DISCOURSE AND CONTEXT SUMMARY

Summary of

Discourse and context in Language Teaching:

A Guide for Language Marianne CelceTeachers Murcia LANGUAGE AND WRITTEN EXPRESSION IV PRO FESSOR : STELLA SAUBIDET INSTITUTO DE FORMACION DOCENTE N°18

Students: Rodríguez INTRODUCTION Ramiro, Juárez Alejandro

A new wave of interest characterizes the 1980´s, a focus on “Communicative Language Teaching” - teaching second languages for the ultimate goal of communication with native speakers of the second language. Such a focus has centered on Speaking and Listening skills, on Writing for specific communicative purposes, and on “authentic” Reading texts.

Underlying the Communicative Language Teaching movement are a number of important theoretical principles of language behaviour. The first and foremost of which is a definition of what is now a “household word” in second language research and teaching, “Communicative Competence”. This term was coined by Dell Hymes (1967, 1972). Communicative Competence is the aspect of our competence that enables us to convey and interpret messages and to negotiate meanings interpersonally within specific contexts. It is relative, not absolute, and depends on cooperation of all the participants involved. It is not so much an intrapersonal construct, but rather, a dynamic, interpersonal construct that can only be examined by means of the overt performance of two or more individuals in the process of negotiating meaning.

“La Provincia de Buenos Aires en la presentación de su Diseño Curricular adopta la Enseñanza de Inglés para la EGB, ESB y ESS con un enfoque Comunicativo y un abordaje del área que si bien reconoce categorías de análisis tales como Lectura, Escucha, Escritura y Habla señala que la lengua es una unidad y en cada mensaje se presenta como un todo indivisible”.

“Los procesos de enseñanza y aprendizaje deben centrarse teniendo como eje la integración y no la partición de sus componentes fundamentales…”

"The Province of Buenos Aires in the presentation of its Curriculum Design adopts the teaching of English for the EGB, ESB and the ESS with a communicative approach and an approach of the area which while recognizing analysis categories such as Reading, Listening, Writing and Speaking, notes that the language is a unit and in each message is presented as an indivisible whole."

"The processes of teaching and learning should be based on the integration and not the partition of its fundamental components…"

Listening Listening is the most frequently used language skill in everyday life. We listen to twice as much language as we speak, four times as much as we read, and five times as much as we write!

(Morley, 1991; Rivers, 1981; Weaver, 1972).

“The underlying paradox in Listening Research is the routine unconscious ease of listening and the extreme difficulty of investigating it, particularly as the process itself is unseen and inaccessible” (Lynch, 1998). 

The Listening Process

Both L1 and L2 models of the Listening Process (cf. Anderson and Lynch, 1988) acknowledge that listening has two Top- down and Bottom- up aspects.

Top- down listening processes involve activation of schematic knowledge and contextual knowledge. Schematic Knowledge is generally thought of as two types of prior knowledge (Carrell and Eisterhold, 1983): 1. Content Schemata, i.e., background information on the topic, and 2. Formal Schemata, which consists of knowledge about how discourse is organized with respect to different genres, different topics, or different purposes, including relevant sociocultural knowledge.

Contextual Knowledge involves an understanding of the specific listening situation at hand (i.e., listeners assess who the participants are, what the setting is, what the topic and purposes are).

All of this gets filtered through Pragmatic Knowledge to assist in the processing of oral discourse.

The Bottom- up level of the listening process involves prior knowledge of the language system, i.e.: 1. Knowledge of the Phonological System: this allows the listener to segment the acoustic signals as sounds that form words, words and/or phrases that form clauses or utterances unified by intonation contours having some key prominent element.

2. Knowledge of Grammar: it allows for recognition of inflections on words as well as recognition of the phrases or clauses that function as part of the Cohesive and Coherent instances of text.

3. Knowledge of Vocabulary: it allows the listeners to recognize words within phrases.

Thus all types of language analysis can come into play at the level of discourse when listening is being done.

