CONVERSATION STRATEGIES FOR COMMUNICATION

THIS SECTION WILL START STRATEGIES

1. IBC 5, 6 WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU *DON'T* UNDERSTAND : Being a good speaker

  • IBC5 to avoid breakdown
  • IBC6 to repair breakdown

2. IBC 7, 8 WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU *DO* UNDERSTAND : Being a good listener

  • IBC7 reflective listening, communication accommodation strategies

STRATEGIES TO AVOID BREAKDOWN

1. Planning (Oxford 1990): preparation and rehearsal before doing a speaking task

2. Hesitation (Wiese 1984): gaining time /using fillers /using repetition

um....uh....that's a hard question...let's see... What should I say?

3. Reduction strategies (Faerch and Kasper 1983): simplifying content and/or language to fit your capacity

4. Check for understanding

Do you understand what I mean? Is that ok?

TO REPAIR BREAKDOWN

5. Repair (Wiese 1984): correcting our own mistakes of language and content as we go along

I mean.... Oops.... No, wait...

I don't understand game

6. Saying "I don't know" and WHY

I don't know game

Selected activities from http://www.longman.com/opportunities/pdfs/help_speak.pdf Helping Secondary Students to Deal with Speaking by Michael Harris ____________________________________