Grammar Practice
Book, Oxford University Press.
 Parrott, M (2000). Grammar for English Language Teachers, Cambridge
University Press.
 Leech et al. (1991) An A-Z of English Grammar and Usage, Pearson Longman.

NB All of these grammar reference books will cover the same areas so you need only
refer to one of these texts.

For lexis:

 A learner dictionary e.g. Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English,

Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, Collins Cobuild Dictionary or
Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary

If you are interested in finding out about which problems are common to particular
language groups:

 Swan, M, & Smith, B (2001) Learner English: A Teacher’s Guide to Interference

and Other Problems, Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers.