Stage 2 guidelines for speaking: Discourse

Here are some discourse objectives for Stage 2 for speaking:

• To use grammatical and lexical references appropriately to refer to people and objects so listeners can keep track of them
• To use appropriate grammatical and lexical devices to signal to listeners which parts of the discourse are most prominent and which parts are supporting materials
• To construct the following kinds of discourses: question-answer sets, procedural discourses, narratives, descriptions, and directions

Here are some discourse strategies for Stage 2 guidelines for speaking:

Analysis Use conversational analysis and text analysis techniques to identify the ways mother-tongue speakers handle cohesion and prominence in discourse. Practice Use role-play techniques to practice speaking and ask a language associate for correction. Participant observation Listen to people and observe them interacting with each other to give you lots of exposure to natural discourse. Selective attention Select a particular feature and pay attention to that one feature all day (how people ask for the floor when they want to speak).

Here are some discourse techniques for Stage 2 guidelines for speaking:

The Script Analysis technique

• The Text Analysis technique
• The Audio Archive technique
• The Participant Observation technique
• The Dialogue techniques
• The Series technique
• The Picture Descriptions technique
• The Familiar Stories technique
• The Shared Experiences technique

Here are some discourse activities for Stage 2 guidelines for speaking:

The Social Visiting activity

• The Join in the Work activity
• The Telephone Procedures activity

• Generic module: Stage 2 guidelines for speaking: Discourse
• In overview module: Stage 2: Speaking modules
• In modular book: Guidelines for a Language and Culture Learning Program, by Carol J. Orwig
• In document collection: Other Resources
• In bookshelf: Language Learning

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 3.5, published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 1999. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 8 December 1998

© 1999 SIL International