Language in Use 227-228
This unit is concerned with a fundamental aspect of social relations, the nature
and function of conversation. Its aim is to explore what young people understand
by conversation. As many of them get their notions of adult conversation from
television, the unit requires them to look closely at the special nature of
conversation when it occurs in the studio. What young people will attempt in
conversation for themselves may be strongly influenced by what they think it
ought to be like.
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[1] Explore with the class what they understand by conversation. Points to consider might include lack of formality, easy flow of talk between participants, few people involved, ready interchange between speaking and listening for all taking part, readiness to tolerate interruption, change of subject, digression, anecdote, or expressions of personal feeling. Then ask the class to suggest which TV programmes come closest to having the features they have just explored. In preparation for the next session, ask the class to watch several of these programmes and observe how TV might change the patterns of ordinary conversation. Arrange for and cast some members of the class to watch the same programmes.
[2] For this session, the class need to have in front of them the list
of features they compiled in session [1]. Ask the class to report on what they
have viewed. The focus of the session should be upon the way in which the TV
conversation matches what the class see as proper to adult conversation. Any
real divergence should be examined closely. Points to consider in this discussion
might include:
(a) the diversity of any TV audience
(b) the relationship between the two 'audiences': the others engaged in the
studio conversation and the viewers in front of their
sets
(c) the discernible effects of scripting, rehearsal and editing upon the apparent
spontaneity of the talk
(d) the roles taken up by the participants: is there pressure to 'entertain',
'dogmatise', 'simplify'?
The session should end with plans for observing how adults talk off the screen. Again, the class should have their list of features from [1] in mind when doing their listening.
[3] In this session, the class should report on what they have observed.
If any tapes of spontaneous adult conversation are available, they could usefully
be introduced at this point. The focus of the session should be upon the divergence
between the studio conversation examined in [2] and the adult conversation observed
in real life. Apart from the points already mentioned, the following should
be considered:
(a) how people interrupt each other without giving offence
(b) how a person shows that he expects someone else to take tip the subject
(c) how people use non-verbal means of agreeing, disagreeing and expressing
other responses while the other person is talking
(d) how much more they assume the others know than the studio talkers
(e) how long one person speaks for how people show that they want to change
the subject.
The tape necessary for J6 is of the sort that will be useful for [3] here.