Last module - Language and Usage

Grammatiske betegnelser

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HGGQa_HgdTwfzKy3lpKGrcHOk3maGiLTJWIwC6NvuGo/edit#

Nouns/Navneord/Substantiver: Ord man kan sætte "en" og "et" foran
 fx hund/dog, computer, cykel, trøje/sweater

Verbs/Udsagnsord/Verber: Ord, der beskriver en handling, man kan sætte "at" og "jeg" foran
 fx løbe/run, spise/eat, cykle, flyve/fly

Adjectives/Tillægsord/Adjektiver: Ord, der beskriver navneord
 fx grøn/green, smuk/beautiful, høj/tall, tynd/thin

Adverbs/Biord/Adverbier: Ord, der beskriver udsagnsord, tillægsord, andre biord eller hele sætninger
 fx hurtigt/fast, smukt/beautifully

Possessive Nouns/Ejefald/Genetiv: Når man skal beskrive nogen der ejer noget
 fx Jonas' bil /Jonas' car, Anja's bil/Anja's car - ikke Jonases bil / Jonases car

Article/Kendeord/Artikel: Bruges ikke på dansk
Bestemt artikel "the" -> "the boy", the "orange"
Når lyden efter "the" er en konsonant udtales det "thø"
Når lyden efter "the" er en vokal udtales det "thii"
fx "the (thø) boy", "the (thii) orange", men "the (thø) uniform" fordi "uniform" lyder som juniform

Ubestemt artikel "a" og "an" -> "a boy", "an orange"
Når lyden efter "the" er en konsonant er det "a"
Når lyden efter "the" er en vokal er det "an"
fx "a boy", "an orange", men "a uniform" fordi "uniform" lyder som juniform

Vocabulary

Vocabulary (p. 109-142)
1. What do we know about the lexical system of English?
• Denotation refers to the literal meaning of a word, the "dictionary definition." For example, if you look up the word snake in a dictionary, you will discover that one of its denotative meanings is "any of numerous scaly, legless, sometimes venomous reptiles, having a long, tapering, cylindrical body and found in most tropical and temperate regions."


Denotation: Physical


• Connotation, on the other hand, refers to the associations that are connected to a certain word or the emotional suggestions related to that word. The connotative meanings of a word exist together with the denotative meanings. The connotations for the word snake could include evil or danger.


Connotation: Association


The second aspect of meaning involves the sense relations that exist among words. These relations can be found in two dimensions which linguists have often referred to as "axes". Horizontal axis represents syntagmatic relations, The vertical axis represents paradigmatic relations.


• Syntagmatic relations, are relations between words as they occur in sequence. It is words that fit together - words that can be predicted. A sequential relationship.
• A ripe banana
• A savage dog
• A long road


Syntagmatic: Word used in a sentence in a right context (collocations): injured/damaged, ripe/mature


• Paradigmatic relations, is when words exist in a complex relationships with other words in a network of meaning.
• Synonymy = in a given context, one linguistic item can be exchanged for another without changing the meaning of the sentence or utterance. For ex : he answered the question courteously. Politely would be the synonym here.


• Antonyms = opposite : male - female and so forth


• Hyponymy = is a relationship where one word includes others within a hierarchy . For ex. Flower, carnation and rose.


2. How do second language learners acquire vocabulary?
Vocabulary knowledge can be seen as a scale running from recognition of a word at one end to automatic production at the other.


• Active learning = vocabulary used in speech or writing
• Passive learning = vocabulary that is recognized when encountered, but not easily produces in speech or writing.
• Strategies:
• Cognitive
• Making associations
• Learning words in groups
• Exploring range of meaning
• Using keywords


• Metacognitive
• Making word cards
• Categorizing words into lists
• Internal dialogue


3. What factors affect vocabulary acquisition?
Some factors are to do with input - the way in which vocabulary presents itself to learners
• Teacher presentation
• Reading words in texts
• Learning words during peer exchange
• Self-access work


Other factors are to do with storing, organizing and building vocabulary in the mental lexicon and being able to retrieve or recall it when needed.


