Turn taking mechanism and interactive co

Elisavet Kostaki – Psoma RAISING AWARENESS AND DEVELOPING THE TURN-TAKING MECHANISM TO IMPROVE INTERACTIVE COMMUNICATION FOR GREEK LEARNERS Institution: GR102 Word count: 2489 Date: 29/02/2016 CONTENTS Introduction……………………………………………………………….……… Scope…………………………………………………………………………… Analysis……………………………………………………………………… 1.1 Speaking in L2………………………………………………….……… 1.2 Conversation and the element of interaction……………….……… 1.3 …Turn-taking ……………………………………………… ……… Issues and Suggestions for Teaching.……………………….…… … 2.1 Greek ELT approaches …………………………………………… 2.2 Teachers…………………………………………………………… 2.3 Learners………………………… 2.4 Cultural differences …………………………………………… … References……………………………………………………………………… Bibliography……………………………………………………………………… 11 Appendices……………………………………………………………………… 12 Appendix A Active Listening Skills……………………………… ………… 13 Appendix B Phrases for turn-taking and back channelling… …………… 14 Appendix C Ten Core Assumptions of Current Communicative Language Teaching……………… …………………….………………… 17 Appendix D Turn-taking activities…………………………………………… 18 Appendix E Cross cultural awareness activities………….………………… 22 GR 102 Kostaki – Psoma Elisavet LSA3: Raising awareness and developing the turn-taking mechanism to improve interactive communication for Greek learners Introduction The speaking of words has been the main mode of communication in daily life for the most part of humanity since the dawn of civilization Schegloff in fact, characterizes the spoken interaction as the “primordial site of sociality” (1986:112) The common reference to “speakers” of a language is indicative of the importance of speaking Scope The basic environment for language development is oral interaction, and turntaking is its core form of organization (Carroll, 2011:103) Unfortunately, Greek classrooms settings in my experience both as a student and as a teacher, more often than not, not reflect that The multitude of factors that converge towards successful oral communication is usually overlooked or the emphasis is put on just parts of linguistic competence Consequently, learners, who generally find oral communication to be the most challenging thing of learning a foreign language, experience difficulty when interacting in natural settings abroad, or taking exams Raising the learners’ awareness and helping them develop the turn-taking mechanism in conversations does not only help learners improve on a common daily interactive communication but also increases learners’ sensitivity to the underlying processes of having a purposeful, meaningful, and successful communication (Dörnyei and Thurrell, 1994) Analysis 1.1 Speaking in L2 Speaking has been considered the most challenging of four skills as it involves complex processes of producing meaningful communication It is transitory, impermanent and unpredictable The speaker must decide on the why, what, how and when to communicate depending on the sociocultural context and the physical settings, under time restrictions At the same time the speaker enters with the listener into an interaction where verbal and nonverbal elements affect the communication Therefore, the oral communication competency, besides active listening skills (see Appendix A), requires different sub-competencies:   Linguistic competence The ability to create grammatically, lexically and phonologically correct utterances Discourse competence The ability to produce coherent and cohesive utterances, different interactional patterns in varying socio-cultural and physical contexts GR 102 Kostaki – Psoma Elisavet LSA3: Raising awareness and developing the turn-taking mechanism to improve interactive communication for Greek learners    Intercultural competence The ability to understand and use language and paralinguistic features in a way that would be understood by the members of the L2 culture Strategic competence The ability to solve communication problems as they arise with critical thinking that is use of communication strategies which can compensate for weakness in other areas e.g telling a white lie as an excuse for being late, or using paraphrasing, circumlocution, repetition etc Pragmatic competence The ability to use language in communication in a way that is accurate and appropriate to the social and cultural circumstances where the communication occurs (function, register, style) For example, the use of can I instead of Do you mind if… is part of pragmalinguistic knowledge, and a learner asking the way to apologize in the target language given the social relationship between speaker and listener, is part of sociopragmatic knowledge (Canale and Swain 1980; Littlewood 1981; Dörnyei and Thurrell 1994; Bagarić and Mihaljević Djigunović, 2007) 1.2 Conversation and the