Successful Spoken English

Findings from Learner Corpora

Christian Jones, Shelley Byrne, Nicola Halenko

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9780367594770
• eBook ISBN: 9781351589888
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Linguistics
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Successful Spoken English demonstrates how spoken learner corpora can be used to define and explore the constituents of successful spoken English. Taking the approach that language learners can speak effectively whilst still using some non-standard forms, this book:

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• Examines databases of transcribed speech from learners at each different CEFR level to analyse what makes a successful speaker of English;
• Discusses features of communicative competence, including the use of linguistic strategies, organisation of extended stretches of speech, and sensitivity to context;
• Demonstrates quantitative and qualitative data analysis using corpus tools, looking at areas such as word frequency;
• Helps to reassess the goals of language learners and teachers, and provides recommendations for teaching practice and for further research.

Successful Spoken English is key reading for postgraduate students of TESOL and Applied Linguistics, as well as for pre- and in-service English language teachers.

Chapter 1
What is a successful speaker of English?

1.1 Introduction

The aim of this chapter is to explore and attempt to define the concept of a successful speaker of English and lay the groundwork for the chapters which will follow. In order to work towards this definition, we seek to explore the notion of a successful speaker within one main framework: the notion of communicative competence, first developed by Hymes (1972). We will argue that this is an appropriate manner in which to explore successful speakers and their interlanguage (Selinker 1972). A successful speaker is, we believe, one who can demonstrate all facets of communicative competence at their level and as appropriate for the purpose of the discourse they are taking part in. We will suggest that the different aspects of a successful speaker can therefore be analysed by exploring their linguistic, strategic, discourse and pragmatic competence, as outlined by Hymes (1972), Canale and Swain (1980), Canale (1983) and Bachman and Palmer (1996) and that these competences will vary according to a learner’s level of English. This model is not new but has, we believe, had a large impact upon the development of communicative language teaching and testing and was one of the theoretical bases of the Common European Framework of References for Languages (Council of Europe 2001), so we feel it is still highly relevant. For instance, although much learner corpus research focuses on errors or deviations following comparisons of native speaker language use, communicative competence models still promote the notion that assessments of language should attend both to language knowledge and how a speaker uses this knowledge in actual communication. After 30 years, this fundamental view still resonates in the CEFR, since in viewing learners as social agents with varying target language needs, development across levels is tracked according to what students can do with their language when communicating across contexts, according to different functions and with changing audiences. In basing its own treatment of communicative competence on the interplay between linguistic, pragmatic, sociolinguistic and existential competences, the CEFR clearly adopts many of the original aspects of communicative competence to demonstrate that language knowledge, skills and know–how are only activated, and available for measurement across the level scales, when language is actually used for communication. With the CEFR having had a great impact on language assessment and coursebook design, it is clear that communicative competence models such as those of Canale and Swain (1980), Canale (1983) and Bachman and Palmer (1996) are still significant and of relevance to notions of success. When analysing communicative competence in this way, we seek to show that successful spoken interaction takes place at the level of discourse, involves cooperation between speakers and effective listenership, alongside spoken production (Carter and McCarthy 2015). We also hope to show that a successful speaker’s English is something which changes as a learner’s interlanguage develops and need not be seen as the final outcome of learning a second language.

Before we explore these definitions in more detail, this chapter will first outline why we wish to explore success in general and, in particular, in terms of spoken language. As we do this, we will make reference throughout to the ways in which corpora have helped to define notions of success. We will also outline details of the learner corpora used as the primary data sources for our analysis and how we intend to use this in the rest of the book.

1.2 Rationale for exploring successful spoken language

As English language tutors and assessors, our experience has confirmed the view that many learners aspire towards a native or native-like proficiency in English. A noticeable trend, however, is the tendency for some learners to overlook the fact that they can still be successful in their use of English without achieving such a level. The ‘comparative fallacy’ (Bley-Vroman 1983: 1), involving the comparison and assessment of non–native speakers against native–speaker norms, would seem, therefore, not only to be a feature found in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research, but one which appears in learners’ self–assessments. In spite of native-speaker (NS) variation in linguistic and sociocultural abilities causing considerable debate regarding the identification of a sole NS norm (see Andreou and Galantomos 2009; Cook 1999; Kramsch 2003; Lee 2005; Lyons 1996; Rampton 1990), learners still strive towards the NS ideal (Timmis 2002; 2003; 2005). Whilst doing so, it is our view that learners often do not realise that they, as non–native learners, can be ‘successful users of English’ (SUEs) (Prodromou 2008: xiv) who are capable of drawing on their linguistic resources to operate effectively in the contexts they encounter. However, with studies of SUEs (see Piller 2002; Prodromou 2008) often focussing on more advanced learners or those who can ‘pass’ as NSs, there is sometimes a notion that ‘success’ is associated only with the elite group of learners who are able to reach the highest levels in language learning. Our reason for exploring learner success in English thus stems from the sense that the NS target set by learners, and indeed sometimes by practitioners (see Canagarajah 2007; Kramsch 2003; Timmis 2002), forms the basis of a learner’s assessment of their own achievement: success equates to attaining native-like proficiency whereas other proficiencies equate to failed or incomplete attempts (Birdsong 2004). In contrast to this, we wish to suggest that learners can be successful at different levels and not only at a high level of competence. In other words, communicative competence (as we will move on to discuss) is an attainable goal at different language levels and it is the ability to be communicatively competent which we can view as a measure of success. This argument is in opposition to the notion that the ‘native speaker’ is the only model of success. We suggest that this can create a ‘deficit relationship’ in which NSs have ‘the upper hand’ (Prodromou 1997: 439) and rather than underlining a learner’s success in using an L2, they can heighten their sense of failure towards L2 development and the NS model itself (Cook 2002; 2008). As Naiman et al., (1978: 2) remark:

