blog




  • Essay / Overview of Conversation Strategies in Teaching

    Table of ContentsWhat is Conversation?Strategy #1: Formulated LanguageStrategy #2: Prosodic CharacteristicsStrategy #3: Taking TurnsStrategy #4: Asking and provide clarificationStrategy #5: Ask follow-up questions and make commentsStrategy #6: Watch without soundStrategy #7: Change the subjectMy experience teaching young learners has confirmed that speaking plays a vital role in the language class. Although most activities aim to provide good speaking opportunities, in fact little explicit speaking teaching takes place. A recent interview with international students from eight different countries (China, Morocco, Spain, India, Haiti, Jordan, Iraq and France) showed that their main goal in taking English courses is to speak fluently, correctly and with trust ; They also added that they had a lot of difficulty with this skill when they wanted to give and respond to presentations/conversations because they lacked strategies or did not know how to speak as they had phrased it. Unfortunately, these learners fail terribly when they have to speak to native speakers. Fundamental to this fact, I have noticed that my students are incapable, for example, of taking turns, of asking for clarifications and repetitions and also of communicating well in formal situations by maintaining good use of prosodic features, body language and repair. Therefore, a choice of this skill was perceived based on this data to help them improve their oral strategies and teach them to speak better. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get an original essay What is conversation? In order to better understand speaking strategies, we need to understand what the word “conversation” means ". In a conversation, we usually have two or more members who are part of a collective activity in which they communicate interactively using nonverbal cues and linguistic patterns. Strategy #1: Formulated language According to Wray (2002), formulated language is a linguistic term linked to Standard verbal form of expressions whose meaning lacks authenticity and which integrates behavioral implications and linked to a pragmatically communicative context. Formal language favors a large percentage of authentic speech from native speakers. This includes pause fillers, e.g. "Like", "Um" or "Uhm" and some conversational speech idioms, e.g. "Are you kidding", "Excuse me?" or “Wait a minute.” Strategy #2: Prosodic Features Prosodic features, also known as suprasegmental phonology, are features that appear when the sounds of connected speech are put together. Intonation is an important element of the prosodic characteristics of English. It is a concerted term because it is used to describe changes in pitch, tempo, loudness, and rhythm. These characteristics are also part of intonation, stress and rhythm. Weak and loud syllables in English are strongly related to volume, which is also mentioned in nuclear syllables with particular importance. In some conversations, loudness is linked to other effects like anger, which can also be noticed in prolonged speech. Strategy #3: Taking Turns Conversation success is measured by knowing how speakers take, hold, and give up their turns in a conversation. . The first characteristic to clarify is the socket.