Communicative Functions and Communications strategies
Topic 1
What to Teach
Communicative functions and communication strategies are two ways of thinking about language that will help students with their speaking skills. Pronunciation can be integrated at every level of language learning.
Topic 2
How to Teach
Effective use of pair and group work will help to maximize students' talk time. Giving feedback in a variety of ways will keep your students engaged and increase their motivation.
[17/05, 00:07] Ms. Ema: Preview the Lesson
Here are the Key Professional Terms that you will learn in this lesson. Click on a word or phrase to see the meaning and listen to its pronunciation. When you are finished, click Submit.
Key Professional Terms
circumlocution
(n) a communication strategy which uses an indirect or descriptive way to express meaning; for example, a person may not know the word for "zebra," so he or she may say, “It’s like a horse with black and white stripes.”
communication strategy
(n) a strategy learners can use to communicate when they have limited knowledge of grammar or vocabulary; for example, learners might use their hands to describe an unknown word, or learners might invent a word as a substitute for an unknown word.
communicative function
(n) a description of types of things we do with language; for example, some functions are: requesting, promising, complaining, asking for directions, giving instructions. (also called speech functions)
conjunction
(n) a word that functions as a connector, such as and, but, and because
controlled activity
(n) An activity that asks students to use a limited amount of language; students usually have a limited set of responses; drills, multiple-choice, and cloze activities are examples of controlled activities.
drill
(n) a type of practice activity where students say or write the same types of words, phrases, or grammatical structures repeatedly
echo question
(n) a short yes/no question that repeats the verb or auxiliary verb from the first speaker’s sentence, used to show interest or surprise; for example
A: I’m going on vacation next week.
B: Are you?
A: She went to Paris last year.
B: Did she?
explicit
(adj) describes a style of teaching where rules are explained in words, not just shown from examples; describes teaching about something, or drawing attention to something when you teach; for example, when a teacher tells students how to scan a text and why they do it
explicitl (adv)
formulaic language
(n) fixed chunks of language; for example, How are you?, Fine, thanks., What do you do?
group work
(n) the instructional use of small groups so that students work together to maximize their own and each other’s learning; for example, a teacher may put students in a group to plan a presentation or speech.
model
(v) to give an example as a way of explaining something or showing students what they are supposed to do, such as modeling the language to introduce oneself by saying, “Hello, my name is X.”
(n) an example of writing that students read and analyze for content, organization, and language before they write a similar text. For example, students read a postcard, they talk about the information in it, how the content is organized, language the writer used, and then write their own postcard.
open-ended activity
(n) an activity that allows students to use their own ideas rather than just choosing from a set of options; each student usually has a different answer.
pair work
(n) the instructional use of pairs so that two students work together to maximize their own and each other’s learning, for example, putting students in pairs to ask and answer questions about their free time activities
positive feedback
(n) information provided to a student that shows what he/she is doing well or right
PPP
(n) (Present-Practice-Produce) a standard lesson sequence that teachers often use; first is Present: the teacher presents language to the students. Next is Practice: the students practice using the language. Last is Produce: students use the language freely.
question tags
(n) abbreviated question forms that follow statements; a question tag is part of the same sentence. ("You understand, don’t you?" "You don’t understand, do you?")
rephrasing
(n) a communication strategy in which the listener uses the information understood from the speaker and rephrases it as a question to confirm understanding, for example:
A: I went on a trip to Miami.
B: You went to Miami on a trip?
role-play
(n) a classroom activity where the teacher gives pairs or groups of students a role to act out using language they have learned; for example, one student may act as a shop clerk, and the other someone shopping.
syllable
(n) A single unit of sound; one or more syllables make up a word. Syllables in English have many possible structures. A syllable can be just one vowel sound, as in the word a; a consonant + vowel sound (CV), as in do; CVC (did); CCVC (stop); CVCC (past); CCVCC (stops) and other combinations. Dictionaries show how these sounds are divided in written words. For example, understand has three syllables (un-der-stand).
talk time
(n) the amount of time that a student or teacher talks during a class
[17/05, 00:08] Ms. Ema: Topic 1: What to Teach
Look at the picture of two students talking. Think about the language the students use to make a request and a promise. Then read the text.
Communicative Functions
People use language to express ideas, but they also use it to do things. As was discussed in Unit 1, communicative functions describe what we do with language. Examples of functions are: requesting, promising, complaining, asking for directions, and giving instructions. In the picture, the student on the left is making a request. He wants his classmate to call him about a school project. His classmate promises to do this. He says, OK and uses will.
You can express a single function with a variety of grammatical structures. Often formulaic language is used. These fixed phrases are useful for students to learn.
For example:
Making suggestions: Let's go to the movies. (imperative following let's) / Why don't we go to the movies? (question with negative do + not)
Giving advice: You should go home. (modal should) / You'd better go home. (modal had better) / Why don't you go home? (question with negative do + not)
Many course books identify communicative functions as the learning outcome for a speaking activity or sequence of activities.
Spoken versus Written Language
Spoken language is different from written language. Some features of informal spoken language are:
contractions (I'm, we're)
shorter sentences (Yes, it is.)
more frequent questions, as well as question tags (It's nice today, isn't it?) and echo questions (Is it?)
sentences starting with conjunctions such as and, so, but, and because
Some features of more formal spoken languages are:
using phrases for interrupting and taking your turn to speak (and other communication strategies). For example, May I ask a question? I'd like to make an additional point here, if I may.
expressions for introducing and connecting ideas. For example, Today I'm going to talk about . . . As I have already mentioned . . . Although we haven't discussed this in detail yet . . .
In order to practice these aspects of spoken language, students need practice with informal speaking situations, such as conversations and discussions, as well as more formal ones, such as debates and presentations.
