¡  DiscussfeaturesofspokenEnglish

¡  DiscussPedagogicalIssues

¡  Sharesomeactivitiesforteachingspokengrammar

Today’sPresentationbasedon:Hilliard,Amanda(2014)SpokenGrammarandItsRoleintheEnglishClassroominEnglishTeachingForum.(Vol52,4)

TEXTBOOK

A:Mylittlebrotherisareallygoodstudent.B:Whydoyousaythat?A:Well,heisreallysmart,sohealwaysgetsgoodgradesB:Maybehegetsgoodgradesbecausehestudieshard.

CONVERSATION

A:Didn’tknowyouusedboilingwater.B:Pardon?A:Didn’tknowyouusedboilingwater.B:Don’thaveto.Butit’sum…theyfigureit’sum,quicker.

•  UntidycomparedtowrittenEnglish•  Usuallyspontaneousandunplannedinrealtimewithoutediting•  (Carter&McCarthy1995)

•  Face-to-face,interactivesituationswithasharedcontext•  (Cullen&Kuo2007)

•  Omitswordsandphrases•  Oftenrepetitive&formulaic

•  StressesCommunication&Authenticity•  Improvesstudents’fluency&face-to-faceconversation

•  PreventsstudentsfromspeakingEnglishlikeatextbook

•  Notteachingitimpedesstudents’abilitytospeakfluentlyandappropriately(Mumford2009)

UsingAuthenticTexts

IdentifyingwhentoteachSpokenGrammar

Noticingvs.producingspokengrammar

¡  Textbookdialoguesareusuallyartificial§  Textbookconversations

arenotreliablemodels¡  Thereisaneedto

analyzealargercorporaoflanguagethaniscurrentlycoveredinclassrooms

¡  Teachersneedtosupplementinauthentictextbookactivitieswithauthenticmatierals

Howareyou?

I’mfine,thanks.Andyou?

¡  “therecanbelittlehopefornaturalspokenoutputonthepartoflanguagelearnersiftheinputisstubbornlyrootedinmodelsthatowetheiroriginandshapetothewrittenlanguage”

§  McCarthy(2006)

3I’sApproach§  Illustration▪  Spokendataispresented

§  Interaction▪  Spokengrammarishighlighted

§  Induction▪  LearnersareencouragedtodrawtheirownconclusionsaboutfeaturesofspokenEnglish.

McCarthy&Carter(1995)

¡  Partofteacher'sjobistocreatetheconditionsunderwhichstudentscannoticeaspectsoflanguageusethatareimportantfordevelopingtheirinterlanguage.

¡ Ellipsis¡ Heads¡ Tails¡ Fillers¡ Backchannels¡ PhrasalChunks

Theomissionofawordorwordsthataresuperfluousorabletobeunderstoodfromcontextualclues.

Example:Doyouhaveanyquestions?

Anyquestions?

A:So,uh,howlonghaveyoubeeninLondon?B:IhavebeeninLondonfortwoweeks.A:Isthatreallytrue?So,whatdoyoudo?B:IstudygraphicdesignatCamberwellSchooloftheArts.A:Ok,sothisisyourfirsttwoweekshere?B:Yes,thisismyfirsttwoweeks.It’squiteabigimpact.Londonisverybig,therearelotsofpeople,andit’squiteexpensiveaswell.

A:So,uh,howlonghaveyoubeeninLondon?B:IhavebeeninLondonfortwoweeks.A:Isthatreallytrue?So,whatdoyoudo?B:IstudygraphicdesignatCamberwellSchooloftheArts.A:Ok,sothisisyourfirsttwoweekshere?B:Yes,thisismyfirsttwoweeks.It’squiteabigimpact.Londonisverybig,therearelotsofpeople,andit’squiteexpensiveaswell.

