Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc.

(TESOL)

Developing Sociolinguistic Competence in a Second Language

Author(s): Janet Holmes and Dorothy F. Brown
Source: TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 10, No. 4 (Dec., 1976), pp. 423-431
Published by: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. (TESOL)
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 TESOLQuarterly
Vol. 10, No. 4
December 1976

in a
Competence
DevelopingSociolinguistic
SecondLanguage
Janet Holmes and Dorothy F. Brown

This paper presents and discusses some exercises designed to help the
second language learner develop both receptive and productivesociolin-
guistic competence. The exercisesstress the notion of appropriateusage
and the potential differencesbetween the sociolinguistic norms of the
source and target languages; the importanceof recognizing the social
meaningor latent function of utterances;and the desirabilityof learners
making an active contributionto the developmentof conversations.
The process of acquiring sociolinguistic competence is a gradual one for
the individual in his native speech community. A second language learner,
however, generally lacks time and opportunity to acquire sociolinguistic
rules "naturally," and teachers must therefore attempt to devise methods
and materials which will facilitate and accelerate the acquisition of socio-
linguistic competence in a second language. Paulston (1974) suggests a
variety of useful techniques to help students to express themselves appro-
priately in different social contexts. In this paper we would like to discuss
some of the exercises which we have found useful in developing sociolin-
guistic competence. In particularly we aimed to develop (1) an awareness
of contexts where the sociolinguistic norms of the first language were likely
to interfere with those of the target language; (2) the ability to interpret
the social meaning as well as the referential meaning of exchanges; (3) the
ability to take the initiative in developing a conversation.
The exercises were developed during a summer course for 55 adult for-
eign students in New Zealand. The students were by no means a homo-
geneous group; they came from Bhutan, Burma, Cambodia, Chile, Egypt,
Germany, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, New Caledonia,
Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Thailand, and The People's Republic of
China. None of them had lived in a monolingual English-speaking com-
munity before, and they all expressed a desire to improve their ability to
understand and communicate effectively with native-speakers in "ordinary
everyday conversation."
Sociolinguistic Interference.
The adolescent or adult second language learner is by no means socio-
linguistically naive since he has already acquired the complex sociolinguistic
system used in his native speech community. In learning how to use and
interpret the sociolinguistic rules of English he must develop an awareness
Ms. Holmes, Senior Lecturer in Linguistics, Victoria University of Wellington,
New Zealand, is co-editor of Sociolinguistics (Penguin, 1972). She has also published
in Language Learning. Ms. Brown is Lecturer in Migrant Education, Guild Teachers
College, Sydney, Australia.
423

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424 TESOL QUARTERLY

of areas where the sociolinguistic system of his native language differs from
that of English, and where "misperception and misanalysis" are most likely
to occur (Hymes 1972: 287). In some situations the rules of use of the two
languages may appear similar enough to develop a false sense of security in
the learners, and teachers must therefore supply feedback on appropriate
and inappropriate responses, since often the students will be unaware of
their errors. Here is one exercise which provided a useful means of focussing
on this problem.

EXERCISE: MATCHING SITUATIONS AND UTTERANCES

Part A. Match these situations with the responses that you think would
be most appropriate. Remember that silence is sometimes an
appropriate response.
Situation A Possible Response
1. Getting out of a crowded bus. How much is this, please?
2. Wanting to leave a party. Excuse me, please.
3. Finding the cost of something. Would you like some help?
4. Asking for tickets at the cinema. I'm sorry, I'm a stranger myself.
5. Waiting at a bus stop with a I think I'd better go now.
stranger.
6. Seeing a friend for the first time Could you serve me, or are you
since the death of his father. busy?
7. Trying to get a shop assistant
to serve you.
8. Helping someone who has fallen Two adults and one child upstairs,
over. please.
9. Someone asks you the way but I was very sorry to hear that your
you are new to the town. father had died.
10. Seeing someone who is carrying Are you all right? Have you hurt
many parcels. yourself?
Part B. Now make up your own first remark for these situations.
(a) You have picked up a purse that you saw someone drop.
(b) Asking a friend to look after your child for two hours.
(c) Asking a shop to deliver a chair you have just bought.
(d) Telling a taxi-driver where you want to go.
(e) Giving your name to a clerk who can't spell it.
(f) Complainingabout something you have bought which is not satisfactory.
This exercise develops from a structured part A to a more open and less
structured part B, and is therefore well suited to a class where levels of
communicative and linguistic competence vary. It stimulated a great deal
of cross-cultural comparisonof what was considered polite in different speech
communities. In part A, situation 5, for example, led to a discussion of the
uses and interpretation of silence in different cultures. Some students re-
garded silence in this situation as extremely threatening or rude, while those

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 SOCIOLINGUISTICCOMPETENCE 425

from European backgrounds accepted it as perfectly appropriate behavior.

