English Tenses

Past Perfect Present Perfect Future Perfect

Past Progressive Present Progressive Future Progressive

Past Simple Present Simple Future Simple

Past Simple Present Simple Suture Simple Russian Tenses

Exploratory task 2.9

In a variety of cultures different colours have different associations. You will find below the associations that colours have with British and American people. Compare these with the associations that colours have in your native culture.

Colours	English associations	Your own associations
Red	Danger, alert, romantic love, embarrassment (red in the face), excitement (paint the town red), communism,
Green	Nature, Ireland, environment protection, ecologically friendly, lacking experience, jealousy and envy (green with engy), sick
Purple	Kings and queens, Pope of Rome, extremely angry (purple in the face)
Blue	Uniforms, Conservative party, factory workers, cold, royal family (blue blooded)
Pink	Women, girls, homosexual men,
Grey	Dull and boring, old age
Black	Formal clothes, social occasions, death and evil magic, disapproved behaviour ( Black sheep)
White	Purity, moral goodness, scare (White as sheet), loosing a battle (white flag), social class (white collar)

(Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture. Longman. 1998. P. 785-786)

Exploratory task 2.10

Match the euphemisms with the socially forbidden language (taboos)

Euphemisms	Taboos
Casket	Visit a toilet
Fall asleep	Drunk
Put down	Coffin
After a long illness	Pregnant
Not all there	Kill the stray dogs
Make a visit	Pornography
Make a penny	Cancer
Be economical with the truth	Tell lies
Adult video	Mentally abnormal
In the family way	Urinate
Tired and emotional	Die

An important domain of linguistic theory is translation, i.e. conveying messages across linguistic and cultural barriers of meaning, form, register, style, idiomatic language (Duff, A.1990. Translation. OUP).

Exploratory task 2.11

Match the following phrases and the barriers that you have to overcome in order to translate them.

Phrases	Barriers
Keep well out of reach of children This is simply begging the question I never put on toughness “Taste of India” Narcolepsy is a medical condition Ah, that cliff-hanger again Travel broadens the mind	Meaning Form Register Style Idiomatic language Context Language gap

The increased attention to linguistic performance brought the scholars to communicative linguistics (Widdowson, H. 1978. Teaching Language as a Communication. OUP. Crystal, D. 1992. Introducing Linguistics. London: Penguin. Halliday, M. 1989. Spoken and Written Language. OUP.) The research into the language in the process of communication contributed to the studies of how to teach communicatively. The situation resulted in the emergence of communicative teaching method (Savignon, S. 1972. Communicative Competence: An Experiment in Foreign Language Teaching. Philadelphia. Littlewood, W. 1981. Communicative Language Teaching. CUP et al). Communicative teaching focused on the development of communicative competence (Hymes, D. 1971. On Communicative Competence. University of Pennsylvania Press. Canale, M. And M. Swain. 1980. Theoretical bases of communicative approach to second language teaching and testing. Applied Linguistics. 1: 1-47. Bachman, L. 1990. Fundamental Considerations in Language Testing. OUP) in learners, i.e. the knowledge of how to use the language for the purpose of communication in a variety of tasks and settings (Bygate, M. 1987. Speaking. OUP).

Exploratory tasks 2.12

Communicative competence is inseparable from the knowledge of proper behaviour. In the list given below tick off the traits that can damage your image of a good office worker.

Traits	
Interrupting people
Talking loudly in front of somebody’s desk
Arriving late for a meeting
Eating at your desk
Make personal telephone calls
Reading newspapers
Chewing gum
Keeping cuddly toys on your desk
Putting up witty slogans
Never fetch a colleague a drink from the machine
Not to hold the lift door open when others are approaching
Not to keep the swinging door open when others are approaching

(From O’Connell, S. 1999. Focus on Advanced English. Longman. P. 49)

Increased interest emerged towards the natural language studies, and interaction views on language (Crystal, D. 1992. Introducing Linguistics. London: Penguin. Halliday, M. 1989. Spoken and Written Language. OUP). Interaction in communication is described with the two major terms interaction and transaction both meaning the collaboration of participants in communication but with a significant difference between them. Transactional function of the language is information transferring. It is message oriented and is performed to get things done. Interactional function of the language is partner oriented and is performed to maintain social relationship by expressing greetings, opinions, agreements and disagreements between the participants (Brown, G., and G. Yule. 1997. Teaching the Spoken Language. CUP. P. 25-53). Transactional and interactional language functions do not correspond directly to the monologue and the dialogue as both are performed through the interactive collaboration of the participants. Transactional talk is more likely to produce longer turns thus bringing the speech event closer to a succession of monologues.

Exploratory task 2.13

Use the following prompts to produce conversations with your partner. Find the difference in the conversations. Which of them is “transactional” and which is “interactional”?

Conversation 1	Conversation 2
Greeting a friend Weather talk Compliment Compliment Invitation Accepting Fixing date and time Closing	Greeting a partner Returning greeting Stating a problem Expressing surprise Suggesting reasons Suggesting solutions Predicting consequences Promising support

Exploratory task 2.14

Match the “phrases” and the “responses” in the following mini-dialogues. What language features have you noticed in the “responses”?