1.   Whatkindofwordswereomitted?-  Subjects(nouns)andmainverbswereomitted.

2.   Whydoyouthinktheyhavebeenomitted?-  Themeaningisclearfromthecontext.-  Thepeoplearespeakingcasually.

LONGVERSIONFILLINTHEMISSINGWORDS

A.  ________wannagotothepartyonSunday?

B.  Sure,_____soundsgood!

SHORTVERSIONOMITAPPROPRIATEWORDS

A.  Shallwegogetlunchnow?

B.  Yeah,thatisagoodidea!

LONGVERSIONFILLINTHEMISSINGWORDS

A.  DoyouwannagotothepartyonSunday?

B.  Sure,thatsoundsgood!

SHORTVERSIONOMITAPPROPRIATEWORDS

A.  Shallwegogetlunchnow?

B.  Yeah,thatisagoodidea!

Whichwordscanbeomittedininformalconversations?

¡  SituationalEllipsis–omittingitemsthatareapparent,giventheimmediatesituation.§  Oftenresultsintheomissionofsubjectsandverbs§  S&Vareoftenreplacedbyphraseslike“soundsgood,”“that’sright,”etc.

§  Arisesfromacombinationofinformalityandsharedcontext.

Dislocation

¡  Head(Left-dislocation)-Asentenceinwhichaword(oragroupofwords)isadvancedaheadoftherestofthesentenceandseparatedbyapause.§  Ex.MaryandPeter,theywenttothestore.

¡  Tails(Right-Dislocation)-Asentenceinwhichaword(oragroupofwords)ispostponedbehindoftherestofthesentenceandseparatedbyapause.§  Ex:Theywenttothestore,MaryandPeter.

¡  Thispresentation,it’sgoingtobelongandboring.

¡  Youwouldn’tthinkhecouldsleepatnight.Thatman,he’sguilty.

¡  Someofthosepeople,theysmellfunny.

¡  Theyareallcorrupt,thosepoliticians!

¡  Wheredidhecomefrom,thatnewguy?

¡  They’reawful,aren’tthey,Mondaymornings?

¡  Identifywhichsentenceismoreformal.Underlineanyheadsortails.

§  1a.Isn’tyoursisteranartist?§  1b.Yoursister,she’sanartist,

isn’tshe?§  2a.Robertisreallyquitenice.§  2b.He’sreallyquitenice,

Robertis.

Addaheadortailtothesentencesbelow.Then,rewriteeachwithoutaheadortail.

3.Samanthaisagreatsinger,_______.4.______,canplaysoccerwell,can’the?5.______,itcostsonly100RMB,right?6.Youatealotoffoodtonight,_____.

¡  Headsintroducelistenerstoatopicbeforegivinginformationonthetopic.

¡  Headsallowspeakerstohighlightthetopictheywanttotalkaboutbeforecommenting,givingthespeakerandthelistenermoreprocessingtime.

§  (Cullen&Kuo2007).

¡  Tailsallowspeakerstoemphasizetheircomments.¡  Tailscanbeusedtoclarifythesubjectofthesentence

§  (Timmis2009).

FillersGiveyoutimetothink,

createapause,orindicatethatyou’renotfinished

talking.

BackchannelsShowyouarelisteningandunderstandwhatsomeone

elseissaying.

Fillers BackchannelsGiveyoutimetothink,createapauseorindicateyou’renotfinishedtalking.

Showyouarelisteningandunderstandwhatsomeoneissaying.

1.oh2.hmm3.ah4.um5.Isee6.uh7.uh-

huh8.er9.really10.eh

Fillers BackchannelsGiveyoutimetothink,createapauseorindicateyou’renotfinishedtalking.

Showyouarelisteningandunderstandwhatsomeoneissaying.

hmm,um,er,eh,uh

oh,ah,Isee,uh-huh,really

Additionalfillers:well,and,so

Additionalbackchannels:wow,yeah,yes

Oh Hmm Ah/Uh Um Well Isee Uh-huh Er Really Yeah/yes

¡  Manager:Jesse,I’vebeenmeaningtotalktoyou.Doyouhaveasecond?

¡  Jesse:Sure,What’sup?¡  Manager:Let’sgobacktotheofficeandsitdownbeforeyouget

intouniformforyourshift.¡  Jessie:OK!¡  Manager:Iwasjustdoingthepayrollforthelastpayperiodand

Inoticedthatyousignedinmorethan15minuteslateon3outofyourlast6shifts.Areyouhavingaproblemgettinghereafterschool?

¡  Jesse:Yes,IhavebeenhavingsometroublewithmymathclasswhichislastperiodandsometimesIhavetostayafewminutesafterclasstobesureIunderstandthehomeworkassignment.

