Universidad de Guadalajara

Maestría en Enseñanza del Inglés como Lengua Extranjera

Module: I A Language and Social Context

Reflection 3
Making students speak for
interactional purposes in the
classroom

Tutor’s Name: Sara Quintero Ramírez

Name: Humberto Marino Ramírez

E-mail: humber_marino@hotmail.com

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Halliday classifies the use of language in transactional and interpersonal being
transactional the use of words to get a certain goal for example in the classroom the
goal is being able to speak a second language. On the contrary interpersonal
language is the use of words to simply socialize with other people. But how can a
teacher promote the use of language for interpersonal purposes in the classroom when
most students are only trying to speak English to pass the subject with good grades?
How can he stimulate his students to create a comfortable environment where
everyone is encouraged to speak for the sake of simply enjoying the language? In this
text I am going to discuss this issue and come up with ideas of how can this goal be
achieved.

I think the first and most important aspect to get students practice their English for
socializing is motivation. In my experience I’ve seen that whatever short dialogue I
teach my students, the most motivated ones practice them with me or with their
partners; they practice even when I don’t tell them to do it. Once they are motivated
they will practice whatever English I give them.

The book I am using at the moment provides many different role-plays: activities where
students can take the role of being someone in a specific situation, they imagine they
are in certain place with other students and they need to talk. These role plays are
designed according to the most common uses of language that a young person may
encounter, in this way whenever students face a certain situation described in the book
they will be able to remember and put into practice the conversation in English
previously seen in the classroom. These situations include: introducing people, inviting
someone out to the movies, talking about sports.

Another situation where students are greatly encouraged to practice English is acting in
a play representing some classical story. Adolescents love to act out in plays, and
whoever learns the dialogues faster can pick the best roles. This is an excellent
opportunity to use English in a contextualized situation while socializing with others in a
language different from the mother tongue. If the story is picked by the students they
will be even more encouraged because the topic will be very interesting to them.

Another good way to encourage practicing English in the classroom is to tell them that
whoever speaks in Spanish will be given a certain object e.g. a ball, a toy that will be
passed on to whoever speaks Spanish afterwards; the last person who ends up with
the object in his hands will have a punishment, maybe a fun one like bringing a bag of
candy for the whole group. This activity would be great with an advanced English class.
but for a beginner’s group it would be only for commands since they don’t speak very
well yet.

The best way to practice English in the classroom is to bring a native person and have
everyone make him questions and try to articulate the little English they know. Of
course this would be the ideal scenario for the English classroom. This is not always
possible but whenever possible it’s the greatest technique to speak a second language.

There is no easy way to practice English in the classroom but there are some good
ideas like motivating the students, having them practice role plays, theatre plays,
making the rule that whoever speaks Spanish will have a punishment or bringing a
foreigner to class whenever possible. With these activities and with a dose of patience
and perseverance in the classroom the teacher will be able to make his students speak
more in class.
Bibliografía
Halliday, M. A. (1973). Language in Social Perspective.

Hymes, D. H. (1971). On communicative Competence.