Teaching the Spoken Language: Another Look
Luciana
As
the world shrinks into a global village, the need for real communication in
English becomes greater. Accordingly, the teaching of the spoken language must
be able to capture and reflect the nature, richness as well as the dynamic
features of the language. Unfortunately, the current teaching practice in Indonesia does
not seem to have achieved this desired objective. Lending support to this
matter, the analysis of the spoken language of the advanced learners in the
English Department of Atma Jaya University,
Indonesia,
reveals that their language, to a greater degree, is still characterized by the
written mode and the absence of some structural and international features –
essential flavours for the spoken language. Given this fact, this study
proposes a discourse-sensitive approach to the teaching of the spoken language
through the adoption of the Three I’s
(Illustration-Interaction-Induction). The methodology would allow learners to
work with real data of the spoken language, develop “talk” about language, draw
conclusions, and apply the knowledge to their communication.
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Luciana. (2002,
April). Teaching the spoken language: Another look.
Paper presented at the 37th RELC International Seminar, Singapore.
Website:
www.geocities.com/eltindonesia
Email:
eltindonesia@yahoo.com