The Bottom- up processing of oral discourse is where the physical signals or clues come from; however, it is generally acknowledge that this level cannot operate with any accuracy or efficiency on its own and that it requires the benefit of and interaction with Top- down information to make discourse comprehensible to the listener. This interaction of Top- down and Bottom- up processing is crucial to the “Speech Reception Framework�:

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Pedagogic tasks designed to improve the L2 Listening Comprehension

For native speakers and skilled L2 speakers, Bottom- up processing is assumed to be automatic, whereas it is not automatic and can be the source of serious problems for beginning and less than

expert L2 learners. To help compensate for less than automatic bottom- up processing, learners need to make use of listening strategies and Metacognition.  Listening Strategies: 1. Use Pre- listening activities to activate learners´ background knowledge.

2. Make clear to learners what they are going to listen to and why.

3. Practice the strategy using real data with focus on content and meaning.  Metacognitive Strategies: It involves the 1. Planning, 2. Regulation, 3. Monitoring and 4. Management of listening and allows for prediction and monitoring of errors or breakdowns, and for evaluation.

We must also consider the Compensatory Strategies and Communicative Strategies, which good L2 learners have and which weak ones lack: strategies such as 1. Asking questions of one's interlocutor, 2. Getting the other speaker to slow down, 3. Tape recording or relistening to a lecture, 4. Watching a movie a second or third time, and 5. Negotiate a repetition and/or clarification.

Such strategies should be part of oral skills training. 

James Scrivener´s Listening Ideas

Jigsaw Listening: you can run listening activities that allow learners to work at their own speed, controlling the CD player or tape recorder themselves and repeatedly playing parts of a text until they are really happy with their understanding of it. It also involves a lot of message- oriented communication and useful group co- operation: 1. Working in small groups, listen to separate parts of a longer recording, i.e., each group hears different things.

2. They then meet up, perhaps in pairs, three or fours, with people from groups that listened to other parts of the recording.

3. They report to each other on what they have heard and compare ideas and reach a conclusion or consensus or complete some specific task. The task might be simply to construct a full picture of the recording´s contents.

To run a Jigsaw Task, a little technical preparation is required: 1. You'll usually need a separate CD player or tape recorder for each group to listen on and the same number of separate recordings.

2. To make sure that students cannot accidentally hear parts of the recording from other group´s sections, you might need to record and edit some recordings.  Penny Ur´s Listening Activities No Overt Response: the learners do not have to do anything in response to the listening, however, facial expression and body language often show if they are following or not.

1. Stories: tell a joke or real- life anecdote, retell a well- known story, read a story from a book; or play a recording of a story. If the story is well- chosen, learners are likely to be motivated to attend and understand in order to enjoy it.

2. Songs: sing a song yourself, or play a recording of one. Note, however, that if no response is required learners may simply enjoy the music without understanding the words.

3. Entertainment: films, theatre, video. As with stories, if the content is really entertaining (interesting, stimulating, humorous, dramatic) learners will be motivated to make the effort to understand without the need for any further task.

Conclusion: In addition to using acoustic information to perceive and segment the stream of speech (i.e., to do Bottom- up Processing) native listeners- and even more so, nonnative listenersmust actively use a variety of Schemata and contextual clues, especially those clues that are available in the ongoing discourse, to accurately interpret oral messages (i.e., to do Top- down Processing) Phonological Signals such as Stress, Pause, and Intonation; Lexico- Grammatical Signals such as Discourse Markers, Lexical Phrases, and Word Order; and Higher- level Organizing Elements such as the Adjacency Pairs that we find in conversational structure are all critical in signaling information to the listener.

Implications for Language Pedagogy reinforce the notion that Listening Comprehension indeed the primary skill in developing Oral Communication Competence. They also have implications for materials development in term of the type and range of practice materials needed to teach listening comprehension effectively.

READING “...people communicate by using texts as a device for mediating a discourse process…”

(Widdowson, 1984). “...Our classrooms should encourage students research into their own literacy…” (Johns, 1997).

Most of us rely on our reading ability in order to gain information or expand our knowledge.

Information is available in print and it has to be processed via Reading. Skill in reading is imperative since so much of what one needs to know is communicated via written texts. We cannot function in modern society without reading.

