本教材的主要特色为:
面向中国学生和教师。从中国学生学习英语、使用英语的实际出发,根据课程教学大纲,结合中国学生的实际需求,提供精选的、难度适中的语言理论知识。为中国教师着想,以讨论性、开放性活动组织教学内容,便于教师开展活泼、生动的课堂教学,获取良好的教学效果。
面向英语的语言学。从各种渠道选取大量有趣、典型、题材各异的英语素材,全方位探索英语的基本规律,体现真正的“英语”语言学,同时适当联系汉语,增进学生对英语个性的把握,从而服务于英语学习和交际。
面向教学全过程。课前部分有适量的浅易阅读材料(Pre-ClassReading),为课堂讲解、讨论作铺垫,并通过一些真伪习题予以检查阅读情况;课内有充足的包含语言学知识点的开放性互动话题(In-ClassActivities),融理论知识的讲解和应用于课堂活动中。在多数章节中,提供了3个操作性强、可供学生进行课外合作性学习、课内团队汇报的话题(Presentation Topics)。课后设计了丰富多样的探索性、研究性习题(Exereises),以巩固、深化相关章节的学习效果。教师可以根据学生水平和课时情况,有选择地使用教材

Part One Aspects of English as a Natural Language
Unit 1 Some Preliminaries about Language
Pre-Class Reading
1.1 The languages of the world
1.2 The functions of language
1.3 The defining features of language
1.4 The origin of language
1.5 The acquisition of language
In-Class Activities
Exercises
Recommended Readings
Unit 2 The Sounds of English
Pre-Class Reading
2.1 Speech organs
2.2 Speech sounds
2.3 Phones, phonemes and allophones
2.4 Classifying English vowels
2.5 Classifying English consonants
2.6 English syllables
2.7 Stress, tone and intonation in English
2.8 Rhythm in English
In-Class Activities
Exercises
Recommended Readings
Unit 3 The Units of English
Pre-Class Reading
3.1 English morphemes
3.2 English words and idioms
3.3 English clauses and sentences
3.4 Constructions in English
In-Class Activities
Presentation Topics
Exercises
Recommended Readings
Unit 4 The Strtctures of Englis(Ⅰ)
Pre-Class Reading
4.1 Grammatical knowledge
4.2 Sentence patterns in English
4.3 The hierarchical structuring of English sentences
4.4 Surface structure and deep structure
In-Glass Activities
Presentation Topics
Exercises
Recommended Readings
Unit 5 The Strtctures of Englis(Ⅱ)
Pre-Class Reading
5.1 English paragraphs
5.2 English texts
5.3 Cohesion in English texts
5.4 Turn taking in English conversations
In-Class Activities
Presentation Topics
Exercises
Recommended Readings
Pre-Class Reading
Unit 6 The Meaning of English(Ⅰ)
6.1 The notion of semantics
6.2 Semantic properties
6.3 Semantic relations
6.4 Sense and reference
In-Class Activities
Presentation Topics
Exercises
Recommended Readings
Unit 7 The Meaning of English(Ⅱ)
Pre-Class Reading
7.1 Semantic categorization
7.2 Semantic extension
7.3 Sentence semantics
7.4 Semantic roles
In-Class Activities
Presentation Topics
Exercises
Recommended Readings
Unit 8 The Use of English(Ⅰ)
Unit 9 The Use of English(Ⅱ)
Unit 10 The Varieties of English(Ⅰ)
Unit 11 The Varieties of English(Ⅱ)
Unit 12 The Acquisition of English
Part Two Doing Linguistic Reseaarch about English
Unit 13 Empirical Studies of English
Unit 14 Conceptual Studies of English
References
Glossary