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Browsing English by Author "Brokensha, Susan Iris"
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Item Open Access The discourse manifestations of analytic, functional-analytic, and experiential language activities for intermediate to advanced learners of English(University of the Free State, 2016-03-02) Brokensha, Susan Iris; Ullyatt, R. C.; Greyling, W. J.This study has two principal aims. First, the descriptive aim is to describe the patterns of discourse that characterize three language teaching styles referred to by Allen (1987) in his variable focus curriculum scheme as structural-analytic (Type A), functional-analytic (Type B), and non-analytic (Type C) teaching, showing that these patterns differ significantly because they are the product of distinct speech exchange systems. The justification for this study is that, although Allen (1983; 1987; 1989) has described the features of Type A, Type B, and Type C teaching at length, few data are available on how these styles are reflected in actual classroom practices and processes. Moreover, although Allen et at. {1984) have developed a coding scheme which they refer to as the COLT procedure to distinguish between analytic and experiential language activities, it does not document the verbal exchanges characteristic of analytic teaching. Secondly, the applied linguistic aim is to show how the findings of the analyses conducted in this study may be used to improve aspects of teacher training as well as materials design and evaluation. As these aims indicate, the study of classroom discourse is not regarded as an end in itself, but as a means of promoting teachers' awareness of classroom processes so that they can make informed decisions in the language classroom. In order to achieve these aims, three corpuses of classroom data are analysed either in terms of Sacks, Schegloff and Jefferson's (1974) rule system for tum-taking in natural conversation, or in terms of McHoul's (1978) recursive rule system for classroom discourse. Due to the limitations of the Conversation Analysis perspective, aspects of the Discourse Analysis perspective of the Birmingham school (Sinclair and Coulthard, 1975) are used in the analyses. These analyses show that the discourse patterns that occur in Type A, Type B, and Type C language activities differ significantly because they are founded either on (i) a pre-allocated system of turn-taking, (ii) a Jocal-allocational system of turn-taking, or (iii) a combination of Jocal-allocational and pre-allocational means. Finally, the implications of the findings for teacher training as well as for materials design and evaluation are discussed, and, at the same time, future areas of research are briefly outlined.Item Open Access South African business-news interview talk : its typicality and implications for materials design in the domain of ESP(University of the Free State, 2000-11) Brokensha, Susan Iris; Ullyatt, R. C.; Greyling, W. J.Drew and Heritage (1992) have focused attention on the influential role Conversation Analysis (CA) has played in the study of interaction in institutional settings. One such setting is the news interview, and a number of researchers (e.g. Clayman, 1991; Heritage and Greatbatch, 1991; Greatbatch, 1992) have noted that interviewers (IRs) regularly adhere to the institutionalised language practices that govern the management of topical agendas within the news interview turn-taking system. In this research study, the researcher postulates that the findings of CA studies of news interview talk may be used by language practitioners in the domain of ESP (English for Specific Purposes) to generate meta-communicative and communicative teaching materials for prospective South African news IRs in the field of business. In order to achieve this applied linguistic aim, the role of the IR in managing news interview talk is described in terms of Clayman's (1991) study of news interview openings as well as within the framework of Heritage and Greatbatch's (1991) analysis of news interview talk. Aspects of Clayman's (1992) study of the strategies IRs employ to maintain a neutralistic stance are also included in the description of the IR's role. The researcher posits that, if the generality of the discourse findings of these CA analysts are verified in an analysis of South African news interview talk, the analysis may be regarded as a target-centred needs analysis (Cf. Jordan, 1997: 25). That is, the analysis specifies the areas of knowledge and skills prospective news IRs need to function effectively in the news interview situation. To establish generality, the principles of qualitative research are adhered to in this study. That is, in a preliminary analysis, a corpus of South African business-news interview talk is scrutinised to determine whether the discourse patterns in it replicate those identified by the CA analysts. An exhaustive analysis of the full corpus of lingual data is then made, and finally, the researcher collects and recycles through the data in order to validate the findings (Seliger and Shohamy, 1989: 121-124). This CA study shows that the patterns of discourse reflected in South African business-news interviews replicate those identified by Clayman (1991; 1992) and Heritage and Greatbatch (1991). Based on the analysis, ESP activities that conform to Van Lier's (1996) Awareness, Authenticity and Autonomy curriculum model are designed for prospective news IRs. Next, one of the activities is implemented in the language classroom and a criticalreflective analysis is made of the activity in order to determine whether it simulates South African news interview discourse. The analysis shows that cycles of critical reflection cannot be omitted by language practitioners if they wish to cross-validate the authenticity and credibility of their teaching materials. Finally, future areas of research are considered. An important justification for this research study is that a review of the literature has revealed that most studies of professional contexts are unrelated to the teaching of ESP (Cf. Gunnarsson, Linell and Nordberg, 1997). Moreover, as this study aims to demonstrate, the discourse features characteristic of the activities devised in the materials design phase reflect most of the specific outcomes of OBE (outcomes-based education).