Phrases	Responses
… you will have seen a lot of changes if you’ve lived in Edinburgh	Terrible!
… there was no electricity and there were trees and everything all over the road … it was quite frightening	hmm …
… the next day they went round people’s houses …	… well …yes … ah …really …most of them not very nice actually …a few quite nice ones …

(Adapted from Brown, G., and G. Yule. 1997. Teaching the Spoken Language. CUP. P.28-31)

Exploratory task 2.15

A typical feature of interactional language is “short turns” in conversation, i.e. short stretches of utterance with a lot of elliptical structures. Supply the “phrases” to the “responses” producing mini-dialogues. Some phrases have been done for you

Phrase	Responses (short turns)
A/ - - - Could you give me a hand? - - - B/ - This diet does look very healthy - - C/ - - - Do you know I’ve won a lottery? D/ - - Manchester United has lost a game! E/ Here’s a Christmas present for you -	Yes, of course Right Right, I will Sure, of course Sorry, I can’t I really can’t manage it, sorry I’m afraid not Yes, it is (does) Yes, that’s right Of course it is (does) Quite, absolutely true Well, not really Not quite, no Not as bad as that Oh, I didn’t know Really? Is that so? You sure? Lovely! Quite nice

Interest in the naturally occurring conversations is that this language is different from “scripted dialogues” made purposefully for the English language course books. Scripted dialogues may only sound “authentic like” but they have some conventions that can be immediately recognised by the native speakers as “artificially made” language.

Exploratory task 2.16

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.

Exploratory task 2.17

Read the following excerpt from the business letter and analyse this type of discourse in the space provided

Letter Head Addressee Date Dear … …Following our telephone call I confirm that we will meet at the Munich Fair on Thursday 24 sometime during the morning. I look forward to the opportunity to discuss some of our products and services with you and am confident that there will be plenty to interest you. I enclose some information which you may like to look at before you come to Munich. It would be very nice if we could meet socially while in Munich. I wonder if you would be free to join me and some colleagues for a meal in the city on the Thursday evening? We are planning to meet at around 8.30 for dinner at the Hilton Hotel. Do let me know if you can join us and of course we would be pleased if you were able to bring a colleague or partner. We look forward to … Very best wishes, John Calmat (Adapted from Sweeney, S. 1997. English for Business Communication. CUP. P. 12)

Cohesion devices (prepositions, conjunctions, topical words)

Coherence devices (background situation, logic, reader’s available reality)

Register (field-related vocabulary)

An important field of the research into discourse matters is the conversation analysis. Among others it includes the following points of analysis: opening and closing of the conversation (how people start and close their talk, e.g. the closing of the telephone talk is usually something like "I'd better go. - Ok - Yeah, OK - Talk to you later. - Ok. So … See you … - Yeah, OK. Bye for now. - Bye"); turn-taking (taking turns with signals that the speaker either wants to continue or is ready to listen); interruptions (the ways humans join in the conversation or interrupt to change the subject, to correct etc) (Nunan. D., 1993. Introducing Discourse Analysis. Penguin Books. P. 84-90). Other features of analysis can include accepting and refusing (how people accept the offers and refuse them), reacting to accepting and refusing offers (how people in the natural setting react to their offers being accepted or refused etc.

Exploratory task 2.18

1. Make up a short dialogue “Inviting a friend for a walk”

A/ B/ A/ B/

Read the following conversations and answer the questions that follow

I was gonna say if you wanted to I could show you around the city centre. Well I do not know if I’d want to see all that… a/ It’s really interesting

How does “a” open the conversation? How does “b” refuse the offer? How does “a” react to the refusal? Why does “a” use the phrase “It’s really interesting?”

(Tip: the conclusion based on numerous examples is that following a rejection, speakers typically reformulate their offers thus continuing to put the offer through or in any case to “save the face” and to raise the importance of their offer)

2. Make up a short dialogue “Asking the way in the street”

A/ B/ A/ B/ A/ B/

Read the following dialogue and answer the questions

Do you know where that office is? It would be round the corner Oh, yeah to the right… Behind that high rising building… Yeah, yeah I understand… Next to it. There will be an elevation…

How does “a” open the conversation? How does “b” react to the question? How does “a” signal comprehension? What is “b”’s next step? What makes “b” continue with explanations?

(Tip: In case of a request for information the speaker whose role is to provide the information usually resorts to “redundancy” i.e. gives more information than is actually necessary) (Adapted from Nunan, D. 1993. Introducing Discourse Analysis. Penguin Books. P. 115-126).

