Investigating the English Language Formality and informality in Speaking

I

Faculty of Letters and Languages

Department of English Language and Literature

Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Master Degree in

Language Sciences

Submitted by: Supervisor:

Abdelhaq Zahariou Mr. Ahcène Kerdoun

Oussama Kouissa

Board of Examiners:

Examiner: Pr. Salah Kaouache Supervisor: Mr. Ahcène Kerdoun

Investigating the English Language Formality and informality in Speaking

The Case of First Year Master Students, at Mohammad Seddik Ben Yahia University, Jijel

II

A dissertation submitted to the faculty of Letters and Languages Department of the English Language and Literature

University of Mohammed Seddik Ben Yahia, Jijel in Partial fulfilment of the Requirements

for the Master Degree in Language Sciences

2015

III

Language formality is a well discussed concept in the field of didactics. Attempting to describe the formal language that could be shared and understood among all its users, researchers have proposed various specifications that should characterise it. Generally, a formal language is the one that conveys a clear meaning and relies on well known rules. This study aims at demonstrating the level of English language formality at University of

Mohammed Seddik Ben Yahia, in Jijel. In addition, it investigates the extent to which the theme of discussion determines the students’ use of formal and informal English.

Subsequently, we have hypothesized that first year English Master Students speak informal

English during discussing academic topics. During carrying out this study, two chapters have

been devoted to discuss the theoretical part of the research in which the issues of language

formality together with the speaking skill are discussed respectively, in addition to the third

chapter where our research is put into practice. As far as the practical part is concerned, the

data are collected from interviewing 10 first year Master students. The results obtained from

the measurement of formality show, to a great extent, that the theme of discussion does not

affect the student’s level of formality. English students as well tend to produce a semi formal

English language.

IV

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT... III LIST OF TABLES ...VIII LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS...X ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...XI General Introduction