In a second or foreign language, reading carries even greater potential importance than in the first language since it is often the only readily available exposure to the target language. When we think of English as a world language of wider communication, reading takes on a very significant role in most professions. Reading is a basic skill that makes access a world of literature and culture representing a country. 

The Reading Process

In the process of trying to understand a written text the reader has to perform a number of simultaneous tasks: 1. Decode the message by recognizing the written signs, 2. Interpret the message by assigning meaning to the string of words, 3. Understand what author´s intention was.

In this process there are at least three participants: 1. The Writer, 2. The Text, and 3. The Reader.

The writer may be distant in time and space from the particular reader of the text and from the act of reading; nonetheless, it was at the time of writing that the author produced the text with the intention of transmitting a message to a potential reader, and therefore, the dialog between reader and writer via text can take place at any time after that. Reading is, therefore, inherently interactive, involving the three participants.

The Psycholinguistic- Cognitive Approach to reading (Barret, 1989) is Learner- Centred and places Cognitive Development and Text processing at the core of its view on reading. Prior knowledge that individuals bring to the reading or writing situation is central in this approach.

An important term employed by the psycholinguistic- cognitive group is Schema (Schemata in plural) to refer to prior knowledge.

Historically, two separate approaches to reading developed in the literature and research: “Bottom- up” approaches and “Top- down” approaches. Bottom- up approaches view reading as “a series of stages that proceed in a fixed order from sensory input to comprehension” (Hudson, 1998). The reader needs to recruit his or her linguistic knowledge and various reading strategies in order to decode the text. In order to engage in Top- down processing the reader needs to recruit his or her own prior knowledge and prior reading experience, apply knowledge of writing conventions, and consider the purpose of reading.

In the late 1980´s and the beginning of the 1990´s we see increasing arguments for viewing the two types of processing as complementary and interactive in nature. For ESL/EFL readers it seems necessary to develop and promote awareness of and skill in both types of processing.

Bloome (1993) proposes viewing reading as a social process focusing on author- reader interaction. It is important to encourage the reader to develop Metacognitive Awareness of the interpretation process and of individual processing strategies. Such Metacognitive awareness connects Top- down with Bottom- up processing.

In order to process and understand a text, readers need to match the Schemata of Context and form presented by the writer in the text with their own schemata and their own view of the world and of the subject area or content presented in the text. Schemata can be viewed as frames of reference that readers possess, structures of the world and of reality in the reader's´ minds.

When the Schema matches the text, interpretation is easier than when there are mismatches, and some kind of mediation strategies need to be applied.

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Pedagogical activities that lead to the development of strategic reading

The knowledge components necessary for reading effectively consists of three subcomponents that need to be tackled: 1. Language Knowledge: which includes recognition of Vocabulary and Syntax as well as graphic representations.

2. Discourse Knowledge and Sociocultural Knowledge: which include recognition and understanding of Discourse Features that are Textual in nature (e.g., Cohesion), Discourse Features that relate to Writing Conventions and genres and Social and Cultural Knowledge related to writing.

3. General (Prior) Knowledge or Knowledge of the World. 

Penny Ur´s Reading Activities

1. Pre- question: a general question is given before reading, asking the learners to find out a piece of information central to the understanding of the text.

2. Do- it- yourself question: learners compose and answer their own questions.

3. Provide a title: learners suggest a little if none was given originally; or an alternative, if there was.

4. Summarize: learners summarize the content in a sentence or two. This may also be done in the mother tongue.

5. Continue: the text is a story; learners suggest what might happen next.

6. Preface: the text is a story; learners suggest what might have happened before.

7. Gapped text: towards the end of the text, four of five gaps are left that can only be filled if the text has been understood.

8. Mistakes in the text: the text has, towards the end, occasional mistakes (wrong words; or intrusive ones; or omissions). Learners are told in advance how many mistakes to look for.

9. Comparison: there are two texts on a similar topic; learners note points of similarity or difference of content.

10. Responding: the text is a letter or a proactive article; learners discuss how they would respond, or write an answer.

11. Re- presentation of content: the text gives information or tells a story; learners re- present its content through a different graphic medium. For example:  a drawing that illustrates the text.  colouring.  marking a map.  lists of events or items described in the text.  a diagram (such as a grid or flow chart) indicating relationships between items, characters or events. 

