Teaching Tips

Dialogue. A dialogue consists of a series of lead-response units. The significant feature of a lead-response unit is that the response part may, and usually does, serve in its own turn as a fresh inducement leading to further verbal exchanges, i. е.:

A response unit is a unit of speech between two pauses. It may consist of more than one sentence. But the most characteristic feature of a dialogue is that the lead-response units are closely connected and dependent on each other. The lead is relatively free, while the response depends on the first and does not exist without it.

Where is the book?

5. 
   There, on the shelf [32; 168].
   

In teaching dialogue one should use pattern dialogues as they involve all features which characterize this form of speech.
There are three stages in learning a dialogue:

• 
  receptive;
  
• 
  reproductive;
  
• 
  constructive (creative).
  

1. Pupils "receive" the dialogue by ear first. They listen to the dialogue recorded or reproduced by the teacher. The teacher helps pupils in comprehension of the dialogue using a picture or pictures to illustrate its contents. They listen to the dialogue a second time and then read it silently for better understanding, paying attention to the intonation. They may listen. to the dialogue and read it again, if necessary.
2. Pupils enact the pattern dialogue. We may distinguish three kinds of reproduction:
Immediate. Pupils reproduce the dialogue in imitation of the speaker or the teacher while listening to it or just after they have heard it. The teacher checks the pupils’ pronunciation, and intonation in particular. The pupils are asked to learn the dialogue by heart for homework.
Delayed. After pupils have learned the dialogue at home, they enact the pattern dialogue, in persons. Before calling on pupils it is recommended that they should listen to the pattern dialogue recorded again to remind them of how it "sounds”.
Modified. Pupils enact the dialogue with some modifications in its. Contents. They change some elements in it. The more elements (main words and phrases) they change in the pattern the better they assimilate the structure of the dialogue:

6. 
   Will you help me, sonny?
   
7. 
   What shall I do, Mother?
   
8. 
   Will you bring me a pail of water?
   
9. 
   Certainly I will.
   

The use of pictures may be helpful. Besides pupils use their own experience while selecting the words for substitutions.
The work should not be done mechanically. Pupils should speak on the situation. As a result of this work pupils master the structure of the pattern dialogue (not only the contents), i. e., they can use it as a model for making up dialogues of their own, that is why pattern dialogues should be carefully selected.
The first two stages aim at storing up patterns in pupils’ memory for expressing themselves in different situations, of course within the topics and linguistic material the syllabus sets for each. Form.
3. Pupils make up dialogues of their own. They are given a picture or a verbal situation to talk about. This is possible provided pupils have a stock of patterns, a certain number of phrases for starting a conversation, joining in, etc. They should use those lead-response units they have learned in connection with the situation suggested for a conversation.
At the third stage the choice of stimuli is of great importance, as very often pupils cannot think what to say, though they know how to say this or that. Therefore audio-visual aids should be extensively utilized.
In teaching dialogue the teacher uses pattern dialogues and should be sure that pupils go through the three stages from receptive through reproductive to creative, supply them with the subject to talk about.
In teaching speaking the problem is what form of speech to begin with, and what should be the relationship between monologue and dialogue. This problem may be solved in different ways. Some methodologists give preference to dialogic speech in teaching beginners, and they suggest that pupils learn first how to ask and answer questions which is mostly characteristic of a dialogue, and how to make up a short dialogue following a model. Others prefer monologic speech as a starting point. Pupils are taught how to make statements, how to combine several sentences into one utterance in connection with an object or a situation offered.
These approaches to the problem are reflected in school textbooks now in use. Some prefer to begin with dialogic speech. They start by teaching pupils how to ask various types of questions. For example:
The book is on the desk. The book isn’t under the desk. Is the book on the desk? Yes, it is. (No, it isn’t.) Is the book on the desk or under it? It’s on the desk. Where’s the book? It’s on the desk [33; 129].
As to the relationship between monologue and dialogue, it should vary from stage to stage in teaching speaking in schools. In the junior stage (5-6 forms) dialogic speech, the one which allows the teacher to introduce new material and consolidate it in conversation, must prevail. In the intermediate stage (7-8 forms) dialogue and monologue must be on an equal footing.
In the senior stage (9-10 forms) monologue speech must prevail since pupils either take part in discussion and, therefore, express their thoughts in connection with a problem or retell a text read or heard. To sum it up both forms of speech (monologue and dialogue) should be developed side by side with preference for the one which is more important for pupils’ progress in learning a foreign language at a certain stage.
Pupils’ speech in both forms may be of two kinds: prepared and unprepared. It is considered prepared when the pupil has been given time enough to think over its content and form. He can speak on the subject following the plan made either independently at home or in class under the teacher’s supervision. His speech will be more or less correct and sufficiently fluent since plenty of preliminary exercises had been done before.
In schools, however, pupils often have to speak on a topic when they are not yet prepared for it. As a result only bright pupils can cope with the task. In such a case the teacher trying to find a way out gives his pupils a text which covers the topic. Pupils learn and recite it in class. They reproduce the text either in the very form it was given or slightly transform it. Reciting, though useful and necessary in language learning, has but little to do with speech since speaking is a creative activity and is closely connected with thinking, while reciting has to do only with memory. Of course, pupils should memorize words, word combinations, phrases, sentence patterns, and texts to "accumulate” the material and still it is only a prerequisite. The main objective of the learner is to be able to use the linguistic material to express his thoughts in the dialogue speech.