Introduction...1

1. Statement of the Problem...2

2. Aims of the Study...2

3. Research Questions...2

4. Hypothesis...3

5. Means of the Study...3

6. Subjects of the Research...4

7. Structure of the Study...4

Chapter One: The Speaking Skill Introduction...5

1.1. Knowledge vs Skill...5

1.2. Definition of Speaking...6

1.3. The Nature of Oral Communication...7

1.4. Importance of the Speaking Skill...7

1.5. Elements of Speaking...9

1.5.1. Language Features...9

1.5.1.1. Connected Speech...10

V

1.5.1.3. Lexis and Grammar...11

1.5.1.4. Negotiation Language...11

1.5.2. Mental Social/ Processing...12

1.5.2.1 Language Processing...12

1.5.2.2. Interacting with Others...12

1.5.2.3. (On the Spot) Information Processing...12

1.6. Levels of Proficiency...13

1.6.1. Starting...13

1.6.2. Emerging...13

1.6.3. Developing...13

1.6.4. Expanding...14

1.6.5. Bridging...14

1.7. Classroom Speaking Activities...14

1.7.1. Acting from Script...15

1.7.2. Dialogues...15

1.7.3. Communicative Tasks...16

1.7.3.1. Types of Communicative Tasks...17

1.7.3.1.1. Information Gap Activity...17

1.7.3.1.2. Info-Gap Race...17

1.7.3.1.3. Guessing Games...18

1.7.4. Simulation and Role Play...18

1.7.5. Surveys and Questionnaires...19

1.7.6. Discussions...19

VI

1.8.1. When to Correct the Errors...21

1.8.2. Who Should Correct?...22

1.8.3. Ways of Correcting...22

1.9. Assessment of Speaking...23

1.9.1. Interviews and Scales...23

1.9.2. Group Oral Exam...23

1.9.3. Dycoms (Split Information)...23

1.9.4. Describe and Draw...24

1.9.5. Conversational Cloze...24

Conclusion...24

Chapter Two: Language Formality Introduction...26

2.1. Diversity in Language Styles...26

2.2. Factors Integrated with Language Shift...27

2.2.1. Economic, Social, and Political Factures ………...………...27

2.2.2. Demographic Factures……….………..27

2.2.3. Attitudes and Values Factures...27

2.3. Language Styles...27

2.3.1. Frozen Style...27

2.3.2. Formal Style...27

2.3.3. Consultative Style...28

2.3.4. Casual Style...28

2.3.5. Intimate Style………28

2.4. Definition of Language Formality……….29

2.5. A Theoretical Definition of Language Formality... 30

VII

2.5.2. Fuzziness...33

2.5.3. The Continuum of Formality……….34

2.6. Colloquial English……….36

2.6.1. Definitions of Colloquial English……….36

2.6.2. Features of Conversational English... 36

2.6.2.1. Pronunciation and Assimilation...37

2.6.2.2. Ellipses………38

2.6.2.3. The Use of “You” as a General Pronoun………38

2.6.2.4. Hesitation Markers...38

2.6.2.5. Subject-Verb Agreement……….39

2.6.2.6 Interrogative and Relative “Whom” and “Who”…... ...……….39

2.6.2.7. To Get...40

2.6.2.8. Verbs with “Up” ……….40

2.6.2.9. Modifiers……….40

2.6.2.10. Comparisons...41

2.6.2.11. Euphemism………41

2.6.2.12. Idioms………41

2.6.2.13. Slang...42

2.7. The Role of Formal and Informal Environment in Learning the English Language...42

VIII

2.9. Teaching Informal Speaking……….44

2.9.1. Conversational Strategies...44

2.9.2. Supportive Partners...44

2.9.3. Writing Diaries...45

2.9.4. Repeated Tasks...45

2.10. Teaching Formal Speaking...45

Conclusion………47

Chapter Three: Data Analysis Introduction...48

3.1. Research Methodology...48

3.2. Population and Sample...49

3.3. Data Collection...49

3.4. Interpretation of Data ...49

3.5. Discussion of the results...68

3.6. Limitations of the Study...70

3.7. Recommendations...70

Conclusion...70

General Conclusion...72

REFERENCES...73

IX

A. Students’ Interview...77

B. Formal and Informal Lexical Items Corpus...79

C. Informal Syntactic Usage Corpus...85

D. Transcription of the Interviews...88

Résumé………...…117

صخلملا……….………118

X

Table 1: Informal Lexical Usage...50

Table 2: Informal Syntactic Usage...50

Table 3: Total Percentage of Informal Lexical and Syntactic Usage in Interview 1...51

Table 4: Informal Lexical Usage...51

Table 5: Informal Syntactic Usage...52

Table 6: Total Percentage of Informal Lexical and Syntactic Usage in Interview 2...52

Table 7: Informal Lexical Usage...53

Table 8: Informal Syntactic Usage...54

Table 9: Total Percentage of Informal Lexical and Syntactic Usage in Interview 3...54

Table 10: Informal Lexical Usage...55

Table 11: Informal Syntactic Usage...55

Table 12: Total Percentage of Informal Lexical and Syntactic Usage in Interview 4...56

Table 13: Informal Lexical Usage...56

Table 14: Informal Syntactic Usage...57

Table 15: Total Percentage of Informal Lexical and Syntactic Usage in Interview 5...58

Table 16: Informal Lexical Usage...58

Table 17: Informal Syntactic Usage...59

Table 18: Total Percentage of Informal Lexical and Syntactic Usage in Interview 6...59

XI

Table 20: Informal Syntactic Usage...60

Table 21: Total Percentage of Informal Lexical and Syntactic Usage in Interview 7...61

Table 22: Informal Lexical Usage...62

Table 23: Informal Syntactic Usage...62

Table 24: Total Percentage of Informal Lexical and Syntactic Usage in Interview 8...63

Table 25: Informal Lexical Usage...64

Table 26: Informal Syntactic Usage...64

Table 27: Total Percentage of Informal Lexical and Syntactic Usage in Interview 9...65

Table 28: Informal Lexical Usage...66

Table 29: Informal Syntactic Usage...66

Table 30: Total Percentage of Informal Lexical and Syntactic Usage in Interview 10...67

Table 31: Total percentage of Informality in all Interviews...68

XII EFL English as a Foreign Language

OE Oral Expression

TESOL Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

FL Foreign Language

LF Language Formality

LS Language Style

SL Second Language

XII

All Praise is for Allah by whose favour good works are accomplished.

Our deepest gratitude is expressed to our supervisor Mr. Ahcène Kerdoun for his guidance, support, and advice.

We would like to thank Pr. Salah Kaouache for giving us his precious time to read and comment on our dissertation.

We are also grateful to Mr. Bounnar and Mr. Boukezzoula who provided us with useful books.

Our gratitude and thanks go to our family members for their love, care, and patience.

Appreciations also go to all the students and colleagues who encouraged and helped

us to carry out this piece of research.

XII

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful All the praise is due to God alone, the Sustainer of the world

We dedicate this work to our beloved parents,

our brothers and sisters especially my beloved brother Mr. ZAHARIOU Abdelhadi for his support, patience, and tolerance,

all the members of our families,

and all our friends with whom we shared the university life, especially Atef L, Sofiane GH, Haroun F, Redouane B, Abdelkader KH, Fekhreddine KH,

Mouaad, Mohammed L, and Mawloud B.