Features of input
Frequency
• High level of significance in ELT because of the use of word-frequency counting as a procedure informing syllabus and materials design.
• The words most frequent in the English language is the words most useful to learners.
• A textbook for beginners will therefore mostly be formulated with the first 500-800 most frequently used/occurring words in English.
• The list is revised and adjusted frequently, for instance when the computer became an everyday item.
• Frequency has also influenced ELT, as it is more normal to repeat words in texts now.
• Studies have shown, that if a word is used more than seven times in a text, the reader will remember it much better, than the words only used once or twice.
• If learners are exposed to a wide range of words, they will need to encounter more words through reading and listening.


Pronunciation
• In the initial stages of language learning, the teacher will insist on a lot of pronunciation practice, to help the learners acquire the correct stress pattern of syllables.
• Later on, this is often discontinued, as learners often  pick up vocabulary in their own way and at their own rate.
• If the purpose for learning English is to listen and understand, then learning word stress is important.
• If learners process speech by recognizing syllable patterns and stress, these are stored in the mental lexicon and will contribute to quick comprehension.
• A learner who wishes to be intelligible in English need to be able to stress words correctly.


Contextualization
1. If the words are presented as isolated elements, there is no point of support, no "cognitive hold" for them in the learners' memory, so despite sometimes considerable learning effort, the are quickly forgotten again


2. If the words are presented in thematically or especially in alphabetically ordered word lists, pupils will often suffer from interference. This not only hampers learning, but can be decidedly harmful, since unlearning is far more difficult than learning.


3. Isolated words do not present a linguistic reality, as the meaning of a word is in most cases partly defined by the context.


4. Isolated words or words in isolated sentences do not present a psychological reality, because they do not carry a message. For this reason they cannot evoke emotions or involvement in the learner, a factor which plays an often underestimated, but yet important part in long-term acquisition.


The relationship between input and storage
Depth of processing
• Learners are more likely to remember words, if they have worked on its meaning actively - input becomes intake if there is a depth of processing.
• Keyword learning - where the students are given a text and have to find some keywords.
• Keyword learning is not as good as a task, where the students is given vocabulary items, the definitions, two example of the words used in sentences and a question where they had to answer with the word. The second task is proved to be more useful, the learners remember the words better.


Building word networks
• Native speakers easily finds synonyms, antonyms and so on, because their mental lexicon is organized. We organize words by meaning.
• Word networks - like fruits: apple, pear, plum, peach and so on. Semantic links.


Cultural factors in the building of meaning
• As learners develop their vocabulary, they acquire not only new words, but new meanings associated with them, and the words they already know.
• This is learned gradually, as the learner meets the word in different contexts.
• When the learner becomes aware of such nuances he/she can begin to interpret meaning correctly and to choose vocabulary appropriately.
• For instance: the word "dog" - the words associated with it will not be the same for people relating to them as family pets, and those who come from a culture, where dogs are not domestic animals.
• Another cultural factor could be phenomenon of prototypes.
• For instance the word "tree" will not be the same for everybody - for some it will be an oak tree and thus that is a prototype and other trees are non-prototypes.
• Some knowledge is basic and universal - for instance a dog has four legs, and a tree has leaves.


4. How can we develop a variety of techniques for teaching meaning?
There is a lack of classroom studies to support the producing of learning materials, and which strategies are effective for which aspects of vocabulary learning.


In the absent of such information we must turn to current methodology and materials and decide how best to exploit the ideas available e with our own learners.


Developing a variety of techniques for the teaching of meaning
Learners will encounter new words in the classroom in many different ways
• Learning materials
• Teacher's language
• Language of other learners


The teacher will frequently need to explain new words, and here is an example of how he/she could do so: the word is exhausted


• A physical demonstration, using mime and gesture, may be the most effective as it will create a visual memory for the word


• A verbal explanation, involving a number of contexts, for example, a long journey, a hard day's work, or a strenuous physical task, will lead the learners towards meaning


• A synonym, for example, "very tired", has the advantage of making learners aware of paradigmatic relations in the language and that a range of words exists from which a choice can be made.