Jeremy Harmer´s Reading Activities

Extensive Reading Materials: one of the fundamental conditions of a successful extensive reading programme is that students should be reading material which they can understand. If they are struggling to understand every word, they can hardly be reading for pleasure- the main goal of this activity. This means that we need to provide books which either by chance, or because they have been specially written, are readily accessible to our students.

Specially written materials for extensive reading are often referred to as Graded Readers or Simplified Readers. They can take the form of original fiction and non- fiction books as well as simplifications of established works of literature. Such books succeed because the writers or adaptors work within specific lists of allowed words and grammar. This means that students at the appropriate level can read them with ease and confidence.

Conclusion: The Reading Process is an interactive communicative activity in which the reader plays a crucial role in the interpretation process and in which the text as produced by writer, includes both Facilitating and Complicating features that need to be utilized and tackled.

Intermediate and advanced courses in ESL/EFL reading should enable students to experience, practice, and become efficient in coping with textual difficulties. The ultimate aim is for readers to become self- sufficient and responsible for developing efficient reading strategies that suit their needs and interests.

WRITING WRITING AS COMMUNICATION The individual writer is characterized by techniques, preferences and personal writing strategies.

In writing skill there are two types of intentions: 1)- One intention has to do with reading the written production to be read by the writer itself (shopping lists) 2)- The other intention deals with the written production to be read by unknown readers or audience.

There is an obvious relationship between writing and reading and there is also a relationship between speaking and writing.

Various reasons have been suggested for the relationship between speaking and writing with two opposing positions:  

Writing is different from speaking Writing is similar to speech

Speech is directly connected to the "here" and "now" so it is context-bound. The listener can interact and receives continuous feedback. Speaker and listener can interchange roles and this interaction allows for clarification, negotiation and co-construction of meaning.

On the other hand, writing is seen as a decontextualized skill, and the writer needs to take into account and accommodate and consider the absent audience all the time to his ideas.

Bereiter and Scardamalia emphasized the need to develop reader-based approach to writing The reader-based model is a typical model of western-oriented discourse communities. However there are communities in which writer-based model is preferred (medical treatment or analysis)

WRITING FOR A READER - MATCHING THE WRITER’S AND READER'S SCHEMATA School is usually the mostly common and dominant situation in which people get engaged in writing activity and students perceive teacher as the only audience. To be a good a good communicator in writing is to expand the notion of reader-audience.

The most important part of being a successful writer is to be able to anticipate de readers’ needs.

Common Problems of Novice Writers: -They have not yet developed self-feedback techniques that can guide them. They may find the "imaginary reader" feedback almost impossible.

Characteristics of Experienced Writers:  

They are sensitive to the readers needs as well as to background knowledge and potential content schemataThese sensitiveness and knowledge enable them to use elaboration skills to create a text that is comprehensible and communicative.

Characteristics of School Writing:  

It is based on "teacher as audience"; consequently, students write incoherently, telegraphic texts.

Students generally do not develop topics properly supposing the teacher already know the topic

What Happens in Japanese Universities According to Sasaki and Hirose?

Writing instruction needs to put special focus on developing awareness of potential readers in L1 first and later on in L2. Researchers have found on Japanese students that having a good foundation in writing in L1 would help in becoming a good writer in L2.

Focusing on Writer with Theory: Among the approaches to writing theory and writing instructions, the four components models presented by Berlin are relevant: 1.

2.

3.

4.

Writer (knower) Audience (reader) Reality (context) Language

Different views on writer: -Expressivist approach: views writing as an act which leads to and encourages self-discovery.

Examples (personal journals, dialog journals,)

- Cognitivist approach: places importance on writing as a problem-solving activity and therefore emphasizes "thinking" and "process" in writing. Working with this approach requires higher order thinking skills. The writer makes plans, considers the context, chooses and generates alternatives, presents arguments supporting them properly and achieves the right conclusion. All these processes are not linear, they are recursive: we write a first version, we make changes, and we rewrite and reformulate the whole passage (revision). This revision requires careful interaction between top-down and bottom-up production of the text.

