Research on
Teaching Conversation
Comprehensible Input
Monitoring Vocabulary Use
Prior 1980s
Learning Components of the Target Language
Example:
‘Students will learn the 49 most common preposition in English’
‘Students will be able to differentiate a regular past tense
verb from an irregular past tense verb.’
In the 1980s
‘knowledge of language’
Components
‘use of knowledge for
communication purposes’
Development of Communicative Approach
Comprehensible Input
Comprehensible Input was developed by Stephen Krashan
Teachers must use words students know
Input that is just a bit more difficult than
they can easily understand
Comprehensible Input
i+1
Comprehensible Input
i+1
Input Greater than
Input that is a little beyond learner’s proficiency
Comprehensible Input
Without i+1
Learner maintains his/her current level of proficiency
Not the goal of teaching conversation
Comprehensible Input
Two Things Teachers Should Know
Pronunciation Issue
Grammatical Issue
Pronunciation Issue
Be aware of when to assimilate adjacent sounds
Example:
What did you think of the movie?
Do you want to hear this again?
Grammar Issue
Be aware of grammatical structures that are confusing or unknown to learners.
should have + past participle (action did not happen)
(i.e.,)The house should have exploded
Comprehensible Input
Grammar Issue
Be aware of grammatical structures that are confusing or unknown to learners.
should have + past participle (action did not happen)
(i.e.,)The house should have exploded
content words
Monitoring Vocabulary Use
Monitoring Words are
Vocabulary Comprehensible Ensures
Common Mistakes by Teachers
Big Words (dictionary, dinosaur,)
Small Words (hem, num, sin)
Late 1990s
Corpus Linguistics
Corpus Data
Samples of frequent words
from real-world
Monitoring Vocabulary Use
How can Corpus Linguistics benefit conversation lessons?
Frequent words Less frequent words
Itchy, Dizzy v.s. Fossils,
Monitoring Vocabulary Use
Corpus Linguistics is useful in identifying
how words are used in different contexts.
Example:
Like
(to show a favor to someone or something)
Monitoring Vocabulary Use
I like apples
So this bloke, he was drunk, came up to me and I’m like Go Away, I don’t want to dance
The first thing that runs through your
mind is like meningitis, isn’t it?
Monitoring Vocabulary Use
Most Common Idioms from Two Different Corpus Studies Academic Discourse
(Simpson and Mendis, 2003)
Spoken English
(Liu, 2003)