Other techniques could be:
• Translation
• Pointing to objects
• Using visual aids (pictures, drawings etc)
• Antonyms
• Asking learners to check a dictionary


Some require more from the learner, than others.
It is also possible to draw on learners' personal preferences and experiences as in the word-network.
A feedback session after individual work can be used to collate the examples and check them for accurate comprehension. 


5. Can we encourage effective strategies for vocabulary learning?
• The book suggests that this can be done through for example notebook keeping. The teacher can suggest how to keep the notebook, but the students can also use different memoire-techniques – whatever works for them individually. Also, word-card is a suggestion.


• The teacher should ensure the notebook and the word cards to be used repeatedly so that the students review the words.


The teacher should encourage for self testing.


6. How can we expose learners to vocabulary?
• Teachers can expose learners to vocabulary through reading and training lexical inferring.


• Problem-solving can be a tool to maintain unfamiliar words – working with words in order to understand and categorize them is a cognitive strategy to store the words in the mental lexicon.


• If a given textbook lacks thorough approaches (strategies) it becomes the task of the teacher to help students develop inferring strategies, drawing attention to the guidance available and applying it through careful and repeated work.


• Pair work – the students share their insights and build a collective picture of what they have been looking for: for example cognate words; morphological clues such as prefixes denoting size; or a negative; the function of the phrase or clause in which the word occurs; and the learner’s prior knowledge of the world.


• If inferencing is easy because the text is rich in contextual clues or there is a cognate word, retention is less likely. The more active the learner needs to be the more likely the word will be remembered.


7. What criteria can we use for evaluating the vocabulary component of a course book?
• Evaluate the books aim
• Check the books claim
• Evaluate the lexicon and methology in relation to the needs of the learners
• Is there any importance or interest to the class?
• Is there any particular problems or dangers for the class if the book is produced for an international marked?
• Does the book cover important activities? Word formation, synonymy?
• Are students encouraged and given guidance in strategies for learning. Notebooks, reviewing, testing themselves?


8. What activity types can we develop for the teaching of vocabulary?
• Word puzzles
• Dictionaries when doing pairwork in class
• Topic-based crosswords
• Visuals - magazine pictures, photographs (to talk about)

Teaching and learning in the language class

Tricia Hedge. Teaching and learning in the language class

Chapter 1: Learners and learning, classrooms and contexts

“Another language is another soul.” - Charles V.

1. What do we know about how languages are learned?

The nature of input

Research has confirmed that students can make a great deal of progress through exposure to comprehensible input without direct instructions. Studies have also shown, however, that students may reach a point from which they fail to make further progress on some features of the second language unless they also have access to guided instructions.

Stephen Krashen´s monitor model

The monitor model consists of the five hypotheses listed below.

1. Acquisition-learning hypothesis.

Acquisition is subconscious while learning is conscious.

We acquire as we are exposed to samples of the second language, but with no conscious attention to language learning. On the other hand, we learn through conscious attention and rule learning.

2. Monitor hypothesis.

The teacher monitors by correcting the learned sentences.

3. The natural order hypothesis.

The language features that are easiest to state “and thus to learn” are not necessarily the first to be acquired. (grammar). Ing form before singular s.

4. The input hypothesis.

Learning grammar and aspects of pronunciation, beyond the already learned. A new level.

5. Affective filter hypothesis.

A learner who is tense, anxious, or bored may “filter out” input, making it unavailable for acquisition. Your emotions influences your learning.

The process of intake

Intake refers to the ways in which learners process input and assimilate language to their interlanguage system. Learners will not process all the input available to them. Some of what they hear or read may not be understood, and some parts of input will receive more attention because, for various reasons, they seem more important or salient to the learner at a particular stage of development.