element of interaction Conversation is such a natural part of people’s lives that most it almost mechanically There is more though to conversation, than the conveying of information in the spoken mode Discussing conversational and speaking skills, Nolasco and Arthur maintain that “being able to speak reasonably correct and even fluent English is one thing Being able to engage in ongoing, interactive, mentally satisfying conversation is another" (1987:3) Conversation is a linguistic interaction between two or more parties involved in communicative interaction which is:    Highly contextualised in the sense that it is shaped and varied by o external factors such as the social, cultural and physical settings, and the situation, o internal factors such as the age, gender, beliefs, desires, intentions of the people involved Goal directed as participants try to achieve certain communicative intentions Cooperative for contributions share a purpose and are well conducted in terms of: o Quantity; are as informative as required no more or less, o Quality; are expected to be genuine and not spurious o Relation; are expected to be relevant and timely o Manner; are expected to be clear (Littlewood 1981; Grice 1975; Nolasco and Arthur, 1987; Sze 1995) GR 102 Kostaki – Psoma Elisavet LSA3: Raising awareness and developing the turn-taking mechanism to improve interactive communication for Greek learners It should be noted that politeness is interwoven in all elements of conversation as the conventions of it, which are socio-culturally bound, can dictate the whole of a transpiring conversation All of the above elements of conversation are served through the mechanism of… 1.3 …Turn-taking The mechanism of turn-taking is the way speakers hold or pass the floor when involved in interactive communication Smooth, appropriate turn-taking is characteristic of polite conversation and ensures that no one dominates the interaction and there are minimal gaps and overlaps The basic questions that arise is the how speakers change turns and the when As to the how, Conversation Analysis introduced a set of three recurrent speaker selection rules:    The person speaking at a time nominates another speaker The person speaking at a time may not nominate another and the other speaker(s) may take up the turn without being nominated If no other speaker self-selects, current speaker may, but need not, continue speaking (Sacks et al., 1974 p 702) As to the when, there are, in practice, according to Carrol (2011:94) three possible ways: On Time Delayed Early A: TALK A: TALK A: TAL[K] (gap) B: TALK B: TALK B: [T]ALK The Transition Relevance Place is how one decides the when It is where speaker change may occur after a turn is completed, and is what a listener usually waits for, and depends on:     Culture and language The relative status of the speakers Verbal and Non-verbal signals Type of conversation (face to face, phone, video conferencing) GR 102 Kostaki – Psoma Elisavet LSA3: Raising awareness and developing the turn-taking mechanism to improve interactive communication for Greek learners There is obviously interchangeability between the roles of Speaker and Listener A listener should demonstrate active listening skills and collaborative behaviour (echoing, back-channelling, showing understanding, supporting the speaker e.g to find a word, be alert to the signals verbal and non-verbal) Ways signalling the end of turn from the speaker:      The completion of a syntactic unit e.g trains, cars and last part of the list The use of rising intonation for a question, falling intonation for a full stop and then pausing Use of discourse signs (mmm or anyway) Break eye contact, change body position and voice pitch Asking for listener’s contribution (opinion, specification, requesting, etc.) Ways to keep the turn:     Not pausing too long at the end of an utterance Increase the volume of what is being said Speaking over someone else’s attempt to take turn Stop someone interrupting by avoiding eye contact Useful phrases for turn-taking can be found at Appendix B Issues and Suggestions for teaching 2.1 Greek ELT approaches The language environment typically provided in Greek ELT classrooms, in my experience, tends to be impoverished in the natural communication The organization of traditional pedagogic interaction follows a highly specialized system of turn-taking, in which the teacher largely controls who speaks and when (Carroll, 2011:94) Students, even advanced ones, through a lifetime of exposure to this schooling of rote learning and overt teacher authority, often inappropriate and harsh error correction, find it difficult to participate in conversations Phonology and spoken discourse are frequently overlooked, as are the