General Introduction Introduction

It is a fact that English language, in this current era, has become the Lingua Franca that peoples from all over the world seek to master rather than other languages. Therefore, many English foreign learners at university, nowadays, desire to refine the four skills of this language at least before graduation, namely: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. We all agree that these four skills of language are equally important, whereas many foreign English students tend to develop speaking proficiency over the other skills for its remarkable

significance in the daily life. However, speaking is not only learning grammar rules and phonetic sounds, or the vocabulary of a particular language, but it is mastering the use of the language that is said to be sensitive to the situation in which the utterances are performed.

What we say and how we say it is very important since it provides the listener with a clear idea about our background knowledge.

Formality in language speaking refers to the degree of attention that interlocutors pay to the structure of their speech when addressing someone or a group of people in a formal setting. For instance, a person that might be a director of a company or a teacher at university may make us feel unpleasant as long as casual or colloquial English is used for the reason that this style of language is considered inappropriate in this context. Like all the speakers of languages, native speakers of English have drawn for themselves those limits regarding language formality that we must respect in order to avoid receiving those unpleasant

behaviours from the person or the group with whom we aim to maintain a long relationship.

As far as the speaking skill is concerned, several features must be respected, such as

pronunciation, syntactical structures, lexical items, and others (Richards, Platt, & Platt, 1997,

p. 144)

1. Statement of the Problem

Speaking is a very crucial skill for communication, but this communication is marked as less valid if one of the participants in a discourse is not aware of the language style that the one must follow in each specific context. In learning any foreign language, LF must be taken into consideration by learners since the presence of the formal language in the students’

speech shows a belonging to an advanced level that not anyone is capable to generate.

Although first year Master students at University of Seddik Ben Yahia have spent several years striving to acquire a certain English variety, they have been observed to produce informal utterances when speaking the English language during academic discussions.

Furthermore, these students have been instructed for a long time without being encouraged to interact formally. On the other hand, they are not aware that formal English is quite

significant in terms of enhancing their level of proficiency to match the written language, and to maintain positive images about themselves with the University community.

2. Aims of the Study

The aim of this study is to examine the formality of language in the 1st year Master

students’ speaking skill at University of Seddik Ben Yahi. Additionally, the study in hand

seeks to discover whether the style that students use in formal discussions is formal or

informal which in turn provides the teachers with feedback regarding the level of LF of their

students. Moreover, it aims to make modifications at the level of the curriculum in order to

adapt the learners to use the formal English if the results support the hypothesis of the study.

3. Research Questions

This research addresses two basic questions as follows:

1. To what extent does the topic of discussion determine 1

year master students’ use of formal English?

2. What is the degree of LF that 1

year master students speak?

4. Hypothesis

The hypothesis of this dissertation in hand is stated as the following:

First year Master students at the University of Seddik Ben Yahia have a tendency to use more informal lexical items and syntactical structures than the formal ones during discussing formal and informal topics.

5. Means of the Study

In order to test the hypothesis and reach the aims of this study, the present research focuses on the quantitative methods more than qualitative for the reason that we aim at providing measurements for the formality in the students’ speech. The means for collecting the required data is semi-structured interviews in which ten students are provided with two topics: one formal topic and the other informal. As far as the informal topic is concerned, students are conversed about friendship; however, in the formal topic, they are interviewed about today’s family: the role of the mothers. The quantitative data result in the

measurements of the number of informal syntactical structures as well as informal lexical

frequencies in students’ speech. Additionally, they appear in the total percentage of the

informality of the whole sample.

6. Subjects of the Research

Ten 1st year Master students have been selected as the subjects for this study. The process of the selection occurred randomly from three groups based on the assumption that they have high levels in their speaking skill. Hence, this sample is appropriate for the purpose of this study. However, we did not choose to examine the speaking skills of other degrees for the reason that the formality in their speech is not so well developed to be measured.

7. Structure of the Study

This dissertation is divided into three chapters. The first two chapters deal with the

theoretical part of the research: language formality, and speaking skill. As far as the first

chapter is concerned, several issues concerning the speaking skill are explained, such as

levels of speech, speaking activities, and ways for correcting speaking errors. In the second

chapter, language formality is explained from different perspectives as well as colloquial

English besides to techniques for teaching formal and informal English. Additionally, the

third chapter shows further explanations for the procedures of the study in addition to the

interpretation of the results.

Fist Chapter: The Speaking Skill Introduction

The significance of language as a means of communication cannot be valid unless the one is put in a setting where the language that used is different. This latter requires to be learnt for permitting an effective communication. Thus, the main goal of language is communication in spite of the way it takes place (whether it is verbal or written). When learning a language, there are four skills for a complete communication i.e., listening;

speaking, reading, and writing are extremely needed. Speaking, however, is considered the most crucial and essential skill that learners or teachers devote a great deal of time to teach it or learn it. Additionally, it is through speech that feelings and emotions can be expressed, as well as through speech that opinions and points of view are exchanged more rapidly and effectively.