Even though the input is the same, we might hear it differently.

The intake can vary.

Teacher´s and student´s input/intake might mismatch.

The role of interaction in the classroom

Learners need practice in producing output using all the language resources they have already acquired. (M. Swain).

• Getting feedback from the teacher (reinforcement/encouraging).
• Group work
• Speaking
• Repeating
• Rephrasing
• Negotiation of meaning ~ talking in groups
• Interlanguage (the developing system of learning the language).
• Noticing the gap - noticing something that is not there (fill in the gap). Research what is missing.

Krashen says input is most important. Swain says you can't learn without output as well.

ELT  (English Language Teaching)

ELT is a principle which means that interaction pushes learners to produce more accurate and appropriate language, which itself provides input for other students.

The role of error

Error is an inevitable and positive part of the process. Errors are seen as reflections of a learner's stage of interlanguage development. (An indicator).

Error correction can have dubious value in the classroom, which is why it is important to be aware of:

• What, when and how to correct.
• Motivation (depriving/encouraging).
• Policy of error correction from teacher (rules).
• You grow from the mistakes you have made (progressing).
• In theory a never ending process!

Krashen : He thinks that correcting errors won't help - it will correct itself in the end.

Skinner : Behaviorism = learning from listening to others.

2. How do differences among learners affect learning processes and teaching procedures?

Learners differ in ways that need careful thought when making decisions about course content and methodology.

Three methods in particular have been used:

1. Self- report : responding to interview questions and questionnaires.
2. Self - observation : using diaries or immediate retrospective verbal reports.
3. Self - revelation : using think-aloud reports recorded on a cassette.

These three methods builds awareness of individual differences.

Awareness is developing in relation to...

• Aptitude

Having “flair” for language.

• Learning style

Global learner

Might predict or infer to get an overall understanding.

Analytic learner

Searches for small details and try to follow accurately the precise relationship between different parts of the text.

these characteristics are seen as aspects of cognitive style or learner style which can be generally defined as a characteristic and preferred way of approaching learning and processing information.

Culture learner

Culture has a strong influence on learning style because of;

Products

• Literature
• Folklore
• Art
• Music
• Artefacts

Ideas

• Beliefs
• Values
• Institutions

Behaviours

• Customs
• Habits
• Dress
• Foods
• Leisure
• Learning strategies

Techniques used by learners to deal with input, assimilate new language, store, retrieve and practise using it.

1. setting goals and objectives (such as finishing reading a short story by Friday).
2. Self-monitoring: identifying errors in understanding or producing the new language

• Affective factors of personality and motivation

Personality

1. Introverted learners will not speak up in the classroom and are more likely to work alone than in groups. Introverted learners are not willing to take risks if said risks will put them in the center of attention. They are very closed-in.
2. Extroverted learners are likely to be more successful, possibly because they are more assertive, more willing to experiment and take risks, and more able to make the social contacts they need to practise language.

They link to:

• The affective filter (Stephen Krashen) suggests that attitude, anxiety, competitiveness, and other emotional responses can help or hinder language learning.
• Anxiety (Macintyre and Gardner) relates to negative experiences in speaking activities. Negative feedback from other students or the teacher. Comparing yourself to others.
• Competition (Bailey) relates to withdrawal from the language-learning experience when the competition is overpowering. (Performance anxiety). Comparing grades. Advantages and disadvantages when one-up-ing each other. (outdo others).
• The desire to gain the teacher´s approval.