features of spoken language (slang, incomplete constructions, etc.), while grammatical and lexical accuracy is favoured (Hughes and Laskaratou, 1982) Suggestions for teaching Communicative Language Teaching can transform the way teachers, learning, and teaching is perceived in the Greek ELT classroom Adopting a more communicative approach to teaching can be a viable solution as it GR 102 Kostaki – Psoma Elisavet LSA3: Raising awareness and developing the turn-taking mechanism to improve interactive communication for Greek learners promotes the consideration of language beyond its structures (grammar and vocabulary) to the communicative functions in real situations and real time (Littlewood, 1981) Richards (2006:22-23) gives ten core assumptions that underlie current practices in communicative language teaching (Appendix C) Their implications suggest that teachers relinquish their power of being a model for language production and instead assume the role of facilitator and monitor Learners participating with their peers in group work or pair work tasks in classroom activities engage in interaction and meaningful communication instead of rote learning The errors are no longer treated as cardinal sins but rather as a natural part of the learning process Classroom activities such as problem solving, information sharing, and role play not only call for the use of learners’ communication strategies and interactional skills but also for critical thinking The choice of authentic material creates interest and a valid model for L2 2.2 Teachers Some teachers not confidently communicate in L2, or are that familiar with the L2 culture Additionally, it is sometimes assumed that since the patterns of turn-taking in L1 are so natural and so widespread in learners’ daily lives (Analysis 2), there is no need for teaching them in class Suggestions for teaching It is important that the teacher uses correctly, accurately and appropriately the language so as to provide consistent models Careful preparation and planning of the lessons can address these considerations The use of authentic material, the use of the internet in terms of exploiting the wealth of resources related to L2 culture, watching videos, which also present the body language, gestures, and other paralinguistic features, can certainly raise awareness to the way differences in culture manifest in turn-taking patterns Thus, teachers can help learners navigate the complex conversational world by finding and understanding the points in utterances when they can appropriately break in (Hughes 2006:229) The investment in time and effort teachers have to make is certainly considerable but it empowers them to reintroduce and encourage the practices of conversational turn-taking so that students, at some point, will engage in conversational interaction in the classroom (Carroll, 2011:94) 2.3 Learners Learners, especially adults, in L1, generally possess conversational skills that in the L2 context the anxiety to understand present meaning may prevent them from activating these skills Adults are also usually under more pressure GR 102 Kostaki – Psoma Elisavet LSA3: Raising awareness and developing the turn-taking mechanism to improve interactive communication for Greek learners to perform, and are more self-conscious particularly at elementary levels when trying to express complex ideas with minimal linguistic competence and get frustrated and subsequently limit their oral contributions in class Young Learners on the other hand, are more willing to express themselves orally However, they lack the schemata for social interactions involved in turn-taking even in L1 Suggestions for teaching Research indicates that there is a link between comprehension and production in the brain (Awad et al, 2007) It is therefore important for learners to be acquainted first with what they are called upon to produce Providing examples embedded in naturalistic dialogues is the first step Listening or watching videos is a good way to demonstrate the complex factors which influence turn behaviour As learners become more and more aware of the complexity of naturally occurring talk they can understand why it is not just their level of language proficiency which affects whether they can take part in spontaneous talk (Hughes 2006:226) Awareness activities should be followed by structured tasks, small stretches of talk and use of minimal responses to build confidence For instance: A: Nice weather today B: Yes it is Learners, at a next stage can be given different, realistic, age appropriate situations making small talk, opening and closing conversations and reacting to what others say (back channelling) Since the latter is an important aspect of turn-taking, it should be practiced