Language in Use 201-202
Intuitively, we behave in many different ways towards the many people we come
into contact with, as members of society, and much of out success as members
of society depends upon our ability to develop the relationship appropriate
to the situation we find ourselves in. The aim of this unit is to explore
the crucial part played by language in both the exercise and the identification
of roles What we say to the other person and how we say it, and what is said
to us in reply, provide the major means by which we judge what kind of relationship
is involved and what our part in it is expected to be.
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[1] This session requires each member of the class to make a list of all the people with whom he has been in contact over a period of about a week together with a note of who they were, where the meeting took place, and what the first few words of the exchange were, especially what each called the other. A wide range of address might include: Sir, Mr. Smith, W.B. Smith, W.B.S., Smith, Old Smithie, William, Bill, Stinker, luv, mate, hi you, abusive names, and nothing. Make a selection of the list," available to the class and ask them to work out what part each individual played in each encounter. Let them discover how much they can learn about the encounter from the information before them, then ask those whose lists have been used to comment on the accuracy of the assessments. This work can be done in small groups, one list to a group.
[2] In this session, the aim is to explore the difficulties that arise when the individuals in an encounter misread the nature of the part they arc expected to play in it. The class should work in groups, each devising an appropriate encounter and preparing a short sketch to present to the whole class. Ask the class to judge who, in each sketch, is misreading the situation, and how they know this, and what they think he ought to have done. The next step is to look at those situations where one person in an encounter stands in a complex relationship to another, as in the case of the teacher whose neighbour's son turns tip in his class, or an employee who finds that his new boss is an old acquaintance from the sports club. The focus here is upon the fact that contemporary life may suddenly create a situation in which individuals, who know each other well in one context, are thrown together in a wholly new context and have to work out what is appropriate to their new relationship. Again, the work of the session is to prepare and present sketches for comment by the whole class. At least one of the sketches should show one individual using the established relationship when the other is bent upon setting up a new one.