More Conversational and Academic Phrases to Get Students Speaking & Writing in No Time

Youve probably experienced it, if youve studied a second language: sitting in Russian class, for example, for weeks, perhaps months, and then meeting an actual Russianspeaking person and realizing you cant say anything to her. This is one of the largest complaints of traditional language instruction, and in all fairness, there are a number of culprits: the small amount of time devoted to language learning being one. But another concern is the means of instruction and the curriculum. If students spend large amounts of time conjugating verbs, they wont be able to string two words together for a conversation. Even if they focus on vocabulary, but learn words in lists, students still wont be able to string two words together. But if second language students learn language as a set of useful, everyday phrases How are you? Im fine. Its really hot today they can begin to string two words together. Students are in language class for a limited amount of time, often as little as three hours a week, and this time should be spent on language they can use. Most of language is formulaic, research has showneven native speakers, in the pressure of online production, often fall back on formulas: e.g., Have a nice day, and You, too! Phrases for Conversation The following phrases have been found to be among the most common in English, in The Grammar of Written and Spoken English, by Biber and his colleagues (1999).

Sentence Starters: These phrases are useful in that they can be used to start a sentence or even an entire conversation; the student, having memorized the first part, need only fill in the second part. As a student of Russian, for example, I made ample usage of the phrase Ya doomayo shto (I think that), thereby signaling to the other participants in the conversation that I had a point to make and allowing me time to put that thought together. Many of the following phrases can be used in a similar manner. And they all can be used again and again, on a number of topics, explaining their commonality in the language:

To demonstrate a lack of understanding or lack of agreement on a topic: I dont think I dont know

For storytelling or recounting a conversation: I went to the And I said

For commands or requests Have a look at Can I have a

Complete Sentence Responses In response to a point made by another speaker, keeping the listener involved in the conversation Thats a good idea. I dont like it.

Academic Phrases Even a significant portion of academic prose is comprised of ready-made formulaic expressionsreaders of this genre expect a certain kind of language, and in using it, the writer demonstrates his membership is this community. Teaching students this language therefore helps them enter the academic writing community. Below are some of the formulaic phrases used in academic writing and their functions.

Introductions With the following, the writer introduces a topic or an example. In the case of The nature of the

Cause/Effect As a result of

Addition In addition to the

Comparison With the following phrase, the author compares an example or point with one previously mentioned. In the same way

Comparison At the same time-- (This seems like a phrase to show comparison, but it is most often used for contrast: I really like dogsat the same time, I like cats as well)

Enumerating Points In the first place Methods for Teaching 1 Consciousness Raising Students must first be aware of the formulas that exist in everyday language and how to respond: the way many Americans today respond to Thank you, for example, is not Youre welcome but rather No problem. This kind of actual, real-world language use is often not taught in textbooks because it tends to be highly specialized to time and place: in certain regions or by specific age groups. For example, once in when getting my laptop repaired, the customer service representative helping me responded No problem to my Thank you and then quickly retracted it with I dont mean to suggest there was a problem. When I assured him I understood what he meant by no problem, he went on to tell about a previous customer who was annoyed with his use of no problem, thinking he was suggesting that there was indeed one in serving her. Even native speakers, apparently, can misunderstand idiomatic, formulaic phrases, and should keep in mind their actual usage rather than the literal meaning. Besides conversation, students can study their course readings for use of academic phrases. Opening any academic text to a random page is likely to reveal several academic phrases. Call students attention to them: What words does the author use to introduce the topic? How does the author use the phrase in other words here? This will demonstrate the many kinds of phrases and ways they are used in academic writing. 2 Matching The next step, after exposing students to a variety of conversational and academic phrases, is having students match phrases to their meaning or function: e.g., No problem=Youre welcome. This provides additional processing with the phrases. 3 Sentence Completion Most phrases comprise an incomplete sentence or thought; they are just the stem or beginning of a thought or sentence. Take advantage of this structure by having students complete sentences: e.g., I want to or Do you know in conversation, perhaps with index cards that have been passed out with the key phrase written on it. In writing, students can complete sentences that begin with the more academic In the case of or On the other hand 4 Practice

Students can extend the activities above, perhaps structuring an entire conversation or essay around the key phrases. The instructor may also give out a handout of the key phrases and have students work as many as possible into a conversation or essay. The prevalence of formulaic phrases in conversation and writing suggests how key these phrases are to fluency; it may be close to impossible to be fluent without these short chunks of memorized language. Learning these phrases, however does not come naturallyeven native speakers sometimes joke about calling up the wrong formulaic phrases in conversation, such as You, too to a waiters Have a good meal. So while they exist on the automatic level, phrases do need to be consciously learned. Engaging in consciousness-raising and practice provides the processing that students need to learn these phrases to become more fluent in their second language http://busyteacher.org/12154-more-conversational-academic-phrases-students.html