¡  Fillerssignalthatthelistenerneedsalittletimetorespond

¡  Speakerscanusefillerstobuytimewhentheyhavenotfinishedspeaking§  (Willis,2003).

¡  Backchannelsletthelistenershowthattheyunderstandandwantthespeakertocontinue.

Whyteachthem?¡  Commoninconversation¡  Serveimportant

functions¡  Itwouldbeawkwardto

haveconversationswithoutthem(Willis,2003).

¡  Studentswhounderusethemmayhavedifficultyinnaturalcommunicationwithnativespeakers.

Fixedphrasesthatactasready-madelexicalunits,justlikewords

Createvaguenesswhenyoucannotbeordonotwanttobe

veryspecific

Modifytomodifyan

amountorbepolite

Markdiscoursestructures

toconnectideas

PossibleAnswers1.Bytheway2.Sortof3.abit4.speakingof5.alittlebit

6.Youknow7.stufflikethat8.kindof9.Imean10.AsIwassaying11.Orsomething12.quitealot13.plentyof

Createvaguenesswhenyoucannotbeordonotwanttobe

veryspecific

Modifytomodifyan

amountorbepolite

Markdiscoursestructures

toconnectideas

Sortof,kindof,stufflikethat,orsomething

Abit,alittlebit,

Quitealot,plentyof

Youknow,Imean,

asIwassaying,Bytheway,speakingof

Orso,moreorless,andsoon

Agreatdealof,alittle,alargenumberof,themajorityof

Ontheotherhand,basically,actually,

let’ssee

1.  Findthephrasalchunkinthevideoclipsofconversations

2.  Addphrasalchunkstoconversationsinthetextbookordialogueswrittenbystudents▪  Actoutthedialoguesfortheclass

MultipleGrammarfeaturesinoneexercise

¡  HaveSsinterviewanativespeakeroramoreadvancedspeakerofEnglishandrecordit.

¡  Havethemtranscribeitandhighlightthecharacteristicsofspokengrammarintheirtranscript.

¡  Toprepareforthis,Sscouldfirsttranscribeandanalyzetextsinclass

A:So,areyoufromLondon?B:Yep,Isuream.A:HowlonghaveyoulivedhereB:21years.A.Right,okay.So,uh,what’sthebestthingaboutit?B.Bestthing,there’salwayssomethingtodo,placestogo.There’slotsoftouristattractionsaroundhere.Um,things,that’sthemainthing,it’sthingstodo.YoucanneverbeboredinLondon.Alwaysplaces,thingstosee.

A:So,areyoufromLondon?B:Yep,Isuream.A:HowlonghaveyoulivedhereB:21years.(Ellipsis)A.Right,okay.So,uh,what’sthebestthingaboutit?(backchannel,filler)B.Bestthing,there’salwayssomethingtodo,placestogo.There’slotsoftouristattractionsaroundhere.Um,things,that’sthemainthing,it’sthingstodo.YoucanneverbeboredinLondon.(Yeah)Alwaysplaces,thingstosee.(head,filler,head,backchannel,ellipsis)

¡  DiscussfeaturesofspokenEnglish▪ Ellipsis▪ Heads▪ Tails▪ Fillers▪ Backchannels▪ PhrasalChunks

¡  DiscussRelevantPedagogicalIssues¡  Sharesomeactivitiesforteachingspokengrammar

Hilliard,Amanda(2014)SpokenGrammarandItsRoleintheEnglishClassroomInEnglishTeachingForum.(Vol52,4)

Availableat:www.americanenglish.state.gov

www.americanenglish.state.gov

Carter&McCarthy(1995).‘Spokengrammar:Whatisitandhowcanweteachit?’ELTJournal49(3),207–218.Cullen&Kuo(2007).‘SpokengrammarandELTcoursematerials:Amissinglink?’TESOLQuarterly41(2),361–386.Timmis(2009).‘“Tails”oflinguisticsurvival’.AppliedLinguistics31(3),325–345.

Willis(2003).Rules,patterns,andwords:GrammarandlexisinEnglishlanguageteaching.Cambridge,England:CambridgeUniversityPress