Language in Use 229-230
Taking part in a conversation with other people is so much a part of our lives
that the complex nature of the activity is easily taken for granted. The
aim of this unit is to look at what actually happens in a conversation between
people who know each other well. It requires the use of two or three tape recordings
of ordinary relaxed conversation. If possible, the age of the speakers and the
Subject of the conversation should be different for each recording. At least
one of them should involve people from different age groups.
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[1] Without guidance, and working in groups, the class are asked to listen to the recordings and build tip as complete a picture as possible of who is talking, about what, what the relationship is between the speakers, and how they are responding to each other. Each tape will need to be listened to several times
[2] For this session, the class need to have in front of them the written
report from each group, given details of what they have discovered about their
tape. Discussion should focus on what conditions made the conversations
possible The following points need to come up:
(a) who takes part-their apparent age, and relationship to each other
(b) what the talk is about
(c) is the surface content of the talk its only content, and can it be understood
merely by listening to what is said
(d) what feelings are expressed without use of words and how a listener knows
what they are
(e) what is the number and length of individual participations and how do these
affect the nature and the content of what is said
(f) the part played by silence
(g) how the conversation begins and ends.
[3] Armed with the results of the discussion in [2] and the points mentioned in it, the class should listen again to the tapes to see how much more sense they can now make of them. The reports this time can be based upon the seven points mentioned in [2] so that in the subsequent discussion comparison between the tapes will show differences much more sharply
If time or facilities allow, a second collection of tapes would be useful.