Thornbury Scott, Slade Diana. Conversation: From Description to Pedagogy

Cambridge University Press, 2007. — xi, 364 pages. — ISBN: 978-0-521-89116-5 / ISBN: 978-0-521-81426-3.This book provides a comprehensive account of conversation in English and its implications for the ELT classroom. After a general overview and definition of conversation it provides the reader with a systematic description of conversational English, from the vocabulary of conversation, to grammar, discourse and genre. This is followed by an informed account of the development of conversation in both first and second language acquisition. It then describes a range of methodological approaches, procedures and techniques for teaching conversation in English. On this basis, an integrated approach to the teaching of conversation is provided, along with practical classroom applications.Characterizing conversationThe nature of conversation
Approaches to the analysis of conversationThe vocabulary of conversationLexical size
Lexical density and lexical variety
Lexical frequency
Lexical repetition
Vague language
Fillers
Discourse markers and other inserts
Routines and lexical phrases
Appraisal and involvement
Implications
The grammar of conversationComplexity
Heads and tails
Grammatical incompletion
Ellipsis
Deixis
Questions
Tense and aspect
Modality
Reporting
What do learners need to know?
The discourse features of conversationCohesion in conversation
Interaction in conversation
Topic management: Topic development, topic
change and topic choice
Discourse strategiesGenres in conservation: Storytelling and gossipingChat and Chunks in conversation
Genre theory
Storytelling genres
Lexico-grammatical features of storytelling genres
Storytelling genres: Summary
Gossip
Lexico-grammatical features of gossip
Gossip genre
Classroom implicationsAcquiring L1 conversational competenceConversational competence
Turntaking
Child-directed speech
Formulaic language
Repetition
Scaffolding
Syntax: Vertical constructions
Cohesion
Coherence
Functions, genres and speech acts
Pragmatics
Educated discourse: Talk at school
Sociocultural theory and ‘instructional conversation’
Acquiring L2 conversational competenceFluency
Formulaic language
Communication strategies
Pragmatic competence
Transfer
Acquisition vs learning
Classroom talk
Teaching conversation: A historyPre-reform and reform
Direct method: Learning-through-conversation
Audiolingualism: Drills, dialogues and the conversation
class
Situational English: Conversation in context
Oral English: Conversation as speaking practice
CLT: Conversation as communication
Task-based learning: Conversation as a task
Teaching conversation: Approach, design, procedure and processApproach
Design
Procedure
Process