Should you think twice before you open your mouth.Pedagogic implications of linguistic research for EAP/ESP classroom
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| Year of publication | 2015 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | The aim of this presentation is to show how linguistic research into spoken formal discourse influences sessions of my English for Layers course taught at the Faculty of Law, Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic. Students are introduced into basic rules of successful formal communication based on socio-linguistic and pragmatic analysis of formal panel discussions and investigative interviews, which have been analysed over a number of years. I have also gained some experience of teaching international virtual classes via videoconferencing sessions in which a number of language skills are developed; specifically: negotiation and argumentation strategies. Although students first have some practice in micro tasks in which they learn how to build their argument, and then pose a counter-argument before reacting to it, video samples from videoconferences between law students at Masaryk University (Czech Republic) and the University of Helsinki (Finland) will demonstrate different approaches to allocated case studies. Although the students are introduced briefly to intercultural differences between Czech and Finnish communication in English in advance of the virtual session, students’ performances differ greatly in terms of negotiation strategies, showing power, argumentation and the choice of words and grammar. This seems to reflect not only their personal levels of (im)maturity and inexperience in negotiation, but also their unwillingness to reach a win-win conclusion, which is manifested in the language they use at lexical, grammatical, sociolinguistic and pragmatic levels. It shows how students from two not quite so dissimilar cultures approach the task, use language and soft skills negotiation strategies to achieve the goal. Thus examples of linguistic analysis of good practice used by native speakers in formal settings helps both the teacher and the students in practising necessary language and skills. |
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