-The Interactionist approach: has developed interactive perspectives on the writing process.

Bakhtin has focused on intertextuality; for example, the relation between any texts to the other texts. Bothe reader and writer develop a deeper understanding of the process through shared experiences with various texts.

The cycle of activities of interactionist approach: 1. A preparatory stage prior to the actual writing process 2. The creation of a first draft 3. The evaluative dialogs that can be done either with a peer or a writing partner who provides feedback or via self-questioning carried out by the writer.

4. A rewriting of the text 5. An editing process which renders the text ready for use.

The writer becomes aware of the complexity of the writing process and relates it to other experiences with reading and writing text. The most important aspect of this approach is that a communicative text must be composed with an interactive perspective in mind (sociocultural perspective on writing).

Grice's Maxims Can Help the Organization and Process of Top-Down and Bottom-Up Approaches: The maxim of quantity: writer must consider the amount of information imparted in the text. It depends on cultural norms.

The maxim of quality: writer must provide support and justify his position in order to render the text accurate and give it truth-value (it depends on the culture too) The maxim of relevance: writer must create a text that makes sense in context which will be read.

The maxim of manner: requires bottom-up process to make the text unambiguous and make it clear in terms of its linguistic forms and sentence structure, physical shape and format.

WRITING AS PROCESS Creating Coherence in a Text Thoughts must be organized into a sequence which makes sense and there are different ways: 1-Scribbling down ideas at random 2-Planning an outline 3- Writing an introduction as a basis of the whole text

All this options and elections will depend on the individual preferences. These processes require several numbers of revisions.

Contrastive Rhetoric Contrastive rhetoric makes reference to the influence of culture and the way of thinking of "that" culture on the writing text. It is difficult for some students from different cultural backgrounds reading or writing expository texts because coherence conventions are different from those in western rhetorical tradition.

Some studies on contrastive rhetoric affirm the differences on English and Japanese rhetoric in expository essays:  

English text: Topic foregrounded Japanese text: Topic hinted

Strategies and Steps in Creating Coherence It is responsibility of the writer to produce a text that will be coherent to potential reader and it is responsibility of the writing teacher to help writers develop strategies to do so. The strategies include considerations of:  

Extratextual features: it is related to the background knowledge of the reader.

Intratextual features: it is what writers build into the text in order to create coherence.

The coherence will adequate within the text depending on the type of text (genre, format, audience target, etc.)

Lautamatti distinguishes between two types of coherence: 1. Propositional coherence: creates a logical progression in a text. The coherence can be elaborated in the mind of the reader who perceives a thread of connection among the prepositions.

2. Interactional coherence: more prominent in spoken language.

CREATING A WELL-WRITTEN TEXT One of the important features of well-written text is the unity and connectedness that make individual sentences in the text hang together and relate to each others.

Global and local coherence should work together in a text.

Harris investigated the organizational function fulfilled by opening sentences led the investigator to classify such sentences into five different groups: 1. Sentences that announce or identify the topic.

2. Sentences that state a fact or give a definition of the main topic.

3. Sentences that show similarities or differences related to the main scientific elements discussed (which could be considered part of a definition of that element).

4. Sentences that identify an important natural of scientific event in the past.

5. Sentences that point out a false assumption or the lack of evidence for understanding some phenomenon.

Analysis at the sentence level (Discourse Paragmatics) Bardovi-Harlig focuses on "well-formedness" of a text, and states that a sentence within a passage has three levels: 1. The syntactic level 2. The semantic level 3. The Pragmatic level Topic and Comment  

Topic: it is the known information (old information) Comment: is what is said about the topic. (new information)

WRITING INSTRUCTION Breaking the Initial Barrier Initial step: breaking barriers and alleviating the anxiety Obstacles at the time of writing: 1. Anxiety for fear of failing 2. Not being able to think of what to write: a solution can be preparatory work prior to writing; for example, brainstorming activities, discussions, role-plays, etc.

3. Not knowing how to express it properly.

4. Not being able to compose successfully -Teacher's first goal in writing instruction must be to convince students that everybody can write successfully for some purpose.

-Personal Writing may be a good starting point.

