Exploratory task 1.9 Read the following dialogues and write analogous conversations on a different subject. Act them out and reflect on what makes dialogues sound “authentic-like”

Conversation sample	Your own version
1 I was gonna say, if you wanted to I could take you out tonight… Well, I don’t know if I’d really want it now … It’s really nice … I’m just not sure that I want it Yeah, O.K. The food in the restaurant is really great. Thanks … some other time perhaps a. I am sure you would have enjoyed it
2 Excuse me, could you tell me the way to the city center? No problem. Go straight and take a turn to the right … stay on this street and you won’t miss it. O.K. I’ve got you … Remember to stay on this street and do not take any turns. The street will take you there. O.K. Yes. Now I know… The street takes a turn, so, you just follow it. O.K.?

Conversational discourse has certain typical features (Carter, R., and M. McCarthy, 1995. Language as Discourse: Perspectives for Language Teaching. London:Longman): back-channels (Uhum), binomials (Hit or miss), deixis (these), delexical words (have), discourse markers (well… I mean…), ellipsis (Think so. Seen my glasses anywhere? Want another drink? Know where to go? ), fixed expressions (A good time was had by all), fronting (To this man I dedicated…), heads (That chap, he is…), hedges (He was… kind of …sort of), tags (She is nice. She is), tail (She is nice. Clare), modality (He could, probably…), vague language (Can you get me a sandwich or something?). Conversational language use is characterized with some authentic turns: giving the number of participants e.g. “There was four of us standing there” (singular "was" is increasingly used in spoken English); omitting widely used elements e.g. Do the usual (fixed expression); using sound imitating words e.g. The door went "bang". The flames went "Whoosh!"; putting "though" at the end of the sentence e.g. Later it will be cooler though, using "catch" words and phrases e.g. Basically (extremely common word meaning "simply put"), exploiting general words e.g. …and that… and that sort … and things…; using set phrases e.g. She was a terror (She would lose her temper often); placing the negation before a supposition e.g. He does not seem to come (Evidently he will not come); using positive substitution e.g. Stay cool (Do not worry) Do you keep warm? (You are not cold, are you?); understatement e.g. This is not the best of presentations (meaning that the presentation is really very bad).

Exploratory task 1.10

In the space provided write the devices of the conversational discourse found

Discourse samples	Devices
It’s depressing and … I mean … it can even go worse
And it’s to this purpose that he dedicated his entire life
…absolutely crazy … just crazy to behave like that …
I do feel a sense of responsibility … kind of feeling … that is … sort of … new to me
He is the sort of driver that picks up speeding tickets and all that, you know
And the moment I touched it went “whoosh!” and was gone
He is not quite well mentally, sorry to say it I mean it’s a real problem

For successful communication one needs not only the rules of using the language but also the knowledge of how to use the language in the social situations (Hymes, D. 1971. On Communicative Competence. University of Pennsylvania Press). this knowledge is called communicative competence. Communicative competence is understood as the knowledge of the language and of how to achieve a goal through communication (After Lightbown, P., and N.Spada. 1993. How Languages Are Learned. OUP). Spoken language bears certain features of culture, i.e. people of different cultures will show their cultural reference in the way they talk.