Learning to analyse and write extended speech acts in the foreign language classroom
-
Sara Gesuato,
Sara Gesuato is a graduate from the University of Padua and the University of California at Berkeley. She is associate professor of English in the Linguistic and Literary Studies Department at the University of Padua, where she teaches English language and English linguistics courses. Her research interests include pragmatics, genre analysis, and the syntax and semantics of the verb phrase. Her recent publications have examined the structure and wording of extended oral and written speech acts, the phraseology and content of academic genres, and the temporal and aspectual meanings of catenative motion verb constructions.
Abstract
An approach is presented for familiarizing foreign language learners with the content and organization of extended written speech acts. It comprises awareness-raising activities (e.g. matching text segments with functional glosses, providing glosses for text segments), manipulation tasks (e.g. reconstructing texts whose functional components are provided in jumbled order) and writing tasks (e.g. drafting texts at first by following directions which specify functional components, and then by drawing on descriptions of communicative scenarios). The approach shows how explicit training in linguistic-textual strategies can enable foreign language learners to develop metalinguistic awareness (i.e. to recognise the connections between linguistic forms and functions) and to develop interactional skills (i.e. to verbally negotiate social rights and duties effectively and politely).
About the author
Sara Gesuato is a graduate from the University of Padua and the University of California at Berkeley. She is associate professor of English in the Linguistic and Literary Studies Department at the University of Padua, where she teaches English language and English linguistics courses. Her research interests include pragmatics, genre analysis, and the syntax and semantics of the verb phrase. Her recent publications have examined the structure and wording of extended oral and written speech acts, the phraseology and content of academic genres, and the temporal and aspectual meanings of catenative motion verb constructions.
©[2012] by De Gruyter Mouton Berlin
Articles in the same Issue
- Masthead
- Editorial
- Route dialogue partitions: Interactions between semantics and pragmatics
- Learning to analyse and write extended speech acts in the foreign language classroom
- A preliminary study of the thinking processes and speech act comprehension patterns of Contonese learners of English
- The covert language in Kenyan hip hop lyrics
- Early nineteenth-century advertisements in the South African Commercial Advertiser – Global scheme and advertiser presentation
- Derivational processes in the discourse of international relations. The case of press articles on international politics
- Review of Gender, Sexuality and Meaning: Linguistic Practice and Politics by Sally McConnel-Ginet
- Review of News Discourse by Monika Bednarek and Helen Caple
Articles in the same Issue
- Masthead
- Editorial
- Route dialogue partitions: Interactions between semantics and pragmatics
- Learning to analyse and write extended speech acts in the foreign language classroom
- A preliminary study of the thinking processes and speech act comprehension patterns of Contonese learners of English
- The covert language in Kenyan hip hop lyrics
- Early nineteenth-century advertisements in the South African Commercial Advertiser – Global scheme and advertiser presentation
- Derivational processes in the discourse of international relations. The case of press articles on international politics
- Review of Gender, Sexuality and Meaning: Linguistic Practice and Politics by Sally McConnel-Ginet
- Review of News Discourse by Monika Bednarek and Helen Caple
