Course

3.2 Back to Rules

We need now to return to the discussion of what we mean by ‘the rules’ of English, last discussed in Unit 1, and what this implies for learning English as a first or second language. Like all native speakers, Barbara will come to have rich English resources and use them effortlessly, but the rules which govern this ability won’t be those learned deliberately in educational contexts. How do we account for this and why is it important for second language learners? In this section we take the issues step by step.