Situation 2 demonstrated the restrictions on the kinds of excuses considered
acceptable in different speech communities. Judged by the sociolinguistic
norms of New Zealand society, some students wished to be devastatingly
honest; those from Southeast Asian countries, on the other hand, tended
to provide a degree of elaboration in their excuses which might lead the New
Zealand listener to suspect their genuineness.
Part B of this exercise permitted adventurous students to experiment
with more original and creative responses than those who were less sure
of their English.1 More cross-cultural differences emerged and teachers can
probably devise further situations which will enable them to focus on po-
tential areas of sociolinguistic interference. Adult students bring to second
language learning an ability to introspect which can be extremely valuable.
Hence the learner's sociolinguistic competence in his native language can
be regarded as an asset rather than a liability, in that it facilitates the con-
trastive analysis of different sociolinguistic systems in the classroom.
Role-play is another obvious means of developing sociolinguistic com-
petence. There are many sources of interesting and useful exercises which
enable students to practice using English appropriately (e.g. Kettering 1974;
Nation 1975; Selekman 1973). A variation which proved particularly re-
warding in enabling students to focus on areas of potential sociolinguistic
interference is an exercise suggested by Savignon (1972). For this exercise
the students were grouped according to nationality.2 Students first role-
played a situation in their native-language: e.g. greeting a friend after the
vacation; inviting a fellow-student to the cinema; expressing annoyance over
some lost notes etc. Then two native-speakers enacted the same situation
in English and the group commented on the differences between the two
performances. This proved very successful in providing students with an
opportunity to make sociolinguistic differences explicit and to observe fea-
tures they had not realized were socially meaningful. It was seen, for ex-
ample, that English speakers generally provided much less detail about
their vacation and seemed rather cool towards one another by comparison
with the Iranians, for instance.

Interpreting Social Meaning.

Second language learners are particularly vulnerable when the latent
function of an interaction is more significant than its manifest function.
Even native speakers can find this problematic: if the latent function is
not clearly signalled this "may lead to social embarrassment because of
differences in interpretation by speaker and hearer" (Ervin-Tripp 1964:
90). The latent function, or the social meaning of an utterance, is often
crucial in determining an appropriate response. Foreign students clearly
1As an
example of both creativity and honesty, this excuse in situation 2 warms
the heart: "I would like to go because there are no danceable ladies here."
For other exercises the groups were more heterogeneous. We found eight stu-
dents per group was an optimum number.

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426 TESOL QUARTERLY

need practice in interpreting the social meaning as well as the referential

meaning of interactions. The following exercise proved useful in focussing
attention on the importance of correctly interpreting the speaker's intentions
in order to respond appropriately.

EXERCISE: IMPLICATIONS

An implication is something that is suggested but not actually said.

Part A. Read what X says, think of the implications of the remark in two
or three different settings and then provide some possible replies;
provide at least one where Y agrees with X and one where Y dis-
agrees with X. There are no right and wrong answers.
Example: X says
Isn't it awful weather?
Implications X thinks the weather is bad and expects Y to agree.
A possible reply for Y if he is agreeing with X It certainly is.
A possible answer if Y disagrees with X: Well it's better than yesterday.
1. That right. Isn't it?
2. Haven't you had enough?
3. Isn't there room for another?
4. Wasn't that a boring lecture?
5. Did it really cost as much as that?
6. Have you started to work yet?
7. Have you stopped worrying about your son?
8. Aren't you tired?
9. I'm rather busy at the moment.
10. My daughter is very shy with strangers.
Part B
1. Can you swim? 2. Have you read Oliver Twist?
Can't you swim? Haven't you read Oliver Twist?
3. Do you know Mary Miller? 4. Did you give me six?
Don't you know Mary Miller? Didn't you give me six?
5. Will you be home to dinner?
Won't you be home for dinner?
The students enjoyed this exercise because they felt that they often mis-
interpreted or misunderstood the latent function of questions and state-
ments. Once they had grasped the purpose of the exercise they were keen
to discuss their experiences outside the classroom and produced a number
of further examples based on encounters since arriving in New Zealand. One
student, for example, had not initially realized that his host's remark, "I
expect you're very tired" was a polite way of indicating it was time he went
to bed and had felt very embarrassed when he finally realized that his host
and hostess were themselves very tired. Another student asked why New
Zealand people, such as teachers, were always saying "Thank you" even
when, according to her culture, they were simply receiving the respect due