In this chapter, the focus is on discussing several issues related to speaking skill, namely: knowledge and skill, definition of speaking, the nature of the oral communication, the importance of speaking skill, elements of speaking, proficiency levels, classroom

speaking activities, correcting during speaking activities, as well as assessment of speaking.

1.1. Knowledge vs Skill

The challenge that most FL teachers face in their careers is how to help EFL students

to be able to speak. How the teacher may succeed in helping the students to achieve that

depends on what he or she thinks the learners need to learn i.e., what we might need for

speaking is the knowledge of grammar and vocabulary. Whether this is correct or not

depends on the capability of the learners to use the language as they are supposed to. On the

contrary, speaking does not only involve the knowledge of grammar and vocabulary; it

involves another feature. In order to realize it, the teacher simply needs to provide the students with some speaking activities or an oral exam to determine that there is a difference between the knowledge about language and the skill. For instance, in order to be able to drive a car, we need certain knowledge about the controls and their roles. The skill is to be able to put this knowledge into practice without causing any damages to the objects, the car, or without even driving slowly and hesitantly; otherwise, this leads explicitly to fail in the driving test. This is the same case with speaking; the learners need to know the grammar and vocabulary and he/she needs to be able to act upon them in order to speak the target language automatically without making any mistakes (Bygate, 1987, p. 3).

1.2. Definition of Speaking

According to Widdowson (1984, pp. 58-59), speaking is the production of

phonological sounds and grammatical system of a language; it is a productive as well as a receptive skill in situations where the mutual exchange of speech takes place. This happens frequently face to face among participants of particular discourse. Speaking does not only involve the production of phonological sounds, but otherwise the movements of the muscles of the face and gestures.

Nunan (1991, p. 23) asserts that “speaking is described as the ability to express oneself in the situation, the activity to report acts or situations in precise words, or the ability to converse or to express a sequence of ideas fluently.” This means that speaking is the mental process of retrieving words and expressions to express ourselves when needed.

Hedge (2000) considers speaking as “a skill by which they [people] are judged while

first impressions are formed” (p. 261). In other words, speaking reflects the one thoughts in a

discourse to permit judgements about the back ground knowledge.

1.3. The Nature of Oral Communication

Gupit (1986) claims that “oral communication is the process by which thoughts are transferred through spoken words from one person to another” (p. 3). The oral

communication does not require the speaker alone. It requires interaction from both speaker and listener. Furthermore, it highly necessitates the second part (listener)to the extent that its absence leads to the failure in communication.

Explaining the human oral communication, Brown and Yule (1983, p. 13) have made a distinction between the two functions: they are primary transactional and primary

interactions. The primary transactional function is the language that we produce carefully taking into account the background knowledge of the listener so that our message is well understood. Primary transactional language is as in writing where the emphasis is mainly on conveying the information. The speaker in this case aims to communicate rather than being nice. Moreover, Primary transactional language is message oriented; however, interactional language is listener oriented. The listener must be able to construct or perceive the message that the speaker is explaining, in the interactional language, otherwise the communication fails.

Human beings in their communication spend about seventy percent of the process speaking. Since we spend all this time speaking, communication skills are very important.

For that reason, learners must be involved in classroom speaking activities in order to be more effective and successive in their communication (Gutierrez-Ang, 2009, p. 3).

1.4. Importance of the Speaking Skill

Gillis (2011) states that “while a picture may be worth a thousand words, those words

will no doubt come in handy if the picture is distorted or poorly understood. After all, the best

way to communicate is through speech.” Furthermore, speech is the easiest, fastest, and the most effective way of communication, as well as the balance between the four skills is very crucial. We cannot claim skilfulness in particular skills and hide weakness in others.

Therefore, proficiency is needed in each skill of communication; however, the capacity to speak or to transform the ideas and information in mind into words, as it is claimed, has many advantages over the other skills. When we are highly competent in speaking, this means we are able to share information easily, convince, and manage our listeners. Many people seek to master a high level in speaking regarding its remarkable importance in their occupations like lawyers, political and military leaders, and others. These people can maintain the attention of the audience through well-chosen words and well-performed speeches or presentations.

Wrong who thinks speaking to a large audience is easy, most of people become frightened in the moment when they are on stage facing a large number of eyes focusing on them. Only the ones who work hard to refine this skill may confidently come out to the lights and share their thoughts. Hence, the more speaking is well developed the more self-confidence, negotiation abilities, and sense of comfort increase during communication with participants.

