2015-08-21
278
Mask the right-hand side of the table and complete the dialogue between a native speaking English language teacher in California and a visiting student from Japan. After that compare your “script” with the authentic version.
| Teacher | Student |
| How are you? Good, good. How long have you been here in the United States? Oh, do you like it? Do you like it here? Are you here for the first time? Are you in Los Angeles for the first time? First time, oh Good. Are you a student in Japan? You’re a worker. What kind of work do you do? Official! Ah you work for the government What is it? Can you tell me what is that? Right Ah, you work for the city Do you talk to people? Do you write letters? You write… good! | I am fine thank you I’ve been about three weeks. About three weeks Yes, I like it very much Yes, I … first time Yes, I … first time No, I am not. I am a worker I am … Official No Um … city City Write, write I was working three years |
(The student is a male Japanese office worker in his mid twenties for an intensive summer course in Los Angeles. Adapted from Larsen-Freeman, D. and M. Long. 1991. An Introduction to Second Language Acquisition Research. Longman. P. 146-147)
Discourse is an approach to the text studies, which emphasises the social use of the language and the organisation of the meaningful message. The concept of discourse stresses the dynamic character of the meaning creation in the process of communication (Cook, G. 1989. Discourse. OUP. McCarthy, M. 1991. Discourse Analysis for Language Teachers. CUP. Widdowson, H. 1990. Aspects of Language Teaching. OUP). Discourse can be both oral and written. It operates the following major categories: cohesion (surface links between the textual elements with the help of verbal connectives, e.g. "in fact", "although", word repetitions, topical words, synonyms, superordinate words, e.g. “fracture – injury ”, using general words, e.g. “temperature, headache… and things …”, use of reference pronouns e.g. “the earthquake … it …” etc.); coherence (the whole text “hanging together” due to consistency of the textual contents with the central idea, logical organisation and relevance to the reality that is available to the reader); register (the choice of language most relevant to the circumstances of communication, e.g. professional register of the medicine) (Nunan, D., 1993. Introducing Discourse Analysis. Penguin Books). Discourse analysis studies how the language users actually use the language in real world situations and make sense. Discourse analysis, therefore, is always done with a reference to the situational setting, in which the language was used. E.g. in the following exchange “Going home?” – “It’s Wednesday” the message of the conversation can be understood if we know that in France schools are closed on Wednesday and that is why both the question of an adult and the reply of the child make sense.
