The present study aims at investigating the effect of noticing on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students' speaking accuracy. For so doing, 32 Iranian EFL students were selected and randomly assigned to two conversation classes namely, control and experimental groups. Before the treatment both groups had a speaking pre-test. During 32…

The study examines interactional practices for initiating topic in naturally occurring conversation using Conversation Analysis (Button & Casey, 1984, 1985, 1988-1989 to name a few) as a methodological tool. The data of the current study is comprised of 14 hours of conversation-for-learning (Kasper & Kim, 2015) data between one American…

This study analyses teacher-led clarification sequences in a university second language classroom setting from a conversation-analytic perspective. In the literature, there are many studies of clarification requests, but the focus is on individual categories and quantification. No previous study has examined clarification, as reconceptualised in…

This article addresses the questions: why is the development of conversational competence important within higher education? And how might this goal be pursued? We offer answers that may aid a broad range of stakeholders (language learners, course designers, lecturers, language development managers, and policy makers) in thinking through these…

Despite the increasing volume of studies on classroom language use research, scant attention has been paid to the relationship between learners' attitudes towards classroom language choice and classroom variables that they perceive to motivate their target language learning. This study examines this issue with Korean undergraduate English as a…

Communicative Language Teaching, popularly known as CLT, has become a newly adopted methodology in the teaching and learning context of Bangladesh. This methodology, since the initiation, has encountered and is still encountering a number of hurdles that need to be dealt with best care and feasible strategy. Of all methods, most of the educational…

This is an English communication instruction system designed to teach children basic, easy to remember conversation strategies without the use of a textbook or to serve as a supplement learning system to a textbook. This English communication training method provides learners with concrete language patterns, a broad spectrum of vocabulary and…

This study collects 11 high-school EFL conversation textbooks used in Korea and sees how the textbooks teach culture since language learning is closely tied to culture learning (Kramsch, 2002). Conversation materials are chosen because socio-cultural values and norms are best acquired during the process of interaction (Scollon & Scollon,…

This study investigates closing patterns for an institutional conversation in an ELP (English Language Program) at a university in the United States, noting the relationship between the closing patterns of the participants and their level of proficiency in English. By indicating that ESL learners, especially beginners, face difficulty in closing…

Suggests principles and activities for the development of conversational competence in second-language learners. Shows that materials and activities traditionally used in language teaching fail to address the interactional dimension of conversation. Draws on conversational analysis, classroom discourse, and communicative competence to create a…

One of the current approaches to teaching second languages is the communicative approach. To improve the use of this approach in Shimane, Japan, it is necessary to discover the extent to which it is being used and what is hindering its use. This study examined the situation by asking native and non-native English postsecondary instructors to…

Issues regarding the development of student's speaking skills and English as a second language (ESL) techniques designed to improve the teaching of conversation are described. Ten true and false assumptions about the teaching of conversation are considered: (1) everyone enjoys talking and participating in class discussion; (2) discussion topics in…

Memorization and recitation of dialogues are an important part of English as a second language (ESL) courses. However, if the goal of using dialogues is to promote free conversation, the practice of reciting dialogues must entail more than the rote memorization of another's thoughts. Therefore, the talk-and-listen method is a good technique for…

This paper describes a formal communication game which requires the students to process other players' utterances for implicit meaning before responding. The game can be adapted for content and difficulty level. Students choose between two alternatives on dimensions such as structure and style. Sample games are included. (SW)

Concerns research in the use of cloze tests to measure a particular language skill when a standardized paper-and-pencil test is not an obviously appropriate validating instrument. The conversational cloze test proved to be superior to a written or prose cloze test in measuring the students' oral ability. Statistical tables are given. (Author/PJM)