Tsui

Today we worked with the Tsui text.

Tsui, chapters 3-5
1. What does response-oriented modification of input entail?
-       The teacher modifies a wh-question to a yes-question. This often succeeds in getting a student response because


1. The answer to the question is much narrower.


2. Makes the production of a response much easier à the students only have to answer yes or no.


Caution: it helps the students produce a response, but it is restrictive in terms of language production; overuse of this kind og modification deprives students of a chance to produce longer responses.


2. What does modified interaction entail?
-      the concept of interactional modification arises from observation of the differences between conversation among native speaker (NSs) and that between NSs and non-native speakers (NNSs). The adjustments that NSs make to enable NNSs to understand what has been said result in different interactional structures. (fx. P. 65).


Modification devices in interaction: the native speakers can use some devices to use both to avoid and to repair breakdowns in communication;


1. Conformation check: is used to ensure that the speaker has correctly understood what the previous speaker said.


2. Clarification request: is used when the speaker needs help in understanding what the previous speaker said.


3. Repetition request: is used when the speaker fails to hear or understand what the previous speaker said and asks for a repetition or a restatement. e.g. : “I beg your pardon”, “Please say that again. “


4. Decomposition: means breaking up the initial question into several questions, making it easier for the other speaker to respond to it.


5. Comprehension check: usually realized by “right?”, “OK?” etc. Long: considers comprehension checks as strategies for avoiding trouble since, they show an effort on the part of the native speaker to avoid communication breakdown. Also used by teachers when students show no sign of comprehension.


6. Self-repetition: is used to refer to all instances where the speaker repeats what they have said previously, whether it is an exact repetition or a repetition in which modifications are made.  


3. Classify the two types of turn-allocation.
• Personal solicit, specifiying who should answer the question
• General solicit, letting everyone have a go at answering the question.


4. What could the teacher's reasons for allocating a turn to the stronger students be?
• the teacher will get the right answer and it will make them feel better about their own teaching.
• You save time and cover more material
• Avoid silence and embarrassment from the weaker students.


5. What are the factors of student reticence?
- In other words, what could be the reasons for students not participating/responding in the classroom?
• The students doesn’t have the abilities to answer the questions yet.
• afraid of making mistakes and getting laughed at.
• when the teacher allocates talking time to strong students, the weaker students feel ignored


6. Classify the types of small group-talks.
• Exploratory talk, when students talk freely, get around a lot of things, aren’t so conscious about making mistakes.
• Final draft talk, the final draft talk.


7. What happens to the interaction when you move away from lockstep teaching (teacher-fronted) to group work teaching?
• encourages students to take risks, not caring that they are grammatically incorrect.
• The students have to take responsibility, one in the group takes the lead.


8. What are the advantages of group work as opposed to lockstep teaching (teacher-fronted classroom)?
• The students develop discourse competence as well as linguistic competence.
Discourse Competence:
Discourse competence is used to refer to two related, but distinct abilities. Textual discourse competence refers to the ability to understand and construct monologues or written texts of different genres, such as narratives, procedural texts, expository texts, persuasive (hortatory) texts, descriptions and others. These discourse genres have different characteristics, but in each genre there are some elements that help make the text coherent, and other elements which are used to make important points distinctive or prominent.
Learning a language involves learning how to relate these different types of discourse in such a way that hearers or readers can understand what is going on and see what is important. Likewise it involves being able to relate information in a way that is coherent to the readers and hearers.


9. the students engage in genuine conversation, discuss and challenge each others views.
10. The students develop discourse competence as well as linguistic competence. Be able to understand a situation and act appropriately


p. 123 or 97
Speech functions:
11. Proposing
12. Suggestions
13. Acknowledging
14. Requesting
15. explaining
16. Disagreeing
17. Agreeing
18. Supporting
19. Conceding, asking for suggestions