According to Leigh (2011), “a person who communicates well and has good speaking

skills does not necessarily use big words and elaborate jargon. In fact, those things can serve

to turn a listener off. They feel patronised, inadequate, and frustrated if someone is using

fancy language.” Using a simple and comprehended language is the best way for mutual

understanding in communication. There is no sense when the listeners do not grasp the

intended message that the speaker wants to convey. The more we use language that is not

understood by our listeners the less connection remains during conversation. Therefore, the

best way to keep listeners focused is using the language that when they listen to it, they feel

comfortable. Skilful speakers speak about subjects that are relevant to the interests of their

listeners, they know when to speak and when to listen, they use a sense of humour besides to

respectful language, as well as they give group work spirit to the nature of their

communication. Hence, instead of saying “you” they say “us and we”. Accordingly, taking into account these features, this ends in creating and maintaining long relationships whether the sort of communication is one to one or it is to a large audience.

According to Huxley (1958), “language has made possible man’s progress from animality to civilization.” This, in fact, conceptualises how our lives would be without language, and it demonstrates the fact that language has an enormous importance in the human beings’ progress to civilization. He continues by saying:

Language permits its users to pay attention to things, persons, and events, even when the things and persons are absent and the events are not taking place. Language gives definition to our memories and, by translating experiences into symbols,

converts the immediacy of craving or abhorrence, or hatred or love, into fixed principles of feeling and conduct.

It is through language that we can think, assimilate information, and retrieve memories.

Furthermore, Vygotsky (1962) affirms that thinking starts by moving from imagining to inner speech to inner speaking to speech. Therefore, we conclude that speaking is the representation of thinking and classrooms should be full of speaking based on the assumption that speaking is the representation of thinking (as cited in Fisher, Frey, & Rothenberg, 2008, p. 5).

1.5. Elements of Speaking

Skilful speakers do not only have knowledge about language, but they are proficient

sufficiently to put the knowledge into practice in the appropriate manner. Speaking has

numerous important aspects that any speaker needs to master for the sake of becoming

proficient in language speaking. Harmer (2001, pp. 269-270-271) has explained two

fundamental elements: language features, and mental/social processing. Each element is

divided into different aspects of language.

1.5.1. Language Features

The elements of language that are needed in the process of speaking are the following:

1.5.1.1 Connected Speech

Connected speech refers to assimilation, elision, stress, and contractions.

A- Assimilation: it is the sound change at the end of the word to match approximately the same sound at the beginning of the word that comes after, such as “in place” is pronounced

“im place”.

B- Elision: it is the sound omission or joining at the end of a word. As an illustration, when the /t/ sound is joined with the sound /d/, it is barely heard when it is uttered as in the phrase:

“I can’t do it”. It is articulated “I can’ do it”.

C- Stress: it refers to the press on a particular syllable of a word to make it seem longer or shorter according to the number of syllables that it contains. This in turn may change the meaning that it conveys. For instance, the stress in the word “EXport” as a noun is in the first syllable; however, when it is a verb, the stress is on the second syllable. Thus, the

pronunciation becomes “exPORT.”

D- Contractions: native speakers of English do not use the long forms when they speak. Most

of their speech is characterised by the use of short forms. Therefore, the sentence, “I’ve been

to England”, is commonly heard and produced in informal situations than “I have been to

England”. These features are very important; for that reason, they must be taught through

design activities to enhance listening and speaking skills of learners to become native-like in

their speaking (Harmer, 2001, pp. 31-32).

1.5.1.2. Expressive Devices

Expressive devices refer to the stress, rise, and fall of the sound in specific parts of a sentence. Native speakers in their face-to-face daily communication use extensively intonation and stress in expressing their feelings and emotions. Additionally, they use gestures and facial expressions to show solidarity and belonging. Thus, learners of the English language must show at least some of these features to be more effective in their communication with one another.

1.5.1.3. Lexis and Grammar

Lexis and grammar refer to the choice of words and the structures of grammar in performing language functions, such as like; dislike, or agreement; disagreement. Students are expected to use more familiar expressions than non-familiar does in native speakers’ life.

Hence, in teaching English, teachers should provide learners with such phrases and expressions that help them in authentic situations like job interviews.

1.5.1.4. Negotiation Language

Negotiation language is the language that we use to ask for repetition when something is not clear or vague. It refers to the phrases that we perform when we are explaining

something, or when we want to show that something is crucial for the audience as in the following examples: “(I am sorry) I did not catch that...,” “What I want to say is that...”, “The important thing to grasp is...” These phrases are highly significant; students have to use them when they do not grasp something, or when they want to make things clear during

presentations, for instance. The role of the teacher then is preparing for the learners a set of

techniques to assist them to become accustomed to use this feature of language in situations

where they need it.