A dialogue in which listener reactions such as “really”, “is that right” are missing and students in pairs add and practice them, and then at a different dialogue come up with their own (Richards, 2006:6), gives learners a chance not only to attempt a simple backchannel task but also serves as a platform to build their personal interactive speaking style Another example of such activity can be to give a joke and ask learners to find the places where they could “back channel” Rearranging and performing lines in a dialogue or theatre writing and /or reading dialogues and of course role plays are ways to further practice turntaking at different levels Indicative activities on turn-taking can be found at Appendix D Turn-taking activities can be fun and motivate learners An added benefit is that since the interaction in these tasks provides the “correctness”, teacher’s verification is rendered redundant Therefore, as Hughes claims “…they can be an excellent forum for fostering a more autonomous approach to learning” (2006:226) GR 102 Kostaki – Psoma Elisavet LSA3: Raising awareness and developing the turn-taking mechanism to improve interactive communication for Greek learners 2.4 Cultural differences As stated in the Analysis (1 and 3), culture plays a crucial role in turn-taking as does politeness (2) The linguistic and paralinguistic ways politeness is expressed are quite different in L2 (English) and L1 (Greek) The “negativepoliteness” of English (show respect without imposing on someone else’s personal space, and without drawing attention to oneself), contradicts the “positive-politeness” of Greek characterised by friendliness and a desire to feel part of a group (Bella, 2009:246) Accordingly, what is considered a polite topic for conversation is also different Greeks for example, will have heated debates about politics anytime, anywhere, with anyone and will not hesitate asking people’s age and salary, unlike English Greeks shout, even at family gatherings, interrupt, quite often overlap, and gesticulate vigorously when conversing with others, practically following the opposite turn-taking patterns of English Greek men, in my experience, tend to dominate conversations by using loud voices or interrupting while women even forfeit their turn, or might adopt “male” conversational patterns in order to be heard Unlike men, women tend to be active listeners and provide support and encouragement as is also the case among English speakers (Nolasco and Arthur, 1987:11) Suggestions for teaching Language is embedded in the culture and so the more exposure is provided, the better understanding of the cultural differences learners will have Raising awareness as to the social conventions and the politeness formulae in L2 will help learners avoid bridging them and the subsequent offence that might be caused (Nolasco and Arthur, 1987:72) The ways to increase exposure to L2 as mentioned in 2.2., apply here as well Familiarizing learners with ways that native speakers try to be polite in social encounters can be achieved by using activities that compare and contrast social behaviours with L1 Using for example, a statement such as A standard greeting for people in England is kissing three times on the cheek True or False? can be, as experience has shown, quite efficient at all levels, especially with adults Activities for cross- cultural awareness such as these are detailed in Appendix E For more advanced learners watching a conversation on video and making notes of expressions used, or role- playing a situation and comparing after with a video can also be effective Perhaps, the simplest and most efficient way is the use of L2 in class Classroom English although underused can be an excellent way to demonstrate polite turn-taking in a natural environment for the learners It is important to create a safe space for all learners to feel confident to venture into conversations The same instructions apply for all and in my GR 102 Kostaki – Psoma Elisavet LSA3: Raising awareness and developing the turn-taking mechanism to improve interactive communication for Greek learners experience by not drawing attention to the gender issue it turns it into a nonissue The only influence gender can have is perhaps on the choice of topic References Awad M., Warren J E., Scott S K., Turkheimer F E., and Wise R J S (2007) A Common System for the Comprehension and Production of Narrative Speech The Journal of Neuroscience 27(43) 11455–11464 Bagarić, V., & Mihaljević Djigunović, J (2007) Defining Communicative Competence Metodika 8, 94-103 Bella S (2009) Invitations and politeness in Greek: The age variable Journal of Politeness Research, 5, 243-271 Canale, M., & Swain, M (1980) Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing