{"id":2848,"date":"2012-02-19T15:05:53","date_gmt":"2012-02-19T15:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eltchat.com\/?p=2848"},"modified":"2012-02-19T15:05:53","modified_gmt":"2012-02-19T15:05:53","slug":"how-to-help-students-remember-and-reuse-functional-language-eltchat-summary-01022012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/2012\/02\/19\/how-to-help-students-remember-and-reuse-functional-language-eltchat-summary-01022012\/","title":{"rendered":"How to help students remember and reuse functional language #ELTchat Summary 01\/02\/2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a summary of the #eltchat which took place at\u00a012noon GMT on Wednesday 1st February, 2012. \u00a0Thanks to Andrea Wade, alias @worldteacher for posting it on her blog World Teacher<\/a> and giving us permission to repost here.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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Summary – Remembering & Reusing Functional Language<\/span><\/h2>\n

I was joining the chat for the first time since relocating to Vietnam a few months ago, but was immediately made to feel welcome – just like I’d never been away!\u00a0 The discussion was moderated superbly by\u00a0@Marisa_C<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0@Shaunwilden<\/strong>\u00a0and was, as usual, informative and thought-provoking…..<\/p>\n

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How do we define ‘functional language’?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a>We started the discussion by defining our terms.\u00a0@SimonGreenall<\/strong>‘s definition –\u00a0‘<\/em>Functions and their exponents are the practical realisation in language acts of theoretical structures’<\/em>\u00a0– though mightily impressive, needed translating into layman’s terms for the mere mortals amongst us!\u00a0@TeachEslToday<\/strong>\u00a0suggested that,\u00a0‘<\/em>Functions are the practical realisation of grammar, grammar put into the real world’<\/em>. There was broad agreement that we were talking about language which\u00a0fulfills a specific\u00a0purpose – making requests, offering to help, making suggestions, apologising, interrupting, making a phone call, giving thanks, taking your leave, giving directions, ordering in a restaurant,\u00a0etc..\u00a0 We also concurred that functional language begins at starter level with exponents such as classroom language, telling the time and greetings and, because many of them are fixed expressions, they can be learnt relatively easily even if they are structurally complex.\u00a0 For example, we can teach, ‘Would you like to…..?’ ‘Yes, I would\/no, I wouldn’t’ at beginner level in a functional syllabus, but not until much later in a grammar\/structure driven syllabus.<\/p>\n

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@TeachEslToday<\/strong>\u00a0made the distinction between ‘functions’ (what people want to do with the language) and ‘notions’ (the meanings people want to convey) and suggested that any syllabus must be based on learners’ social communicative needs which would involve both.<\/p>\n

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@PatrickAndrews<\/strong>\u00a0posed the question, ‘Doesn’t all language fulfill a function?’\u00a0 This was largely agreed with, though it was pointed out that the function which particular language fulfills depends on the context.<\/p>\n

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@Marisa_C<\/strong>\u00a0summed up this part of the discussion by asking us\u00a0– ‘So do\u00a0we all\u00a0agree that morphology rules (of form) are not enough – meaning\/concept\/notion are important, but function and intention are crucial?’<\/p>\n

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So to the focus of the chat:<\/p>\n

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How do we help students to remember and reuse functional language?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

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It was widely felt that the best way to help students remember this language was to give them a context, a personal one, if possible.\u00a0 Merely giving them lists of functions is not enough as it isn’t generative and it doesn’t help students to sort language.\u00a0 It was pointed out that functions are most often taught around a context and\/or situation anyway and that coursebooks introduce them in this way so that even the most clueless teacher has a chance!\u00a0 We all seemed to agree that the communicative approach was best and that we needed to make students see the practical use of the language through\u00a0roleplays, live listenings, dialogues, and getting them to use the functions to\u00a0speak about themselves, their world and their experiences.\u00a0 It was pointed out that it is probably easier to contextualise language to adults rather than to children as adults have more experience to refer to.<\/p>\n

Before we got carried away with the idea that context is the be all and end all, though,@Marisa_C<\/strong>\u00a0reminded us that, whilst it is the key for memory, form awareness is more generative.<\/p>\n

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So, how do we get students to notice functional language?\u00a0\u00a0@ShaunWilden<\/strong>\u00a0suggested that a natural step would be to use the transcripts of listening exercises, something which I make a point of doing every time.\u00a0\u00a0@michaelegriffin<\/strong>‘s advice was to use test-teach-test, where students do a roleplay using the language, then hear it done by others and then do it again.\u00a0\u00a0@Marisa_C\u00a0<\/strong>agreed, but added that well-taught ppp for lower levels was also effective.<\/p>\n

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Once students have noticed the language, they have to be taught how to sort it, in terms of formality, for example.\u00a0 This could be done by giving them a range of roleplays, each showing a different use, from formal to casual.\u00a0 Students could also do roleplays where they choose their own level of formality and classmates have to guess the identity of and relationship between the participants.\u00a0 A handy tip for students would be to tell them that the more complicated the exponent, the more formal it is (e.g. ‘Would you mind awfully if ….’).<\/p>\n

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We were advised by\u00a0@OUPELTGlobal\u00a0<\/strong>not\u00a0<\/strong>to give too many examples of a particular function when teaching it as that can make remembering it difficult.\u00a0\u00a0Limiting the number of forms to the level is key.<\/p>\n

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Repetition is also important for remembering functional language.\u00a0 Constant exposure to the form and repeated use of it are crucial.\u00a0 Drilling is especially useful as intonation in functional exponents is very important and often neglected.\u00a0 I agree with this, but\u00a0voiced my concern\u00a0that perhaps we should be wary of too much emphasis being placed on intonation.\u00a0 My students love to ham it up and can end up sounding ridiculous!\u00a0 However, as Shaun and Marisa pointed out, at least if they are hamming it up deliberately, then they know what the intonation should be and they can always be encouraged to tone it down in a real-life situation.\u00a0\u00a0@TeachEslToday\u00a0<\/strong>gave us a good tip when teaching intonation – students listen to a short dialogue from a movie they like and then they try to imitate the intonation using the transcript.<\/p>\n

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When it comes to reusing functional language,\u00a0@ShaunWilden\u00a0<\/strong>told us that he likes using video without sound so that students have to guess the exponents from the situation and paralinguistic features.\u00a0 Comic strips could be used in a similar way.<\/p>\n

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We were also reminded of the value of live listenings in that they\u00a0demonstrate real language in use complete with pauses, repetitions, doubts, etc. – something that students have to get used to.<\/p>\n

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Useful links<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n
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