•Spoken vs. Written Language•Skills Involved
•Features of interactive spoken English•Instructional suggestions
Joanne Pettis 2007
Context dependent
Dialogic Unrehearsed &
spontaneous Relies more on
verbs’ Grammatically
intricate
Context independent Monologic Edited & Redrafted Relies more on nouns
and noun groups Lexically dense
Very informal, spontaneous & jointly constructed ◦ (social chit-chat)
Very formal, predictable & planned ◦ (debates, panel discussions, some meetings)
Listening comprehension skills Conversation management skills Linguistic knowledge Genre & Discourse knowledge Intelligible Pronunciation Background knowledge of content Sociocultural & pragmatic knowledge Compensatory strategies
Discourse markers Adverbs Back-channels Deixis Ellipsis Fixed expressions
Delexical verbs General words,
Vague language & hedges
Modality Heads & fronting Tags
Particularly important in terms of the “fluid management of interactive talk”◦ Signal intention◦ Hold the conversation turn◦ Mark boundaries in topic
OK then; anyway
Oh, by the way
Well
But
You know, I mean
Personalize & soften interactive style
Often used to initiate a turn
Indicates a topic change Mark the
beginning/closing of a segment of talk
May be used to return to a topic
As much a generational marker as a discourse marker, used to:◦ Signal a comment on a previous topic◦ Signal an example◦ Signal amplification on a topic
Word or phrases that directly relate an utterance to a time, place or person…. ◦ This/that, these/those, here/there, now/then◦ Pronouns, such as I, you he, she they ◦ Phrases, such as you people, we teachers, over
there, out west, down (back) East, up North, down South
General words - indefinite reference Thing, stuffHedges - To avoid being to direct; To
express an opinion about someone or something
Kind of, basically, Vague language - To avoid sounding too
authoritative or assertive; In informal contexts to soften conveyed information
Something, around, or so; adding “y” or “ish” suffix to words greeny-blue, six-ish
Awareness-raising
Appropriation
Autonomy
Involve 3 processes◦ Paying attention, noticing, understanding
Focus on the type (genre) of spoken language & the context variables
Identify and address gaps in their knowledge ◦ what to say in a certain situation, how to
respond, etc.
Spoken and written language are different Interactive spoken language has distinct
features Instruction that emphasizes awareness-
raising is essential in addition to appropriation and autonomy activities.