Applied Linguistics,1, 147 Carroll D (2011).Taking Turns and Talking Naturally: teaching Conversational Turn-Taking In: D H Tatsuki & N R Houck Pragmatics (Eds.) Teaching Natural Conversation (pp 91-103) TESOL Press Dörnyei, Z & Thurrell, S (1994) Teaching conversational skills intensively: course content and rationale ELT Journal 48(1), 40- 49 Grice H P (2004) Reprinted from Syntax and semantics3: Speech arts, Cole et al “Logic and conversation”, pp41-58, (1975), with permission from Elsevier Hughes R (2006) Turn-taking awareness: Benefits for teaching speaking skills in academic and other contexts In: E Uso΄ -Juan, & A Martinez-Flor (Eds.) Current Trends in the Development and Teaching of the Four Language Skills (pp 215-234) Mouton de Gruyter Hughes, A & Lascaratou, C (1982) Competing criteria for error gravity ELT Journal Volume 36(3), 175-182 Littlewood W (1981) Communicative Language Teaching An introduction Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Nolasco, R., & Arthur, L (1987) Resource books for teachers: Conversation In: A Maley (Ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press Richards J C (2006) Developing Classroom Speaking Activities; From Theory to Practice Guidelines, (RELC, Singapore), 28(2), 3-9 GR 102 Kostaki – Psoma Elisavet LSA3: Raising awareness and developing the turn-taking mechanism to improve interactive communication for Greek learners Sacks H., Schegloff E A., and Jeferson G., (1974) A Simplest Systematics for the organization of Turn-Taking for Conversation Language 50(4) 696735 Schegloff E A (1986) The routine as achievement Human Studies 111151 Sze P (1995) Teaching Conversation in the Second Language Classroom Education Journal Chinese University of Hong Kong 23(2), 229-250 GR 102 Kostaki – Psoma Elisavet LSA3: Raising awareness and developing the turn-taking mechanism to improve interactive communication for Greek learners 10 Bibliography Byrne D (1998) Teaching Oral English Longman Deda N (2013) The role of Pragmatics in English Language Teaching Pragmatic Competence Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies Published by MCSER-CEMAS-Sapienza University of Rome, (4), 63-70 Dulay, H., Burt, M., Krashen, S., (1982) Language Two Oxford University Press Harmer, J., 1998 How to teach English Longman Prodromou, L., 1992 What culture? Which culture? Cross-cultural factors in language learning In: ELT Journal 46(1) Oxford University Press 39-50 Richards, J & Rodgers T (1986) Approaches and methods in Language teaching Cambridge University Press Richards, J & Schmidt, R (2002) Longman dictionary of language teaching and applied linguistics 3rd ed Pearson Education Limited Talley P C & Hui-ling T (2014) Implicit and Explicit Teaching of English Speaking in the EFL Classroom International Journal of Humanities and Social Science 4(6) 38-46 Thornbury, S (2005) How to teach Speaking Pearson Longman Ur, P (1991) A Course in Language Teaching Practice and Theory Cambridge: Cambridge University Press GR 102 Kostaki – Psoma Elisavet LSA3: Raising awareness and developing the turn-taking mechanism to improve interactive communication for Greek learners 11 Appendices GR 102 Kostaki – Psoma Elisavet LSA3: Raising awareness and developing the turn-taking mechanism to improve interactive communication for Greek learners 12 Appendix A Active Listening Skills Characteristics of unsuccessful / asymmetrical /passive listening waiting for information to “register” (assuming that the speaker has the primary role in creating meaning) assuming the listener is responsible for any communication failures Characteristics of successful / symmetrical /active listening taking a lead in constructing meaning assuming the speaker is (partly) responsible for any communication failures not activating background knowledge activating background knowledge and or assumptions (assuming that assumptions to fill in missing speaker will provide all information necessary for comprehension) not asking for clarification if confusion asking for clarification when confusion arises arises not responding to speaker voluntarily providing reactions and responses to (not revealing any personal reaction) the speaker voluntarily Strategies of unsuccessful vs successful listeners in interactive settings (Rost 2006:62-63) Rost M (2006) Areas of research that influence L2 listening instruction In: E Uso΄ -Juan, & A Martinez-Flor (Eds.) Current Trends in the Development and Teaching of the Four Language Skills (pp 47-74) Mouton de Gruyter GR 102 Kostaki – Psoma Elisavet LSA3: Raising awareness and developing the turn-taking mechanism to improve interactive communication for Greek learners 13 Appendix B Phrases for turn taking and back channelling adapted by lists