The Native Speaker: Myth and Reality

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Multilingual Matters, Jan 1, 2003 - Language Arts & Disciplines - 237 pages
Linguists, applied linguists and language teachers all appeal to the native speaker as an important reference point. But what exactly (who exactly?) is the native speaker? This book examines the native speaker from different points of view, arguing that the native speaker is both myth and reality.

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Contents

Introduction
1
Psycholinguistic Aspects of the Native Speaker
25
Linguistic Aspects of the Native Speaker
40
Sociolinguistic Aspects of the Native Speaker
52
Lingualism and the Knowledges of the Native Speaker
77
Communicative Competence Aspects of the Native Speaker
97
Intelligibility and the Speech Community
118
Losing Ones Language
151
Assessment and Second Language Acquisition Research
171
Conclusion Who is the Native Speaker?
198
Appendix
216
References
219
Index
232
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About the author (2003)

Alan Davies has taught and researched English and Applied Linguistics in Kenya, Nepal, Australia, Hong Kong and the U.K and is now Emeritus Professor of Applied Linguistics in the University of Edinburgh. In the 1960s he developed the English Proficiency Test Battery, which the British Council used prior to ELTS and IELTS. A former editor of the journals Applied Linguistics and Language Testing, his publications include Principles of Language Testing (Blackwell 1990), An Introduction to Applied Linguistics (Edinburgh U.P. 1999) and Dictionary of Language Testing (Cambridge U.P. 1999).

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