Conversation

Conversation serves many functions. People use conversation to establish relationships through personal expression, to find out information, and to compare views with others. Conversation provides a means for sharing experiences and solving problems.

Teachers can capitalize on the critical role of conversation in students' lives and use it to enhance their language learning. Through experiences with the language processes, the students can discover a steadily expanding series of topics and purposes for conversation. Students should have opportunities to talk about a variety of topics such as projects, books, characters, television programs, and videos. Because what students talk about is easier for them to write about, the topics of their conversations often act as springboards for their writing.

It is important for students to converse about topics of personal interest. Ideas for classroom conversation come to students through reading, listening to others talk, and reflecting on the experiences that school and life have to offer. Experiences in the English language arts classroom and in other subject areas make excellent sources for conversation. Assigned topics may not inspire students to talk as much as student-selected topics. To facilitate and encourage student conversation, teachers could:

• arrange a particular class period where, immediately upon entering the classroom, students go to designated spaces to sit together in small groups and talk for ten minutes about such topics as a television program or a school activity.

• invite students, at the beginning or conclusion of the school day, to sit comfortably in a circle and talk about the day's activities (e.g., What happened or what did not happen? What interested them and why?).

To encourage interest in conversation activities, teachers should allow students to use their natural language. This language is home-rooted and may be characterized by non-standard speech or by a distinct dialect. Alternative ways of saying things must be accepted. When the teacher joins the conversation, the teacher's way of speaking is one of the many acceptable alternatives and serves as a model for the students. As students grow in language abilities, they will make choices regarding their own ways of speaking. Teachers must be sensitive to dialect and take care to create an environment for acceptance and positive response to all dialects. To encourage students to use their own language and to accept others' ways of speaking, teachers could try the following:

• Read a short piece of writing to the class every other day. This piece should be one that easily displays the teacher's interest and personal involvement with the writing. A deliberate search should be made for well-written materials in local dialect, regional dialect, or authentic dialects from a variety of ethnic groups. Conversation might then centre around the piece the teacher has read (topic, writing style).

• Play audio or video recordings of stories or songs illustrating a variety of English dialects from different regions of Canada or from any other countries where English is spoken. Conversation might then centre around the tale or melody itself, the speaker's/singer's method(s) of presentation, or the regional area represented and the dialect spoken.

In conversation, it is important for students to have a useful vocabulary. Clarity and precision are the keys to effective word choice in conversation. Teachers should not expect perfection from students in the use of unfamiliar or difficult words, but rather should develop a supportive environment and group rapport that encourage students to experiment with unfamiliar words. Students need to know that words represent thoughts. Rather than attempting to use unusual syntax, outlandish phrases, or "big words", students should strive to find direct and meaningful ways of making themselves understood. To help students develop a useful vocabulary, teachers could try the following:

• Maintain classroom charts (to be changed regularly) on which students may record a growing list of synonyms for certain words.

• Have students keep individual word lists to extend their speaking vocabularies (e.g., ghost: phantom, spook, spirit, apparition; purple: mauve, lilac, violet). They may gather these from their listening, writing, reading, and viewing activities as well as from experiences outside of the classroom.

Students must also observe common courtesies in conversation. Some common courtesies may be established by the whole class, and individual as well as group assessment could be conducted periodically to see if these common courtesies are being observed. The following list includes some useful reminders:

• avoid topics that are unpleasant or distressing to group members
  
• give everyone a chance to speak
  
• state differing opinions in a respectful manner
  
• speak to all members of the group
  
• use effective listening practices
  
• avoid being too personal
  
• express likes and dislikes sensitively
  
• avoid confrontation and argument
  
• be considerate of people joining the group after conversation has begun
  
• speak in a clear voice that can be heard by everyone present
  
• avoid repeating ideas needlessly, but try to tie others' ideas into comments already made.

Teachers should model the use of common courtesy in conversation at appropriate times in scheduled classes and outside of class (e.g., in the hallways, at club meetings, around a lunch table).