-Self-directed questions help the students become more aware of the writing process and of themselves as writers: What hindered my fluency in Writing?

What made it easier and what made it more difficult?

CHOOSING A TOPIC AND CHOOSING A GENRE The writer needs to be motivated to write and to import information of some type in order to create a communicative written message. Teachers have to focus the tasks to students' needs and interests.

Initial Step: Choosing a Topic or a Theme   

Students should identify a topic they want to write about Students should think of the reader audience Selection of genre TACTICS FOR PLANNING THE WRITING PROCESS

Suggestions for training L2 writers in planning and carrying out communicative activities that result in written texts:   

Preparation of outlines Preparation of flowcharts Brainstorming READING AS A MODEL FOR WRITING

Writing classes provide reading activities and tasks, analysis of those texts, and then they are used as models for writing.

Examples of writing tasks:  Summarizing THE PORTFOLIO The portfolio is a kind of collection of different writing assignment made by students in a folder or workbook. It has become a way to develop writing skills and give teachers tools to evaluate.

Students can write and rewrite:      

Assignments Personal messages Essays Letters Summaries Drafts

SPEAKING Learning to speak a new language For users of a new foreign language require: 1. Some knowledge of the language and 2. Of the culture 3. And some experience as a participant in such cultural interaction

Speaking is considered by some, the most difficult skill because it requires:  Command of listening  Command of Compehension  Speech production subskills (vocabulary retrieval, pronunciation, choice of grammatical pattern, etc.)

Speaking is also considered by some others, the easiest skill since: 1.

2.

3.

4.

One can use body language Demonstrations Repetitions And other strategies MAKING ONESELF UNDERSTOOD IN A SECOND LANGUAGE

Message and Medium in Oral Communication To understand spoken messages we need to share knowledge with the other interlocutor. So, shared knowledge makes message accessible. In order to interpret any spoken message we need to have a wealth of information beyond the linguistic elements appearing in any statement produced in the oral medium or channel.

Mismatches and Misunderstanding causes in oral communication:   

The speaker produces unintelligible forms in phonology, grammar, or lexical choice.

The necessary background is not shared by the speaker and hearer.

The speaker and the hearer do not share sociocultural rules of appropriacy.

How to Ensure Proper Interpretation - Some Factors:  

Factors of Forms: linguistically controlled, relate to the speaker's competence as well as to the possibility of the faulty delivery of the spoken utterance.

Factors of Appropriacy: pragmatically controlled by the speech situation and by the prevailing cultural and social forms.

Choosing the Linguistic Features Spoken discourse To produce spoken discourse, users make use of grammatical competence: linguistic realization of the utterance 1. The ability to choose lexical items and use them in a proper morphological form 2. The ability to arrange the lexical items in an acceptable word order 3. The ability to pronounce the words in an intelligible fashion.

Speaker moves from conceptualization of a message to the capacity for performance.

Level of knowledge and the processing skill interfere and facilitate contextual features and affect the efficacy of communication.

Contextual Factors in Speech Production Levelt (1978) identifies three important contextual factors in speech production:   

Demand: the amount of processing required by a task. (Complex sequence ? repetition of the basic information) Arousal: the speaker’s emotional and cognitive response to a task. The importance that the individual attaches to the communicative interaction. (deeper understanding of mutual expectations, how the communicative exchange can be improved) Feedback: what the speaker receives from the listener(s) or the wider environment affecting the performance. (Important in second language contexts, attentive of backchanneling during conversation)

In spoken production, mastering question formation, word order, placing proper stress facilitate or hinder it when these features are lacking. Sociocultural factors and considerations may play a significant role in successful interaction.

McCarthy and Carter (1995) demonstrate that colloquial speech has some unique language features, different from written discourse; grammatical features of spoken English:    

Pervasive ellipsis of subjects, predicates, and auxiliary verbs.

An initial slot frame or introduce topics.

Tails (or final slots) for amplification or extension.

Reporting verbs with past continuous tense.

Adhering to Rules of Appropriacy Sociocultural rules of appropriacy are viewed today as an integral part of a person’s communicative competence.

Leech sees pragmatics as consisting as two subfields: 1. Pragmalinguistics: use of language in context.

