Example Student: I borrow him a

Student: I ate sandpot stapler.

for my lunch. Teacher: You lent him the
Teacher: So you had a stapler.
pot of soup for lunch. Explicit correction: Clearly
indicating an error and
restating
Example
Student: I eat salad
yesterday.
Teacher: Not eat. I ate salad
yesterday.
Explicit correction with
metalinguistic explanation:
Error identified and rules
included
Example
Student: I twenty-six.
Teacher: Every sentence
needs a verb. We need the
<be verb.= I am twenty-six.

Repetition: Repeating Metalinguistic clue: A prompt

the student9s error, provided by the teacher for
generally with emphasis the student to self-correct
on the area in need of Example
correction
Student: I buyed three tacos.
Example
Teacher: What is the
Student: I need go to irregular past tense for buy?
the store.
Elicitation: Asking student
Teacher: I need go to to provide the correction
Prompts the store.
Example
Clarification request:
Asking the speaker to Student: I am /b/ery (8bεri)
repeat or explain hungry.
Example Teacher: Places two front
teeth on bottom lip and
Student: [Unintelligible] points to mouth as a
Teacher: Could you reminder of the
repeat that? pronunciation of /v/ And
asks, <Can you repeat very?=
 Lyster and Ranta (1997) found that teachers use recasts most o en,

although subsequent research shows that this varies depending on the

teacher and the setting (Sheen & Ellis, 2011). Uptake is how students

respond to the error correction by indicating in some way that they can

correct the error. Although the teachers in the Lyster and Ranta study most

commonly used recasts, student uptake was least likely to occur with recasts.

Elicitations and metalinguistic feedback led to greater uptake among

students. With the research somewhat contradictory, the best approach may

be to provide a variety of feedback types to students (Lightbown & Spada,

2013).

Consider recording your class or having someone observe how you give

ff
feedback to students. You might be surprised by how and when you give

feedback. Sheen and Ellis (2011) o er some suggestions based on research

on corrective feedback:

Generally, learners want to be corrected, and correction promotes

language acquisition.

Eff ective feedback may be given immediately a er an error or later.

 e most e ff ective feedback is explicit (learners know they are being

corrected) and asks students to produce language.

Learner self-correction seems to lead to the greatest learning.

Finally, remember that error feedback should be balanced with positive

feedback.

Form-Focused Instruction
Focusing on form (or grammar) in language is enfcouraged even in a

communicative speaking classroom. Lightbown and Spada (2013) de ne

form-focused instruction (FFI) as “instruction that draws attention to the

form and structures of the language within the context of communicative

interaction” (p. 218).

In FFI, there are further divisions (see Figure 2.1 and chapter 4).
 1. Teaching forms when they arise in a lesson (focus on form): For

example, a lesson on food might involve an unplanned minilesson on

quanti ers (e.g., all, some).

2. Paying attention to forms outside of communicative interaction (focus

on forms): For example, the teacher plans the forms that will be taught

before the class begins.

Figure 2.1. Difference Between Focus on Form and Focus on Forms

REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS
Look at the sample lesson plan in the Appendix. Which FFI pattern (focus
on form or focus on forms) does it seem to follow?
Which FFI pattern do you prefer as a teacher? Which do you think is
better for your students?
Over time, teachers may develop a repertoire of informal focus on form
minilessons related to errors their students commonly make. Some we
have developed include the pronunciation of teen vs. ty in numbers (e.g.,
13 vs. 30, 14 vs. 40), present vs. past participles (e.g., I’m boring vs. I’m
bored), and subject-verb agreement. Creating a toolbox of minilessons
makes focus on form easier. What is in your toolbox of minilessons, or
what might need to be?
Discourse Competence

ff
One of the unwritten rules of conversation is that the words must ow. If

they do not, the talk is ine ective. In other words, language forms must be

put together into phrases that join into conversations that ow, change

direction, and grow or shrink as people drop in and out.

Teachers can help their students understand what makes a conversation,

in particular, the conventions of discourse competence, or how to tie phrases

and sentences into strings of communication in context so that others

understand the meaning.

Cohesion
 e term for joining ideas in writing or in speech is cohesion. In writing,

cohesion means making one sentence ow to the next sentence and one

paragraph ow to the next paragraph (Christiansen, 2011). Conversations

ow smoothly when speakers link their ideas with what has been said just

previously. In other words, they use cohesive devices to tie phrases and

sentences together, and they make connections even when switching from

one speaker to another. Still, conversations are messy and sometimes do not

ow smoothly, even when people are using their L1.

REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS
Listen in on a first language conversation. How many of the following do
you hear?
Unfinished sentences
Clarification questions (Did you say three?)
Nonword sounds (Mmmm.)
One-word utterances (Wow!)
Someone finishes another person’s sentence.
Someone loses interest in the topic, and the conversation fades
away or changes course

Teaching Discourse
 e goal in teaching discourse competence is to help students make

conversations ow and understand how to string ideas together with

cohesive devices or other features.

Cohesive Devices
One way to help students make ideas ow is to use cohesive devices, which

act like glue sticking the parts of a conversation together. For example, to

add information, speakers can use words or phrases such as and, what’s

more, and also. To describe a series of events, speakers might use words such

as first, next, or finally.

Repetition
People repeat themselves to keep ideas owing, perhaps starting with


phrases such as Once again or As I was saying. Sometimes speakers do this

ff
a er an interruption, when people do not seem to be listening, or just to

make a point more strongly, either in the same or di erent words. Repetition

keeps both listeners and speakers on track. Teachers can help learners

understand that repetition is natural and useful when using English.

Reference Words
In conversations, people do not keep repeating the key words, those that

hold meaning. Instead, they use reference words such as there or this. For

example, imagine walking into a room and hearing the following utterances:

A: Yes. Believe me. I was there.

B: Really? How long were you there?

Although you may have no idea what the speakers are talking about,

they do, and their use of there makes the conversation ow more smoothly.

Imagine what it would sound like otherwise:

A: Yes. Believe me. I was at the Teaching English to Speakers of Other

Languages conference.
 B: Really? How long were you at the conference on Teaching English to

Speakers of Other Languages?

Taking the Floor

To keep the ow of conversation going, sometimes speakers begin their

turns (or take the oor) by referring to what someone else has said. For

example, when people are sharing opinions, they might begin their turns


with transitions such as I see what you’re saying, but…. Or when they want

to describe a similar experience, they might say e same thing happened to

me….

Yielding the Floor

Keeping the conversation owing sometimes involves giving other people a

turn or keeping them talking. When people want to draw someone else into

a conversation, they might ask questions such as What do you think? or You


were there too, weren’t you? To keep another person talking, a speaker can

also ask questions or make comments that show interest. e questions need


not be very clever and sometimes can simply repeat the person’s words.

Look at the following examples. e rst yields the oor with a question. In

the second, B’s repetition with questioning intonation invites A to continue

speaking and keeps the conversation owing.

A:  e concert was amazing. You could really feel the majesty of the

music…. Isn’t that how you felt too?

B: It is, although I’m not sure I felt it quite as strongly as you did.

A:  en I really did get a shock.

B: You got a shock?

REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS
Do you use these strategies in your own conversations?
How can you help students add these devices to their English
conversation skills
Conclusion
Learning to speak involves gaining some mastery over the forms of language

(linguistic competence) and stringing those forms together into

conversations (discourse competence). Success in speaking includes being

able to speak accurately and uently within the ow of conversational

contexts. Yet, the learning process does not stop here.