Exploratory task 2.19

Conversations occurring between a native speaker and a non-native speaker can be impeded for a number of reasons. Match the conversations given below with the difficulties that the non-native speaking student experiences in the UK

Conversations	Difficulties
Student: I’d like to go to the city centre. I wonder if you could call the taxi. Porter: Where do you want to go? Student: Hm? Porter: Where do you want to go? Student: No, no … Porter: Where to? Student: Ah, thank you very much	A. Impeded pronunciation
Student: Excuse me, would you take this blue watch out? Assistant: Which one? This one? Student: No, this one, no, that one, not this line, this line, the blue one … Assistant: Oh, that one Student: No, here, next …	B. Impeded communication
Student: Excuse me, I want to go to Walkabout. Driver: Where? Student: Walkabout. It’s a kind of Australian New Zealand bar… Does this bus … to … Driver: I don’t know where you are talking about … (Adapted from Walkinshaw, I. 1999. Immersion in an English-Speaking culture: Learning to Swim in the Deep End. IATEFL Issues. December. P. 16-18)	C. Impeded comprehension

In an attempt to understand how human language works in reality was shown in the aspects of Sociolinguistics. It studies the relationship between language and society and the diversity of languages. Sociolinguistics can study ethnography of language such as formulas of politeness, terms of address and other socially accepted behaviour. It can analyse speech repertoires in social groupings (e.g. communicative repertoire in a modern office) and dialects (language variations as a result of geographical locations). Interest can be taken in gender differences such as anti-sexist campaigns (the use of s/he pronouns) and slang (jargon typical of social group to mark solidarity of its members, e.g. Cockney in London). The study of social class distinctions in speech as well as language authenticity an become an object of research too (Spolsky, B. 1998. Sociolinguistics. OUP.)

Exploratory task 2.20

Match the following conversational words and expressions with their formal counterparts

Conversational language	Formal language
Pricey	Gloomy
Choosy	Nice to hug
Nosy	With unpleasant odour
Roomy	Unreliable (person)
Handy	Easy to handle
Dodgy	Much space
Smelly	Prying (person)
Cuddly	Difficult to please
Moody	Expensive

Exploratory task 2.21

Indicate the differences between the two dialogues. One of them has been created with the language structures in mind. The other one is “authentic like” and has been created by a native speaker for teaching purposes

Non-authentic text	Authentic-like text
Do you like this bird? Yes I like it very much Where do they live? They live in the trees In what country do they live? They live in America Oh. You know very much	Gosh! How gorgeous! Yeah! Where do they live? These birds? In trees, of course I mean where in the world? Oh, in America, North or South … Oh, you’re clever, aren’t you …
Comments

On the whole there are three different theoretical views of language. The first, and the most traditional of the three, is the structural view, the view that language is a system of structurally related elements for the coding of meaning. The target of language learning is seen to be the mastery of elements of this system. They are generally defined in terms of phonological units (e.g., phonemes), grammatical units (e.g., clauses, phrases, sentences), grammatical operations (e.g., adding, shifting, joining, or transforming elements), and lexical items (e.g., junction words and structure words). The second view of language is the functional view, the view that language is a vehicle for the expression of functional meaning (e.g. how to give or to request information, to give commands or to explain etc). This theory emphasises the semantic and communicative dimension rather than merely the grammatical characteristics of language, and leads to a specification and organisation of language teaching content by categories of meaning and function rather than by elements of structure and grammar. A teaching syllabus would include not only elements of grammar and lexis but also specify the topics, notions, and concepts the learner needs to communicate about. The third view of language can be called the interactional view. It sees language as a vehicle for the realisation of interpersonal relations and for the performance of social transactions between individuals. Language is seen as a tool for the creation and maintenance of social relations. Teaching includes training learners to interact in the authentic-like conversations and to produce authentic-like discourse (After "Theory of Language" in: Richards, L. and Th. Rodgers. Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. Cambridge University Press. 1995. P. 16-17)

Exploratory task 2.22

Find the tasks in an English language teaching course-book that are focused on the language structures, language functions and language users’ interaction. Describe the tasks in the space provided

Focus on structures	Focus on functions	Focus on interaction

Materials analysis task

Analyse the following debate on homelessness (adapted from BBC World Service Internet Front Page, Talking Point) and describe how the learners can benefit from this language material

My girlfriend's Czech and she tells me that back home they don't really have a homeless problem because at -20 degrees most people would rather work and afford shelter than freeze. Basically we should bring back workhouses and give anyone who wants a bed and shelter a room in return for labour.

I am sick of walking in central London because of hassles from homeless people begging. They are in every tube station and street corner. And they swear and even spit at those who ignore them or don't give them money. Some are obviously old and sick or suffering from severe mental problems, but most of the violent ones I've encountered are young, in their early twenties, and appear perfectly healthy. Maybe they have run away from difficult and abusive situations at home,

Please help these people; don't treat them as criminals. They are trying to survive in a world that really does not give a damn. Surely WE should be admiring them for their courage and strength to carry on in such a selfish uncaring world.

My understanding is that many homeless people are children who have run away from violent homes. The idea that such people should be treated as criminals is lunatic. Instead, these people should be given more help to rebuild their lives. Homelessness itself should not be a crime. But begging on the streets should be.

Comments Useful grammar Useful expressions Useful ideas