1.5.2. Mental, Social/ Processing

To avoid failure in communication, effective speaking requires more than the features explained above. It highly requires transferring the knowledge in a rapid way. Mental/social processing focuses on three elements for successful speaking. They are demonstrated as the following:

1.5.2.1. Language Processing

Successive speaking is characterised by the assimilation of the structures of language in the minds of the speakers. These structures need to be coherent, as well as they need to convey their meanings concisely and clearly so that their recipients may absorb them. It highly emphasises on the manner that we retrieve and put the words in the adequate syntactic and prepositional sequences. Furthermore, Activities in classrooms should be for making these processes happen rapidly when speaking.

1.5.2.2. Interacting with Others

Effective speaking all the time needs entrants for interacting and exchanging information. Thus, listening is automatically integrated with this skill. Listening plays an essential role in understanding other participants’ feelings and emotions in a discourse.

Additionally, Successive speaking also incorporates some rules such as how to take part in conversations, i.e., when to speak and when to listen.

1.5.2.3. (On the Spot) Information Processing

This element points out that in successive speaking, we need to process information

immediately when the speaker generates it in front of us. If we do not grasp the information

while it is said, succeeding in our communication is not likely to occur. We are then less

efficient. Moreover, speakers’ responses are culturally dependent (they differ from one

interlocutor to another).

1.6. Levels of Proficiency

Students’ proficiency level of English language can be classified in a number of ways;

Fisher, et al. (2008, pp. 14-15) classify it according to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. TESOL then states five levels of proficiency: starting, emerging, developing, expanding, and bridging. They are explained as follows:

1.6.1. Starting

Students at this early stage are not able to comprehend and use spoken language

communicatively. However, one word response or non-verbal language that includes gestures and body language is the basic way of interaction with their teachers’ orders and questions.

Despite the fact that reading in the English language is not easy, students may read some words at this level that are considered similar to their native language. In addition, writing at this stage contains a number of spelling and grammatical errors.

1.6.2. Emerging

Students’ speaking begins to appear during this stage when they are introduced to academic English. They start to comprehend some phrases or short sentences, as well as they frequently start to produce and memorise wrong groupings and expressions to express their feelings and emotions. They start shaping sentences to fulfil their daily routines’ needs, but overall they make syntactic errors. In reading and writing, they can understand as well as use difficult words, whereas they may make grammatical errors that hinder the basic meaning of the communication.

1.6.3. Developing

At this level, a large number of academic vocabularies are encountered, students use

language naturally, and their speech is comprehended by other interlocutors. They still make

some grammatical errors; however, the conveyed meaning is not impeded. Moreover, they

keep shaping simple sentences as well as they understand the ones that are more complex.

They read difficult texts and write coherent sentences, whereas they produce unfamiliar structures. Moreover, they can convey their thoughts as well as they understand the tasks that they deal with during courses.

1.6.4. Expanding

The language that is emphasised at this stage is the one that students use in their daily life. Therefore, all skills are highly important for best performance and understanding. Their communication is easy to perceive even though it contains some errors in their utterances.

Additionally, they are able to understand and apply the knowledge and skills that they have acquired in new experiences, as well as they are capable to use uncommon forms. They find difficulties in processing idioms and such metaphorical forms that are not concrete or specific. Moreover, their writing style is below the average (they do not use an innovative structures and vocabularies). Instead of that, they imitate other people’s writing styles.

1.6.5. Bridging

Students are able to process successively productive or receptive language tasks at this advanced level, and their speech is fluent. Furthermore, they can converse about different topics without finding any difficulty. Moreover, they can form long complex sentences both in speaking and writing, as well as they can understand the implicit meanings of idioms and metaphorical expressions. In addition, they are able to use technical academic vocabulary and expressions. Thus, their English is like those who are able to generate linguistic complexity in both the oral and written language.

1.7. Classroom Speaking Activities

As it is put forward, enhancing learners’ speaking skill requires performing a wide

variety of activities inside the classroom. The most effective activities for developing the

speaking skill are listed as follows:

1.7.1. Acting from the Script

According to Harmer (2001, pp. 271-291) in this activity, students are told to perform dialogues from a text book, scenes of a play, or a passage from a story based on the

hypothesis that reading stories help students to create mental pictures of what they have understood. Students are helped to engage seriously in this activity by filming their performances. When they perform scenes from a play, they may be asked to discard the scripts and they might just use the words and the situation. Furthermore, they may remove features that they do not like as they can change the endings of the performed stories. Using this method helps them to demonstrate their own personal interpretations. One of the aims of this activity is to create a supportive atmosphere among students. Hence, we do not select shy students first. Instead, we keep them for the end. In addition, students are told to rehearse before performing in front of their classmates. However, Pronunciation and intonation are emphasised; students act as they are performing in the theatre.

