Speaking: Accuracy to Fluency

Gerard McLoughlinInternational House, Barcelona

TESOL-SPAIN 35th AnnualNationalConventionMarch 9-11, 2012 - Universidad de Deusto, Bilbao

SpokenfluencyrevisitedMichael McCarthy Universityof Nottingham, UK

• <CANDIDATE 01>Erwhen do youhavebreakfast?• <CANDIDATE 02> I have my breakfaster at erseveno’clock. • <CANDIDATE 01>Where do youhavebreakfast? • <CANDIDATE 02>Er in my kitchen in my house• <CANDIDATE 01> In whatroom? • <CANDIDATE 02> In thekitchen. • <CANDIDATE 01>And do youhavecoffeeor tea forbreakfast? • <CANDIDATE 02>Er tea. • <CANDIDATE 01>Erwhat do youeat?• <CANDIDATE 02> I eattoastand a cupof tea.• <CANDIDATE 01> How manydayser how many times a day do youhaveit?• <CANDIDATE 02>Ertwo times. [4 seconds pause]• <CANDIDATE 02>Sorry I don’tunderstandyou. Repeatthesentenceplease• . <CANDIDATE 01> How many times a day do youhavebreakfast? • <CANDIDATE 02>One time a dayofcourse!

• <Examiner>Firstofallwe’dliketo know a littlebitaboutyou. Ermwheredo youbothlive?

• <Candidate 01> I live in (place name) in SouthKoreayes.• <Candidate 02>And I live in (place name). It’s in

Switzerlandandit’snear Zurich. • <Examiner> (Candidatename) how long

haveyoubeenstudyingEnglish? • <Candidate 01>Wellactually I studyEnglishmm in junior

highschoolandhighschoolforsixyearsaroundforsixyears. • <Examiner>Differentclasses. Good.

NowI’dlikeyoutoaskeachothersomethingaboutthingsyouparticularlylikeabout living in this country andentertainmentandleisurefacilitiesin thisarea. [interveningtext]

• <Candidate 02>Erm I liketogoermtosee a movie• <Candidate 01>Mm• <Candidate 02>I see a lotofthemsinceI’vebeenhereand I liketogoto

pubs and +• <Candidate 01>Ah• <Candidate 02>+togetherwithfriendsand -• <Candidate 01>-Yeah me tooactually

Disappearing dialogues

A: Did youhave a good weekend?

B: Yeah, I did, thanks. Itwasreallynice.

A: Whatdidyou do?

B: Well, I wenttovisit a friend in London.

A: Ohyes? Did youhave a good time?

B: Yes, itwasgreat. Wehad a reallygood time. WewentdancingonSaturday night.

© Framework, Jones &Goldstein, Richmond 2005

Predict

A: Hi, GoodMorning.

B: Oh, Hello. How are you? WhathappenedtoyoulastFriday?

A: Yes, sorry I couldn’t come toclass. I wasill.

B: That’s OK. Are youfeelingbetternow?

A: Yes, muchbetterthanks. Can yougive me thepapersfromlastweek?

B: Yes, ofcourse. Hereyou are.

A: Great. Thanks. I’lllook at themtonight.

B: OK. No problem.

© Innovations, Dellar&Walkley, Heinle 2005

Shadowing

D: Oh, and I saw John a coupleofdays ago.

M: Ohyes! How was he?

D: Verywell. Did you know he’sgot a newgirlfriend?

M: No, I didn’t. Butyou know yourbrother, he nevertells me anything. Haveyoumet her?

D: Yes, shewastherewhen I wenttohishouse.

M: andwhat’sshelike?

D: She’sreallynice. She’sveryinteresting, sheworks in anartgalleryandshelikespainting.

© Innovations, Dellar& Walker, Heinle 2005

Daily chats

• Restaurant

• Film

• Football

• Weekend…..

Matchingsentencehalves

• went out for a mealThe last time I

• fairly basic but cleanThe restaurant was

• go there when you want toimpress visitors

You should really

•…………The last time I

•…………The restaurant was

•…………You should really

1 del arte de curar, claro está. Del suyo respectivo, otro tanto podrían d

2 del Atlántico pero también del Pacífico. Está claro para los expertos, las academias

3 como para los que no lo son, y está claro que "puede" servir para todas

4 ocurre hoy en la España de las autonomías? - Sí, claro, y la Academia no puede

5 el punto de partida es rigurosamente claro, y Lázaro se remonta al Diálogo de la

6 el dueño le contestó que bien claro estaba lo que allí decía: "Capancalá".