Motivation

• To be able to communicate with people (to gain friends from other countries)
• To be able to read english literature
• To have a better chance of employment, status and financial reward
• To find out more about the people, places, politics etc. of english speaking cultures.
• Parental pressure
• Leisure, fun, amusement (tourist)
• Television, internet
• Study (abroad)

3. What motivations do learners have for learning English?

• to be able to communicate with people (to gain friends from other countries)
• To be able to read english literature
• To have a better chance of employment, status and financial reward
• to find out more about the people, places, politics etc. of english speaking cultures.
• Parental pressure
• Television

What motivated us to learn English

• Tv
• Songs
• Celebrities
• Internet
• Pen-pals
• Games
• Books

4. What factors of context should teachers take into context?

We need to consider the characteristics of the learning situation. Most of these are outside the teacher’s control but they will bear heavily on decisions about choice of resources and classroom procedures.

1. Social factors

• Presence of english in the community

2. Educational factors

• Materials
• Hours available for teaching
• the schools policies (homework, grading, flexibility)
• The classroom
• resources in the classroom and in the institution
• cohesion among teachers (teamwork)
• Class size
• Whether classes are monolingual or multilingual

5. What roles can learners and teachers play in the language learning process?

Learners

ELT

• ELT is a principle which means that interaction pushes learners to produce more accurate and appropriate language, which itself provides input for other students.
• Contribute to the overall design of course content and the selection of learning procedures
• try making plans for solving class problems
• Take responsibility for their own successful learning by continuing their learning outside class (at home)

Teachers

• Controller (eliciting nationality words)
• Assessor (accuracy, the pronunciation)
• Corrector (correction of pronunciation)
• Organizer (giving instructions, initiating and monitoring)
• Prompter (helping students working together)
• Resources (if students need help with words and structure)

6. What roles can learning materials play in the classroom?

Textbook materials

• Places emphasis on the teaching process, but not necessarily good for the learning process.
• They can offer a grammatical and functional framework.
• They provide quality of presentation. Do not prevent a creative spinning-off in the classroom into all kinds of activity.

Design projects (4 meanings of the word culture).

• The aesthetic sense (art, literature, music, media etc)
• The sociological sense (“life and instructions” - the nature of family life, work, leisure, customs etc)
• The semantic sense (The conceptual system embodied in the language)
• The sociolinguistic sense (politeness conventions, the ways in which language is governed by issues of status or age in relationships and familiarity with rhetorical conventions in formal and informal letters, reports, and other written genres) 

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

Linguistic Competences and Contingency

Today we mostly worked with Contingency and some questions for the text by Leo Van Lier.

Linguistic competence

• Vocabulary
• Pronunciation
  Grammar

Pragmatic competence

How to use language to achieve

Socio-linguistic

Knowing the appropriate lannguage in different contexts

Strategic competence

Conversing

• Taking a risk - new word
• Not using new words but vocabulary you are comfortable with

Discourse competence

Ongoing conversation between two people

If a third person is able to infer the correct meanings without having been there in the beginning

Questions for the Van Lier text:

1. Describe the stages from transmission to transformation and the teacher's role in these.
First of, there is transmission; this is where one person shares knowledge with the learners. In this
stage, it is the teacher's job to give knowledge to the pupils and they are to listen – it is a monologue
from the one who knows, the ''knower''.


Then there's IRF questioning which shows the performance. The learner is being led on by the
knower.


Furthermore, there is transaction, which is an exchange of knowledge. Here it is possible to
compile groups and make group discussions, here the focus is studying in a group where both
parties recieve knowledge.


Transformation comes last. This is a co-construction of meaning and events.
As a teacher you have to fill out many shoes, among others, these are a few of a teacher's role:
- the teacher must be an authoritarian, a role model, a questioner, a controller, a facilitator, a guide.


2. What are the features in the IRF-exchange?
I: Initiation (or question, elicitation)
R: Response (or answer)
F: Feedback (or follow-up, evaluation)


So an IRF-exchange is an exchange between two individuals (for instance teacher/pupil), which contains both Initiation, Response and Feedback.


An example (from the text):
1: A "How many people are talking. Elly? … How many people?" I
2: B "Two people" R
3: A "Yes, that's right, two people." F


Also called the teaching cycle as it is very much used in the classroom.
Designed for instruction.