1.7.2. Dialogues

In retrospect, the use of dialogues to practice the language took an essential part of

classroom activities since the nature of human language, in its practical part, is in the forms

of dialogues; and for the reason that dialogues are not based on complex grammar structures

and lexical items. Additionally, Dialogues are also an example of the teaching shift from

teacher centred to learner centred. When performing dialogues, different paired interactions

can be stated: teacher-student interaction where the teacher selects a student or chooses a

volunteer to act out for the rest of the classroom, or student- student interaction where the

pair-work can be of two types closed and open. Open pair-work is when only two students act

out the dialogue while the rest are listening to them; whereas, the closest pair-work refers to

the situation in which all the students work together in pairs at the same time. In that case, the

teacher may provide them with guidance when it is needed. After finishing, the students

perform the dialogues with other peers where they can converse from memory and make changes if they are needed. It is important to permit the students to practice the dialogue before asking them to perform it in front of their fellows so that they gain some confidence in doing so. The dialogues are a very good way for practicing language features; however, they should not be too complex and easy for the sake of avoiding boredom (Thornbury, 2005, pp.

71-72).

1.7.3. Communicative Tasks

According to the assumption that practice makes fluent if not perfect, Thornbury (2005, pp. 79-84-82) affirms that the students are able to perform the knowledge of speaking spontaneously and automatically through effective and extensive practice of real-life situation activities. In other words, Communicative tasks are based on the hypothesis that learners speak automatically through providing them with extensive activities where they can use the language communicatively as in real life situations. In communicative tasks, learners are supplied with information that they may use in the target situations, i.e., learners do not generate utterances from scratch, little time is given to the practice of grammar rules, as well as the learning of the rules takes place during the process of performing these tasks. Grammar learning, therefore, is more successful when it is integrated within situations where it is used.

The focus in Communicative activities is on winning the competitions and on helping students to act effectively in situations, as in the example of buying a ticket or asking for directions rather than practicing grammar exercises. Thereby, communicative activities help the speakers to be automatic in their interactions, as well as they prepare them to be ready to use language in real life situations. Communicative tasks have many features; they are listed subsequently:

- Achieving a result, after using the language, is the motivation of the activity.

- Language that is needed for real time is emphasised.

- Both listening and speaking are involved.

- Natural language and collaboration work are the nature of communication in the classroom.

- The language that is used has no limits.

1.7.3.1. Types of Communicative Tasks

The teachers can use many communicative tasks to practice speaking in classrooms.

These are three examples of what can be done inside EFL classrooms:

1.7.3.1.1. Information Gap Activity

The information gap activity is a useful classical type of the communicative tasks.

Students are exposed to use the language communicatively as medium for completing the lack of information between the delivered samples. For instance, the teacher provides the learners with two pictures where some objects or scenes are deleted and students have to communicate with each other to find these gaps. Students keep talking until the missing scenes are discovered.

1.7.3.1.2. Info-Gap Race

Info-gap race is one of those effective activities that the teachers may use in order to teach the learners the speaking skill. Learners are divided into two groups in this activity;

they are expected to compete with each other. For example, the teacher may refresh the

memory of the learners, or he/she teaches them some vocabularies related to shapes, such as

line, square, and triangle. In addition, the teacher may present prepositional phrases like

inside, below, above, outside. In the practice stage, the teacher can dictate, “Inside the square,

there is a small triangle”, for example. The learners draw the shapes according to what the

teacher says, and he/she may tell them to do the same with each other.

1.7.3.1.3. Guessing Games

Guessing games are those activities that teachers may use in order to help the learners to use the language communicatively. As an illustration, one learner may guess the work of his classmate for obtaining information by asking a number of questions like “Do you work indoors or outdoors?”, “Do you use your hands at work?”, or “Do you wear a suit?”. The answers of the participants may be with yes, or no. These games help the learners to be automatic and spontaneous in their speaking. In addition, they are a positive ways for stimulating the learners for using the language inside the classroom, as well as they permit focusing on the results of the activity rather than the grammar of the language that is not helpful alone in the real time.

1.7.4. Simulation and Role Play

Klippel (1983, pp. 121-122) asserts that simulation and role-play are two interrelated activities that reflect the reality of human beings’ life. To begin with, Simulations are simple examples of the roles that the learners can act in their everyday communication. They require the learners to be capable of using the language in order to accomplish the given work before, during, and after the activity. The goal of simulation is helping students to learn how to use the language communicatively in particular real life cases. On the other hand, learners in role- plays are expected to act imaginary scenes such as television interviews, or realistic scenes like a shopping situation, besides to problems solving as a father-children’s gaps discussion.

Role-plays are then topic based, whereas simulation is real life situation discussions based.