at UsingEnglish.com 2013 by Alex Case http://www.usingenglish.com/articles/how-to-teach-turn-taking.html Taking the turn Speaking first Accepting the turn when offered Turntaking Thanks (I won’t take Expressions long) Although you probably What I wanted to say know more about this was… than me,… What was I going to Can I go ahead? say? Oh yes,… Can I speak first? Keeping your turn Refuse interruption (I have) just one more point (to make) (I’m/ I’ve) nearly finished (Just) one more thing (before you interrupt) Before you have your say,… Can I/ Could I just finish (my sentence/ this point/ what I was saying)? I haven’t (quite) finished (my point) (yet) I won’t take long Signalling continuation of turn And that was just the beginning of the story And that’s not all And then it got even worse And what’s more,… But you haven’t heard the half of it Furthermore,… In addition,… Not only that, but… You might think that is all there is to say on the matter, but… Getting other people speaking Getting the other Offering turn person to speak first (No, please) After you (Now) I’d be (very) I’d like to hear your interested to hear your opinion before I views (on…)/ what you comment think (about…) Interrupting Excuse me/ Sorry for interrupting, but… Sorry, can I just…? The same (kind of) thing happened to me the other day Would this be a good time to…? Taking the turn back (Mmm Good point.) Anyhow/ Anyway,… As I was saying (before I was interrupted),… Can we get back to the point on the agenda? Carrying on from where I/ we left off,… Getting back on track, to the point at nd … Shall I carry on? To get back on topic,… To get back to the point at hand/ to what I was saying,… We seem to be getting off the point What was I saying?/ Where was I?/ Where were we? Oh yes,… Asking for more details And then? Dish! How did you get out of that? GR 102 Kostaki – Psoma Elisavet LSA3: Raising awareness and developing the turn-taking mechanism to improve interactive communication for Greek learners 14 I’m not sure what I want But that’s enough from to say yet, so… me I'll let you go first Can you give me your Please go ahead thoughts on…? You know more about Do you agree? this than me, so… How about you? What’s your experience (of this)? What’s your opinion / position/ view on…? What’s your take on…? Would you agree (that…)? You haven’t said anything yet Back channelling Signalling the end of your turn (I’m) sorry to hear that And so on Amazing! Etcetera etcetera Congratulations!/ Well I think I’ve made my done! point Glad to hear it! Sorry for waffling on Ha! That’s all I wanted to How wonderful/ exciting/ say depressing/ Which just about covers embarrassing/ ironic! it I don’t believe it! (I think) you get the I know./ I know (just) what idea you mean Never mind! Nice! Lucky you! No!?/ No way! Oh my goodness! Really? That sounds great/ awful/ horrible That was close! That’s a pity!/ That’s a shame! That’s amazing! Well I never!/ Well I never did! What a pity!/ What a shame! Whoops! Wow! You lucky thing!/ You poor thing! You’re joking!? What happened? What are you going to about it? So? Turning down the chance to speak I can’t add anything to that I don’t have any view on this at all I think you’ve covered everything I’m still just digesting what you said I’m still thinking about what I want to say GR 102 Kostaki – Psoma Elisavet LSA3: Raising awareness and developing the turn-taking mechanism to improve interactive communication for Greek learners 15 Uh yeah really, Changing your mind about interrupting I’ll let you finish No no, you go on No, it’s okay I’ve forgotten what I was going to say Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt Sorry, I thought you’d finished That’s okay, you’ve already answered my question Ending your interruption Sorry, please carry on/ go on Sorry, you were going to say? Sorry, you were saying? Sorry, you were saying… Sorry What were you saying? GR 102 Kostaki – Psoma Elisavet LSA3: Raising awareness and developing the turn-taking mechanism to improve interactive communication for Greek learners 16 Appendix C Ten Core Assumptions of Current Communicative Language Teaching Second language learning is facilitated when learners are engaged in interaction and meaningful communication Effective classroom learning tasks and exercises provide opportunities for students to negotiate meaning, expand their language resources, notice how language is used, and take part in meaningful interpersonal exchange Meaningful communication results from students processing content that is relevant, purposeful, interesting, and engaging Communication is a holistic process that often calls upon the use of several language skills or modalities Language learning is facilitated both by activities