Main features:
1. It is three turns long.
2. The first and the third turn are produced by the teacher, the second one by the student.
3. The exchange is started and ended by the teacher.
4. As a result of b. and c. the student's turn is sandwiched between two teacher's turn.
5. The first teacher's turn is designed to elicit some kind of verbal response from a student. The teacher often already knows the answer (is "primary knower"), or at least has a specific idea "in mind" of what will count as a proper answer.
6. The second teacher's turn (the third turn in the exchange) is some kind of comment on the second turn, or on the "fit" between the second and the first. Here the student finds out if the answer corresponds with whatever the teacher has "in mind".
7. It is often clear from the third turn whether or not the teacher was interested in the information contained in the response, or merely in the form of the answer, or in seeing if the student knew the answer or not.
8. If the exchange is part of a series, as is often the case, there is behind the series a plan and a direction determined by the teacher. The teacher "leads", the students "follow".


Using this technique, the teacher can lead the students in the direction he wants, and the students will immediately know if the answer is correct. Also, the noise in the classroom will minimize, since the teacher would be talking to one student at a time.
The IRF-exchange allows the teacher to maintain control of the class.


Problems/disadvantages of IRF-exchange
• The response part from the teacher tends to be "rating" - not replying but evaluating, thus judging the students, and this could prove unmotivating.


Ways of initiate the IRF-exchange
1. The teacher asks a question to the room, expecting someone to volunteer the answer, and the teacher can choose someone, who wants to talk.
1. Advantages: Everyone thinks about the answer, and no one is forced to answer.


2. Disadvantages: Some students may get more turns, if they are eager, or they will try to answer it simultaneously -> noise.


2. The teacher asks a specific person to answer his question.
1. Advantages: equality - each pupil has the same chance of getting picked to answer, and the participation will be more orderly - making less noise.


2. Disadvantages: Maybe only the student asked tries to think of the answer (the teacher could of course ask the question before choosing a student), or a student who is not ready or able to answer, could be forced.




3. What are the characteristics of dialogue and conversation?
Dialogue
In dialogue what I say correlates to what you're saying, and the other way around. We connect when
talking, when I speak, your response is a reaction to what I say and the other way around. In
dialogue and discussion, you exchange views and opinions, it's not about agreeing about everything,
but to give and take, and for dialogue partners to consider new views. Dialogue is an ongoing
communication, you don't have to reach a definite conclusion. You don't know what the outcome of
a dialogue will be, the dialogue has it's own outcome and conclusions. It has a 'spirit of its own'. We
can become very involved in the conversation. You co-operate, not compete, so you both enjoy the
experience. The outcome is a good time together.


Conversation
Between two or more people. You are given a topic to discuss, and engage in conversation about the
topic. There is no script to use, you develop the conversation entirely on your own. Conversation is
where you attempt to reach some conclusion or to express some viewpoints among two or more
persons.


4. Describe contingency in a classroom and the different components therein (see figure 20).
The theory concerning contingency revoles around a behavioral theory: this theory says that there is
no opportune way to lead a company, make decisions or organize a corporation.. There is not ONE
right solution for any problem; instead, there has to be accounted for several factors when addressing
a problem.
In a classroom, contingency is a setting where the pupils are:


• Self-determined: motivated, critically thinkers,
• Exploratory: everybody is equal in all aspects
• Prolectic: Invites the less competent with the more competent
• Process-oriented: engaging the students and letting them grow academically
• Symmetrical: rights to speaking are equally shared


Conversational: Unpredictability of sequence and outcome and superficial markers.
There are two extremely important components related to the classroom interaction, which are
equality and symmetry. The teacher, of course, is the one in charge, but then how can you ensure
equality? It is hard. interactional symmetry between unequal partners, has to be a focus point.
Everybody is equal and everybody is entitled to their own opinion.


5. Analyze the cases below by applying Van Lier's contingency interaction theory. Consider what you would have done differently if you were the teacher in this scenario and why. How could the topics have become more conversational?