Are you studying Shakespeare and looking for a handy summary of plots, characters and interpretations? Or are you a keen theatre-goer wanting essential background on the Shakespeare plays you see on stage? Ideal for students and theatre enthusiasts alike, this lively and authoritative guide presents key information, clearly set out, on all Shakespeare's dramatic and poetic works, covering plots and people, sources, context, performance history and major themes. Ordered alphabetically for easy reference, each play entry features a 'key facts' box providing informative and revealing statistics, including a breakdown of each play's major roles. The guide is illustrated with striking performance photographs throughout, and also provides brief accounts of Shakespeare's life and language, Shakespeare in print and theatre in Shakespeare's time. This is an indispensable reference source for all students and theatre-goers.

What is the explanation for the nature, character and evolution of the many different varieties of English in the world today? Which changes in the English language are the legacy of its origins and which are the product of novel influences in the places to which it was transported? Roots of English is a groundbreaking investigation into four dialects from parts of northern Britain out of which came the founding populations of many regions in other parts of the world. Sali Tagliamonte comprehensively describes and analyses the key features of the dialects and their implications for subsequent developments of English. Her examination of dialect features contributes substantive evidence for assessing and understanding bigger issues in sociolinguistic theory. Based on exciting new findings, the book will appeal to those interested in dialects, from the Anglophile to the syntactician.

Psycholinguistics is the study of how humans produce and understand language. This textbook provides a clear introduction to the subject and is designed for students with only a basic knowledge of linguistics. It introduces central aspects of the production and comprehension of language, using examples and exercises to reinforce key points. Students will gain an understanding of the processes and representations involved in language use and how to apply such understanding to the analysis of data. Each of the larger subject areas of language production and comprehension is broken down into stages, such as putting together sentences and finding words. As students investigate these levels and processes, they also explore the interactions between them. They are encouraged to consider what language users might carry around in their heads as part of their linguistic knowledge and how this stored knowledge relates to the structures and rules proposed by theoretical linguistics.

When people speak, their words never fully encode what they mean, and the context is always compatible with a variety of interpretations. How can comprehension ever be achieved? Wilson and Sperber argue that comprehension is a process of inference guided by precise expectations of relevance. What are the relations between the linguistically encoded meanings studied in semantics and the thoughts that humans are capable of entertaining and conveying? How should we analyse literal meaning, approximations, metaphors and ironies? Is the ability to understand speakers' meanings rooted in a more general human ability to understand other minds? How do these abilities interact in evolution and in cognitive development? Meaning and Relevance sets out to answer these and other questions, enriching and updating relevance theory and exploring its implications for linguistics, philosophy, cognitive science and literary studies.

The global financial crisis of 2008 has given way to a proliferation of international agreements aimed at strengthening the prudential oversight and supervision of financial market participants. Yet how these rules operate is not well understood. Because international financial rules are expressed through informal, non-binding accords, scholars tend to view them as either weak treaty substitutes or by-products of national power. Rarely, if ever, are they cast as independent variables that can inform the behavior of regulators and market participants alike. This book explains how international financial law 'works' — and presents an alternative theory for understanding its purpose, operation and limitations. Drawing on a close institutional analysis of the post-crisis financial architecture, it argues that international financial law is often bolstered by a range of reputational, market and institutional mechanisms that make it more coercive than classical theories of international law predict.

This book introduces the theoretical and empirical bases for the definition of language learning level in functional 'Can Do' terms for the English Profile Programme, setting out the ambitions of the Programme and presenting emerging findings. The English Profile Programme is an elaboration of the performance level descriptions of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) that is concerned specifically with the English language. The CEFR has become influential in building a shared understanding of performance levels for foreign language learners. However, there is a considerable gap between the broad descriptions of levels provided, which covers a range of languages and learning contexts, and the level of detail required for applications such as syllabus or test design, which this volume addresses. With its combination of theoretical insights and practical advice, this is a useful work for academics, policy-makers, curriculum designers, textbook writers, postgraduate students and examination board staff.

The studies in this volume explore needs analysis in the public, vocational and academic sectors, in contexts ranging from service encounters in coffee shops to foreign language needs assessment in the U.S. military. In each chapter, the authors explicitly discuss the methodology they employed, and in some cases also offer research findings on that methodology. Several studies are task-based. Contributions include work on English and other languages in both second and foreign language settings, as well as a comprehensive overview of methodological issues in needs analysis by the editor.

The English Ladder is a four-level course designed to help pupils take their first steps in English. Based around the adventures of Freddie the frog and the Fantastic family, the course develops pupils' language skills through lively stories that can be acted out, valuable phonics practice, songs, tongue twisters, games and communication activities. These Level 4 Flashcards help present the vocabulary in the Level 4 Pupil's Book.

Clear Speech, the world's favorite pronunciation series, helps students master the most important features of spoken English. The Clear Speech, Fourth Edition, Student's Book provides easy-to-follow presentations, helpful rules, and extensive practice in pronunciation. This revised edition offers new and updated content, additional visual support, and is now in full color.

Strategic Reading is a three-level series designed to develop reading, vocabulary-building, and critical-thinking skills. The Teacher's Manual provides an overview of the series and an explanation of the structure of each unit. It includes teaching tips, a complete answer key for each unit, and unit quizzes and answers. The Teacher's Manual also offers cultural notes and optional activities where appropriate.