7 "Para los católicos está claro que sólo hay un "HeiligerVater" (el Papa), per

8 En castellano no puede estar más claro que ese ambiguo "su" de "todo el mundo"

9 la palabra que lo nombra tomó el color del claro brillante y se formó con

10 sólamente queremos dejar claro que estos contrastes entonativos tienen en la l

http://corpus.rae.es/creanet.html

Corpus data: Chunks

Two Three Four Five six

You know I don’t know You know whatI

You know whatI mean

Do you know what I mean

I mean A lotof Know what I mean

At theendofthe At theendoftheday

I think I mean I I don’t know what

Do you know what I

Andalltherestofit

In the I don’tthink Theendofthe Theendoftheday

Andallthatsortofthing

Itwas Do youthink At theendof Do youwantme to

I don’t know whatitis

Chunks&Fluency

// he’s SHY//you know whati MEAN

//theysellJEWellery//and THAT sortofthing//

//the ROOM was//a BIT of a//MESS actually

© From corpus toclassroom, Language use andlanguageteaching, O’Keefe, McCarthy, Carter, CUP 2007

D: Oh, and I SAW JOHN a COUpleof DAYS ago.

M: Oh YES! How was HE?

D: Very WELL. Did you KNOW he’sgot a NEW GIRLfriend?

M: NO, I Didn’t. butyou KNOW yourBROther, he NEvertells ME ANYthing. haveyou MET her?

D: YES, shewas THERE when I WENT tohis HOUSE.

M: andWHAT’Sshe LIKE?

D: She’s REALLY NICE. She’sveryINteresting, she WORKS in anART GALleryandshelikesPAINting.

Confluence

• Listenership

• Minimal response: Mm, Yeah, Lovely

• Clusters: Yeahmm, Right Fine

• Negation: Absolutelynot, Definitelynot

• Convergence: Closing/changingtopic

© From corpus toclassroom, Language use andlanguageteaching, O’Keefe, McCarthy, Carter, CUP 2007

Pre-closingandclosingroutines

S2: Theylookverygood

S1: Thanksforthat

S2: Theylookverygood

S1: Great

S2: Yes

S1: Fabulous

S2: Allright

S1: Okthanksforthat

S2: Okay, Cesca

S1: Cheers

S2: Bye

Opening&Closing

Conversation&dailychat

In a bar/café

At a bus stop

In a waitingroom

Place Openingphrase Closingphrase

In a bar/café Isthisseat free? Sorry,I’vegottogo

At a bus stop Isthisthe stop forthe 27? That’s my bus

In a waitingroom Beenwaiting long? Nice meeting you

Decisionmaking

• Suggestion =>

• Agree => modification/negotiation => Agree/Disagree etc =>Summary

• Disagree => negotiation/new suggestion => Agree/Disagree etc => Summary

Class data

Pre: ‘you can going to walking’

Post: ‘we could go walking’,

Pre: ‘the car is difficult’ and ‘drink… and see the artists’,

Post: ‘I’m sorry, I don’t really like it, because I live next to the Borne, but we could go to your house’; ‘that’s a great idea, and we could make a picnic’;

Function Exponent

Makingsuggestions Could wegotothebeach?

Whydon’twegotothebeach?

(I think) Wecouldgotothebeach.

Agreeing That’s a great idea!

Disagreeing I’mnotsure (aboutthat)

Negotiating: afteragreeing ..andwecould/mightgoswimmingtoo

afterdisagreeing Perhaps/Maybewecould/shouldgoto…

Summarising So, we’reallagreedto….

So. We’regoingto….

How?

• Memorisation

• Chunking

• Noticing

“My boyfriend’s really into, like, mountain climbing

and stuff like that, so every year he spends, you know,

a couple of weeks or so in the Alps or somewhere. And for six

months, more or less, before he goes, he goes running and lifts

weights and so on. It kind of worries me when he’s up a mountain

or something, but I’m sort of getting used to it now.”

“My boyfriend’s really into, like, mountain climbing

and stuff like that, so every year he spends, you know,

a couple of weeks or so in the Alps or somewhere. And for six

months, more or less, before he goes, he goes running and lifts

weights and so on. It kind of worries me when he’s up a mountain

or something, but I’m sort of getting used to it now.”

Vague Language

Expression

• likeyou know

• kind ofsort of

• somewhereor somethingstuff like thatso on

• or somore or less

Purpose/Function

Vague Language

Expression

• likeyou know

• kind ofsort of

• somewhereor somethingstuff like thatso on

• or somore or less

Purpose/Function

• Fillers - give the speaker extra time to think about what they are going to say

• Softeners – soften a meaning, make it sound less definite or certain

• Imprecise Descriptions – indicate that the speaker does not know the precise details or does not feel it’s necessary to list every possibility, detail or example

• Approximations – indicate that the number or amount stated is an approximate

Your Last Holiday

•Where did you go?

•Who did you go with?

•Where did you stay?

•What sights did you see?

•What was the food like?

•Would you go back?

you know…

like…

…..or something

…or somewhere

sort of

kind of

…and stuff like that

…and so on

more or less

…or so…

Try using these expressions…

Bibliography

Framework, Jones &Goldstein, Richmond

Innovations, Dellar&Walkley, Heinle

Spokenfluencyrevistited, McCarthy, EnglishProfile Journal 2010

From corpus toclassroomLanguage use andLanguageteaching, O’Keefe, McCarthy, Carter, CUP

Johnny Deppinterviewhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEaTOSRMifU

HofeshScheckterinterview:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_320PSjNok

THANK YOU!!!

Gerard McLoughlin

gerardmcl@gmail.com