that involve inductive or discovery learning of underlying rules of language use and organization, as well as by those involving language analysis and reflection Language learning is a gradual process that involves creative use of language, and trial and error Although errors are a normal product of learning, the ultimate goal of learning is to be able to use the new language both accurately and fluently Learners develop their own routes to language learning, progress at different rates, and have different needs and motivations for language learning Successful language learning involves the use of effective learning and communication strategies The role of the teacher in the language classroom is that of a facilitator, who creates a classroom climate conducive to language learning and provides opportunities for students to use and practice the language and to reflect on language use and language learning 10 The classroom is a community where learners learn through collaboration and sharing GR 102 Kostaki – Psoma Elisavet LSA3: Raising awareness and developing the turn-taking mechanism to improve interactive communication for Greek learners 17 Appendix D Turn-taking activities Taken from Nolasco, R., & Arthur, L (1987) Resource books for teachers: Conversation In: A Maley (Ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press GR 102 Kostaki – Psoma Elisavet LSA3: Raising awareness and developing the turn-taking mechanism to improve interactive communication for Greek learners 18 GR 102 Kostaki – Psoma Elisavet LSA3: Raising awareness and developing the turn-taking mechanism to improve interactive communication for Greek learners 19 GR 102 Kostaki – Psoma Elisavet LSA3: Raising awareness and developing the turn-taking mechanism to improve interactive communication for Greek learners 20 Taken from Carroll D (2011).Taking Turns and Talking Naturally: teaching Conversational Turn-Taking In: D H Tatsuki & N R Houck Pragmatics (Eds.) Teaching Natural Conversation (pp 91-103) TESOL Press For this activity, the teacher needs multiple sets of index cards each, with each card containing one of the following items written on one side: three, red, Yuko, London, pizza There should be enough sets so that each student has one card For example, for 30 students, six sets are required Students stand in a circle with the teacher in the middle There should be more than one student who has each answer (e.g., two or more students will have the London card) so that there will always be two or more students who have a relevant answer to any question The teacher asks a question for which one of the cards will be the obvious answer, taking care not to direct the question to any particular student (e.g.,with eye contact) because this would defeat the purpose of the activity, which is to promote self-selection The following questions can be used to start with and then replaced with other questions that fit the answers: Q: What time does the party start? A: Q: What color was the car? A: Red Q: Who did you go with? A: Yuko Q: Where are they going this summer? A: London Q: What are we having for dinner? A: Pizza The students need to monitor the unfolding turn-in-progress and think about whether their card is a possible answer to the question If they have a relevant answer, they jump in If everything goes well, there should be two (or more) students calling out simultaneous answers, with no gap between the question and the response GR 102 Kostaki – Psoma Elisavet LSA3: Raising awareness and developing the turn-taking mechanism to improve interactive communication for Greek learners 21 Appendix E Cross-cultural awareness activities Taken from Nolasco, R., & Arthur, L (1987) Resource books for teachers: Conversation In: A Maley (Ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press GR 102 Kostaki – Psoma Elisavet LSA3: Raising awareness and developing the turn-taking mechanism to improve interactive communication for Greek learners 22 GR 102 Kostaki – Psoma Elisavet LSA3: Raising awareness and developing the turn-taking mechanism to improve interactive communication for Greek learners 23 ... awareness and developing the turn- taking mechanism to improve interactive communication for Greek learners 13 Appendix B Phrases for turn taking and back channelling adapted by lists at UsingEnglish.com... awareness and developing the turn- taking mechanism to improve interactive communication for Greek learners 18 GR 102 Kostaki – Psoma Elisavet LSA3: Raising awareness and developing the turn- taking mechanism. .. the turn- taking mechanism to improve interactive communication for Greek learners 22 GR 102 Kostaki – Psoma Elisavet LSA3: Raising awareness and developing the turn- taking mechanism to improve interactive