Failure is accompanied by dissatisfaction, awareness of one’s own inadequacy, and sometimes annoyance, disappointment, frustration, and even anger at the colossal waste of time.

The continual pressure to replicate the NS not only creates ‘stereotypes that die hard’ (Nayar 1994: 4), but it potentially discourages learners from persevering with the acquisition of English. It also overlooks the potential that could be unlocked by viewing learners not as ‘failed native speakers’ but instead as ‘successful multicompetent speakers’ of more than one language (Cook 1999: 204).

Of vital importance to this study, however, is the barrier created by the NS model. By focussing on the overall goal of L2 development, little assistance is offered to learners whose goals for success may simply be to develop their interlanguage to become more proficient in English than they currently are. For instance, the NS model cannot be fully relevant to their needs since in representing the ‘finished article’, it cannot demonstrate the nuances in interlanguage between the beginner, pre-intermediate, intermediate, upper-intermediate and advanced learner levels. While this realisation has prompted some writers to propose alternative models of greater relevance to L2 learners’ multicompetences and language learning strategies (see Alptekin 2002; Cook 2008; Coperías Aguilar 2008; Edge 1988; Medgyes 1992; Modiano 1999 and Preston 1981 for alternative models; see also Cook 1992; Cook 1999; Coppieters 1987; Galambos and Golin-Meadow 1990 for multicompetence and O’Malley and Chamot 1990; Oxford 1990; Oxford and Nyikos 1989 for language learning strategies), relatively few studies have sought to investigate what makes learners within them successful in their own right. By focussing on learners, this book therefore intends to address the imbalance caused by the dominance of the NS model by establishing not what learners of English are unable to do at different stages, but rather what they are able to do in terms of their spoken production. In accordance with the levels and descriptors offered in the CEFR, it will detail how success manifests itself in the speech of B1, B2 and C1 learners and how their interlanguage progresses in ways that might not always be recognised in some syllabi and textbooks.

1.3 Rationale for a focus on spoken language

Although it would be possible to consider other skills, in this book we have chosen to focus on successful spoken language. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, as the ‘primary form’ of language, it lays the foundation for other modes (e.g. written language) and provides the source from which language evolution and change often stems (Hughes 2011: 14). The second reason is that despite this theoretical ‘reverence’, in language teaching, it is often not valued as much as other skills (Bygate 1987: vii) and corpus-informed research is often focused upon written corpora, due to their prevalence (Jones and Waller 2015). This is despite the fact that our experience also tells us that spoken language is not undervalued by learners and the desire to learn English is often framed in terms of a desire to speak it successfully. Finally, and possibly most importantly for the topic of success, speaking represents the skill which is ‘most frequently judged’ (Bygate 1987: vii), a perhaps unsurprising fact given that the majority of language use is spoken rather than written (Lewis 1993). For learners wishing to be judged as successful in an L2, the skill of speaking would seem to be, therefore, the most obvious starting point in a study of learner success and it is for these reasons that we have made it the focus of this book.

1.4 Definitions of successful language: communicative competence

In order to advance our definition of successful spoken language, it will first be helpful to outline the models of communicative competence on which we will base our analysis in this book. We will do so first by definition and explanation of each theory, before bringing each together to form our definition of successful spoken English.

1.4.1 Hymes’s theory of communicative competence

The first theory of communicative competence, created by Hymes (1972), challenged the notion that sociolinguistic aspects of language use were viewed as performance–related imperfections (Hymes 1972; Llurda 2000; Taylor 1988). By stating that competence developed independently of socio-cultural aspects, Chomsky (1965), who famously separated competence from performance, had neglected to show the feat...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• Acknowledgements
• 1 What is a successful speaker of English?
• 2 Linguistic competence
• 3 Strategic competence
• 4 Discourse competence
• 5 Pragmatic competence
• 6 Conclusion
• Index