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 SOCIOLINGUISTICCOMPETENCE 427

to them as people of superior status. As the course proceeded students be-

came increasingly aware of instances where the social meaning of utterances
and exchanges in English did not match those of superficially similar ex-
changes in their mother tongue. One student reported that his fiat-mates
no longer had any reason to laugh at his tendency to take their remarks
literally, since he was becoming increasingly sensitive to their function. He
quoted as an example his interpretation of "Have you cut yourself?" as an
expression of concern rather than a request for obvious confirmation, and
proudly told us he had replied "Oh, it's only a scratch."
The second part of the exercise was devised to remedy a specific difficulty.
Hearing final consonants is very important for taking the right meaning from
"wasn't" and "hadn't" etc. Many Asians neither produce nor hear the /nt/
easily, and so do not distinguish in conversation between "Have you read
it?" and "Haven't you read it?" By discussing the difference between the
pairs given, it alerted them to listen more carefully in future in order to
give an appropriate response.3
Taking the Initiative in a Conversation.
A third aspect of sociolinguistic competence which foreign students often
need to develop is more creative than interpretive. Many foreign students
lack the confidence to initiate or contribute anything substantial to a con-
versation. The native-speaker is often expected to carry the conversational
load while the foreign student replies to his questions with the minimum of
information thus providing him with little encouragement to continue the
conversation. In order to improve this aspect of sociolinguistic competence
students need practice in contributing material to a conversation, in pro-
viding information which their conversational partner can pick up and
develop, and in taking responsibility themselves for developing a conver-
sation. This exercise helped give them such practice.
EXERCISE: INITIATING COVERSATION.
Students learning English who are living in an English-speaking country
for the first time often have conversations with native speakers which follow
a very set pattern. Here is an example.
A. Good evening. Where do you come from?
B. From Thailand.
A. Oh! Thailand. Why have you come to New Zealand?
B. I'm a student.
A. Uh-uh. What's your subject?
B. Food technology.
A. How long have you been here?
B. One month.
A. How long will you stay?
B. Four years.
9 Mortimer (1974) suggests further useful methods of sensitising students to the
implications of utterances.

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428 TESOL QUARTERLY

That is often the end of the conversation. Neither participant wants to con-
tinue because it is so boring. The overseas student has answered these
questions many times, and the native speaker does not enjoy taking total
responsibility for keeping the conversation going.
Part A. Here are some suggestions for improving the situation. Supply B's
part of the conversation where it has been left out.
Suggestion 1.
When asked a question answer it and then ask a question yourself re-
lated to something in your answer: eg.
A. Where are you going to study?
B. In Auckland. Can you tell me what the climate is like there?
1. A. What course will you do?
B.
2. A. Where are you staying?
B.
Suggestion 2.
Answer the question, give some extra information and then ask an ap-
propriate question: eg.
A. Are you a student?
B. Yes. I've come to study commerce. Are you a student?
or
Yes. I've come to study commerce. Do all N.Z. universities teach
commerce?
The kind of question you ask will be determined to some extent by the
particular person you are addressing. An appropriate question in the
example above would give B the opportunity to say what he does.
1. A. Have you found a satisfactory place to live?
B.
2. A. Which part of Indonesia do you come from?
B.
3. A. How do you like the climate here?
B.
Suggestion 3
If there is any part of a question or a reply that you do not understand,
be brave enough to say so at once. It is better than pretending you do
understand. Unless you mostly understand the questions and the replies,
the conversation will die.
Suggest some ways of asking for a question or reply to be repeated and
explained.
Suggestion 4
If you are asked a question and you do understand it but you do not
want to reply because you think it is too personal, you must think of a way
of giving a very vague answer and then changing the topic: eg.

