The Language Teacher
August 2003

Five-minute Fluency in the Language Lab

Mary Hughes

Shizuoka University of Art and Culture

<mary@suac.ac.jp>


QUICK GUIDE

Key Words:Natural flow of conversation, reactions, follow-up questions, transitions
Learner English Level: High-beginner to low-intermediate
Learner Maturity Level: First-year university
Preparation Time: The time required to create or find a suitable dialogue for Step 2
Activity Time: 60 to 90 minutes (depends on how much practice time is given). Follow-up Activity: 10 to 15 minutes
Materials: Cassette tapes or MDs; preferably access to a language laboratory


The goal of this activity is to have a 5-minute conversation, using reactions, follow-up questions, and transitions. The discourse should not be one where students are receiving random pieces of information from each other, but one where they are getting and then building upon that information in order to make a fluid conversation. It may seem that a 5-minute conversation is a little long for some 1st-year university students, but this allotment gives them ample time to practice using follow-up questions and transitions. In order to develop awareness in their usage of these conversational tools, I have them record and analyze their conversations. The activity can be followed by a game where students can have fun practicing what they have just learned.

Procedure

Step 1: Present students with the idea of reactions. Modeling the different intonations of reaction words and phrases according to their usage can be an additional activity. Students enjoy practicing this and it helps them to loosen up. This list is in no way exhaustive, and it can also be broken down into categories such as: Reacting to good news, Reacting to bad news, Showing you understand, etc.

Reactions:

Follow-up questions:

Next, have students brainstorm follow-up questions on different topics, such as from the sentence I went to a karaoke bar recently.

Then, present the idea that transitions are used in conversation to smooth over a change in subject.

Transitions:

Step 2: After presenting the three tools above, give each pair of students one handout with a model conversation exemplifying reactions, follow-up questions, and transitions. Have them work together to identify the different parts.

Step 3: Introduce ways to close or end a conversation such as: Well, it was nice talking to you, or Gotta go, talk to you later.

Step 4: Give the students some question ideas for starting a conversation, such as What did you do last night? or What do you do in your free time? Next, have the pairs practice with the goal of continuing a conversation for 5 minutes. To provide them with several fresh starts, have them change partners a few times. During this time, make sure question words (who, what, why, etc.) are written on the board for their reference. By practicing with different partners, they will probably repeat the same information. This is fine as it enables them to get more practice and become comfortable using these linguistic devices to continue a conversation. After practicing with three or four different partners, they may begin recording a conversation (with a new partner). After a taped conversation of 5 minutes, students listen to their recording and write a transcript. Students may wish to record several times before they are satisfied with their output. For homework, ask students to mark all the places where they used a reaction, asked a follow-up question, or used a transition to change the subject. Further homework may be to correct grammar mistakes, but the main point of this exercise is for students to be aware of the flow of conversation and their usage of reactions, follow-up questions, and transitions.

Step 5: The next class could begin with the following game, which reviews the structures previously learnt. Divide students into groups of six or less. Standing in a circle, one person (the leader) starts a conversation with a random question such as What did you do last weekend? The next person must give an appropriate answer. The conversation continues around the circle with each student giving an appropriate response to the person before them. As the utterances should resemble a real conversation between two people, follow-up questions should be answered by the next person in the circle, rather than the previous student whom the question actually relates to. One student from each group should stand in the middle and act as timekeeper. You can start with a generous 10-second time limit until students are used to the game. If a student cannot begin to give an appropriate response within the time limit, he or she is out. The round continues until there are only two students left. A new round should begin with a new leader, a new person in the middle, and a new starting question. Reduce the time limit after a few rounds and see how far down it can go. As you can guess, it's a great time to practice fillers such as ummm, let's see, well, etc. The team that can keep the conversation going with the least seconds being counted by the timekeeper wins.

Note: Unless you have many portable tape recorders, this activity must be performed in a language lab where each student controls a console. I have two students sit together at one console and share a microphone. Students may feel uncomfortable speaking into a microphone at first, but I have found that once they record and listen a few times, they get a feeling of what they want to change and try again to improve their output. Students are usually encouraged by the resulting 5-minute, free-flowing conversation. Teaching conversation strategy phrases such as these equip students with tools to shift away from dialogue consisting of random information-getting questions, move into small talk, and finally expand into more meaningful communicative discourse.


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