This book provides theoretical and pedagogical perspectives on teaching speaking within a coherent methodological framework. Teaching Speaking A Holistic Approach brings together theoretical and pedagogical perspectives on teaching speaking within a coherent methodological framework. The framework combines understandings derived from several areas of speaking research and instruction. By explaining, interpreting, evaluating, and synthesizing these diverse perspectives from linguistics and language learning, the text offers a comprehensive and versatile approach for teaching speaking. Different types of learning tasks are explained and illustrated with examples, and each chapter includes short tasks and ends with a number of tasks that enable readers to extend their ideas.

This third edition of David P. Forsythe's successful textbook provides an authoritative overview of the place of human rights in an age of upheaval in international politics. Human rights standards are examined at the global, regional and national levels, with separate chapters on transnational corporations and advocacy groups. The third edition has been completely updated to include the latest developments on terrorism and counter-terrorism, pro-democracy protests in the Middle East, disputed elections in developing countries, criminal courts and truth commissions, and applications of the laws of war. New sections have been added on subjects such as women's rights and new case studies have been added in each chapter which show how specific rights fare in contemporary political contexts. Containing chapter-by-chapter guides to further reading and discussion questions, this book will be of interest to all students of human rights and their teachers.

Strategic Reading is a three-level series designed to develop reading, vocabulary-building, and critical-thinking skills. The Teacher's Manual provides an overview of the series and an explanation of the structure of each unit. It includes teaching tips, a complete answer key for each unit, and unit quizzes and answers. The Teacher's Manual also offers cultural notes and optional activities where appropriate.

Interchange Video Resource Book, Level 3 contains photocopiable student worksheets and step-by-step teaching notes detailing how to use the worksheets and exploit the video in class. Transcripts of the video and answer keys are also included.

The fundamental principles of the scientific method are essential for enhancing perspective, increasing productivity, and stimulating innovation. These principles include deductive and inductive logic, probability, parsimony and hypothesis testing, as well as science's presuppositions, limitations, ethics and bold claims of rationality and truth. The examples and case studies drawn upon in this book span the physical, biological and social sciences; include applications in agriculture, engineering and medicine; and also explore science's interrelationships with disciplines in the humanities such as philosophy and law. Informed by position papers on science from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, National Academy of Sciences and National Science Foundation, this book aligns with a distinctively mainstream vision of science. It is an ideal resource for anyone undertaking a systematic study of scientific method for the first time, from undergraduates to professionals in both the sciences and the humanities.

Your Space is a three-level course designed to motivate students as they change and grow. Students are supported to explore and personalise new language right from the start, enabling them to communicate clearly and build confidence using English in everyday situations. With a wide range of varied activities, students will enjoy the extra practice provided by the Workbook. Topics follow those in the Level 2 Student's Book, with extra skills practice focusing on listening, reading, writing and speaking. Activities include crosswords, gap-fill exercises, fact files and jigsaw activities. Collaborative project work at the end of each unit provides a fun, interactive learning experience. The accompanying Audio CD contains extra listening material for practice at home.

Written for students encountering the topic for the first time, this is a clear and practical introduction to second language acquisition (SLA). Using non-technical language, it explains how a second language is acquired; what the learner of a second language needs to know; and why some learners are more successful than others. This new edition of Muriel Saville-Troike's bestselling textbook introduces in a step-by-step fashion a range of fundamental concepts, such as SLA in adults and children, in formal and informal learning contexts and in diverse socio-cultural settings. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, it encourages students to consider SLA from linguistic, psychological and social perspectives. Providing a solid foundation in SLA, this book has become the leading introduction to the field for students of linguistics, psychology and education, and trainee language teachers.

The graded readers series of original fiction, adapted fiction and factbooks especially written for teenagers. Vinnie doesn't live a typical teenage life. His dad works away from home and his mother needs a lot of help, so he can't see his friends after school or at weekends. Then Vinnie sees a competition — a chance for his family to take a break. But the competition changes Vinnie's life more than he could ever expect. This paperback is in American English. Audio recordings of the text are available on our website at: www.cambridge.org/elt/discoveryreaders/ame Cambridge Experience Readers, previously called Cambridge Discovery Readers, get your students hooked on reading.

Based on extensive research, Grammar and Beyond ensures that students study accurate information about grammar and apply it in their own speech and writing. This package includes both Student's Book, Level 3, and Workbook, Level 3. In each unit of the Student's Book, learners study the grammar in a realistic text and through corpus-informed charts and notes. The exercises provide practice in reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Students learn to avoid common mistakes, based on a corpus of learner language. Each unit concludes with a Grammar for Writing section, in which students apply the grammar in an extended writing task. In the Workbook, learners gain additional practice in the grammar from the Student's Book, including practice correcting common learner errors.

Based on extensive research, Grammar and Beyond ensures that students study accurate information about grammar and apply it in their own speech and writing. This package includes both Student's Book, Level 4, and Workbook, Level 4. In each unit of the Student's Book, learners study the grammar in a realistic text and through corpus-informed charts and notes. The exercises provide practice in reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Students learn to avoid common mistakes, based on a corpus of learner language. Each unit concludes with a Grammar for Writing section, in which students apply the grammar in an extended writing task. In the Workbook, learners gain additional practice in the grammar from the Student's Book, including practice correcting common learner errors.