2. Sociopragmatics: societal rules of behaviour (e.i. sociology) Sociolinguistic competence: enables the speaker to produce utterances that are both linguistically and pragmatically appropriate.

Pragmalinguistic and Sociopragmatic are concerned with: 1.

2.

3.

4.

Characteristics of the individuals, who take part in the communicative exchange, Features of the situation in which this exchange takes place, The goal of the exchange, and Features of the communicative medium through which the exchange is carried out.

Maxims of Oral Interaction Speech act is realized when a verbal utterance functions as a social act. A feature added to this acts to maintain a flow of exchange between speaker and hearer is: -The cooperative principle and the Grice's maxims:    

Maxim of Quantity: amount of information imparted Maxim of Quality: conviction and belief of stating the truth.

Maxim of Relevance: speaker needs the hearer to see the relevance of what is being said.

Maxim of Manner: refers to the delivery of the message.

PARTICIPATING IN ORAL INTERACTION

Maintaining the Flow of Speech Elements used by community members to maintain communication without overlapping.

1. Turn-taking: changes roles constantly and construct shared meaning.

2. Conversation Analysis: describes the sequences and the sequential constraints that are characteristic of the natural flow of conversation.

3. Transition points adjacency pair: the learner of a new language has to develop new rules of behavior.

Accommodating the Hearer(s) Instances of speaker in a communication:   

-Control power over the flow -Content -Manner of interaction

Taking into account the cooperative principle, the speaker needs to accommodate the hearer and facilitate the interpretation of the spoken message. They need to adhere to the four maxims and the rules of socio-cultural appropriacy, maintain eye contact and pay attention to the hearer’s body language and overall reaction.

Non-native speakers need to expend much greater effort and exert more attention to maintain the flow of interaction, often turning these tasks over to the native speaker/hearer who becomes more active and responsible.

Learners of a Second Language need to develop strategies in the new language to recruit the help of interlocutors and to facilitate and make adjustments in incomplete or failing interactions.

Interacting in the new language requires self awareness and self evaluation, a great amount of tolerance and accommodation.

Integrating strategy-training with the regular language instruction can improve learners’ ability to communicate through spoken discourse. Awareness of these strategies will lower anxiety and increase self-confidence.

SOME PREREQUISITES FOR SPEAKING IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE Speaking in another language to become a truly effective oral communicator the speaker needs to: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

Knowing the vocabulary relevant to the situation Ability to use discourse connectors Ability to use suitable opening and closing phrases Ability to comprehend and use reduced forms Knowing the syntax for producing basic clauses Ability to use the basic intonation Ability to use proper rhythm and stress and to make proper pauses Awareness of how to apply Grice’s maxims Knowing how to use the interlocutor’s reactions and input

Learners of a second language need to develop compensatory strategies in order to overcome the deficiencies. Some of these strategies are:     

Paraphrasing, Appealing for help Using examples and explanations Coining words Using circumlocution

These strategies can be developed by exposure to authentic speech in the classroom and by participating in a large variety of oral practice activities (not preplanned and brief preplanned activities) SPEAKING IN THE LANGUAGE CLASSROOM Students should have the opportunity and be encouraged to become flexible users of their knowledge, always keeping the communicative goal in mind.

Speaking activities in the classroom: a)- Role play b)- Group discussions c)- Using the target language outside the classroom d)- Using the learner’s input e)- Feedback f)- Authentic speech in the form of written transcripts g)- Self evaluation and self analysis through videotaping h)- Computer conferencing Bibliography 

Celce-Murcia, M. & Olshtain, E. (2000): Discourse and Context in Language Teaching. A Guide for Language Teachers. Chapters 6, 7, 8 &; 9. U.K.: CUP.

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Diseño Curricular para la Escuela Primaria. Segundo ciclo de la Escuela Primaria/ Educación General Básica. Edición año 2004. Tomo 2 Ur Penny. (1996): A Course in Language Teaching. Practice and Theory. Modules 8 & 19.

Cambridge Teacher Training and Development.  Harmer Jeremy. (2007): The Practice of English Language Teaching. Fourth Edition.

Chapters 17 & 18. Pearson Longman.