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 SOCIOLINGUISTICCOMPETENCE 429

A. Are you feeling homesick?

B. I'm not sure. Many things are very different here. Have you ever
lived in another country?
In this answer B has taken the initiative and thus managed to evade answer-
ing the question.
Suggest answers to the questions below.
1. A. Do you think all overseas students should return to their countries
when they finish their courses?
B.
2. A. Are you active in politics at home?
B.
3. A. Do you like New Zealand food?
B.
Part B
Try to remember some of the questions you have found difficult to an-
swer. Write them down and then discuss some possible responses with the
rest of the group.
Students were enthusiastic about this exercise and said it was exactly
what they needed. They agreed that usually they only answered the ques-
tion that had been asked, but when they started to practice giving additional
information they found it quite easy to give more than one extra bit of
information, so the conversation preliminaries were soon over and a more
interesting topic could be introduced. A few students wanted to give infor-
mation that might be considered insulting to many native speakers' knowl-
edge of geography: eg.
I come from Egypt. That's a long way from here.
I come from Tokyo. It's a very big city.
In practising suggestion 4 a number of students learnt the words
"vague," "diplomatic," and "evasive." They also learnt to use some use-
ful emotionally unloaded and evasive words and phrases such as "inter-
esting," "different," "in some ways," "perhaps," "it depends," "that's a
difficult question." Some very good answers were produced to the questions
given and some of the students managed very effectively to turn the question
back on the questioner: eg.
1. Do you think all overseas students should return to their countries when
they finish their courses?
"It depends upon their interests. Most people want to go back but
there are always some exceptions. Don't you think it's good to be able
to stay where you want to?"
2. Are you active in politics at home?
"I'm very interested but my work keeps me too busy. Don't you find
the same yourself."
"I'm only interested at election time. I think that's true for most
people don't you?"

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430 TESOL QUARTERLY

3. Do you like N.Z. food?

Many students really do not like the food and their first choice to be
honest is to say "It's very terrible." Being polite in this situation is very
difficult for them but some of them managed very well: e.g.
"It's very different. It's interesting for foreigners to adapt to local
food. Have you ever had Indonesian food?"
Here are some of the questions that the students provided as examples of
questions they do not like answering:
"How do you like New Zealand?" (This is a very frequent question
and obviously difficult to answer.)
"How old do you think I am?"
"Do you find it's hard to go abroad without your wife?"
"How much does public opinion influence political policy in your
country?"
"What's your religion?"
"Do you like the Government of New Zealand?"

Conclusion
The exercises presented and discussed in this paper are just a sample
of many which can be used to develop sociolinguistic competence. They
may need altering slightly for use in other English-speaking speech com-
munities. Some of them could be easily adapted for use in a language
laboratory. The exercises, as presented here however, should be useful in
the many situations where no laboratory is available, or where a native
speaker wishes to work without a laboratory.
Differential sociolinguistic competence is evident even among the native
speakers of a language. Some people find it difficult to take the initiative
in a conversation with a stranger, and misunderstanding of intention can
and often does occur in interactions between native speakers. Moreover all
speakers of a language, whether it is their first or second language, are bound
by the constraints of appropriateness and politeness in any particular situ-
ation. The second language learner however, is further constrained by the
limits of his knowledge of the language and will often therefore produce
what he can say rather than what he wants or ought to say. These exercises
are designed to help such learners understand and interpret the sociolin-
guistic norms of situations correctly, so that they can use those parts of
the language that they have mastered more competently and appropriately
in any given situation.
REFERENCES
Ervin-Tripp, Susan M. 1964. An analysis of the interaction of language, topic and
listener. American Anthropologist 66, 6, part 2, 86-102.
Hymes, Dell. 1972. On communicative competence. In Sociolinguistics, eds. J.B. Pride
and Janet Holmes. Harmondsworth, England, Penguin Books, 269-293.
Kettering, J. 1974. Communicaiton Activities. Pittsburgh, English Language Institute.
Mortimer, C. 1974. Developing language skills through seeking implications. English
Teaching Forum 12, 2, 22-24.

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 SOCIOLINGUISTIC COMPE'TENCE 431

Nation, I. S. P. 1975. Language Teaching Techniques. Victoria University of Welling-

ton, English Language Institute.
Paulston, Christina Bratt. 1974. Linguistic and communicative competence. TESOL
Quarterly 8, 4, 347-362.
Savignon, Sandra J. 1972. Communicative competence: an experiment in foreign-
language teaching. Philadelphia, Pa., Center for Curriculum Development, Inc.
Selekman, H. 1973. Communicative interaction activities in the foreign language class-
room. Pittsburgh, English Language Institute.

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