While in simulation learners are provided with a complex language of different expressions

that they might deal with in their real life conversation, the learners in role-plays are supplied

with role cards and cue cards for directing them in their use of language during the playing

time. These cards let the learners assume the role that they are going to play, and then they

start acting it. They give them freedom in language use since they are not going to act from

scripts. Role-plays give the opportunity for learners to use different levels of LF while they are exposed to different topics, as television interviews or telephone conversations. They are very helpful for developing EFL learners’ speaking skill and teachers should not neglect them in OE classrooms.

1.7.5. Surveys and Questionnaires

Surveys and questionnaires are good techniques for stimulating learners for speaking in classrooms. Students in these activities can exchange opinions and attitudes towards different topics in forms of questionnaires. The student can prepare these questionnaires at home then discuss them inside the classroom, or the teacher may present some vocabularies for them regarding a given topic such as ‘sleeping.’ Then, he may provide them with some vocabularies like “nightmares, sleepwalking, heavy sleeper, light sleeper.” Students after that are asked to form a questionnaire where they tick and cross phrases that they match their situations, opinions, and attitudes of the proposed topic. In addition, they can go around the classroom take down their classmates’ opinions. At the practice stage, they may talk about themselves alone or compare their choices with their fellows. All these are designed for practicing features of the language as forming questions, and positive; negative forms of tenses and so on (Harmer, 1998, p. 89-90).

1.7.6. Discussions

No skilful speaker of the English language would argue the fact that discussions are

very interesting activities in OE classrooms. The learners share their ideas and opinions

regarding lessons from the textbook, or the issues from the news, as an illustration. The

teacher can provide his students with photos containing topics where students speak the first

idea that comes into their minds. Discussions may include formal debates in which the

learners prepare at home arguments and practice them. When the debate starts, the students

do not face delivering problems and they overcome their fears and anxiety by rehearsing their ideas (Harmer, 2001, p. 272).

As far as discussions are concerned, Scrivener (2005, pp. 150-151) suggests seven keys to the realization of a systematic sequence inside classroom discussions:

A. Frame the Discussion Well: the teacher should not move directly right to the main point of the discussion by giving the topic and waiting for his students to talk. In contrast, the teacher may present some materials like a picture or a text where the students shape some ideas then they begin to talk.

B. Preparation Time: giving the students some time to organize their ideas would be quite beneficial for them. The students may take some notes regarding the theme of the discussion, or they check some words in their dictionaries that help them in delivering their arguments.

C. Don’t Interrupt the Flow: the teacher should keep the management of the discussion as natural as possible. In other words, he/she does not need to tell the students to raise their hands to participate. Instead of that, he can keep watching then asks questions on those whom he notices that they have something to say.

D. Specific Problems are more Productive than General Issues: it is more motivating to provide students with challenging problems from the real life to be solved rather than giving a topic to discuss. An example of that is the oil shipping tanker and the green land. The students may search for solutions for the risks of the environmental disaster. The teacher can give data about the company, photos of the disaster, newspaper articles, which in turn boost them to speak.

E. Role Cards: they are those materials that help the students act characters of a given

personality by changing the behaviour to match it after reading about it. Role cards are very

helping in organizing discussions inside classrooms. There are dozens of roles that the

learners may play. The learners are said to perform much better when they speak in someone else’s character.

F. Buzz Groups: one of the ways of getting energy in discussions is dividing the students into buzz groups (small groups of four to five) in which they can discuss their ideas before going back to the whole class form to share them.

G. Break the Rules: these steps are very beneficial; however, the teacher is not one hundred percent obliged to follow them. For example, he may give the learners a topic to discuss without preparing when it is worthy.

1.8. Correcting During Speaking Activities

There has been a growing support for developing ways of correcting learners’ errors.

What is commonly used among EFL teachers is correcting learners whenever the errors are uttered during speaking activities. This way, however, is rejected for the reason that learners feel disappointed when they make many mistakes, and when they discover that their spoken language, in fact, is not progressing as they are expecting. This affects them in a way that they become afraid of speaking in front of their classmates. For that reason, the correction has to be positive in which the teacher needs to correct in some cases and keeps observing in some others. The teacher may merely observe because sometimes learners are needed to be accurate while in other situations the teacher wants them to be fluent. The dispute that is raised is about when to correct, who should correct, and ways of correction. They are explained subsequently:

1.8.1. When to Correct the Errors

Whatever errors learners may make during the activities, the teacher is not anticipated

to react to all of them. However, the teacher may correct learners during presenting new

martial while he is focusing on building accuracy. When the teacher focuses on fluency,

he/she is not allowed to correct the learners explicitly at that time because it is considered a

useless method, and most learners do not respond to such correction positively as they are expected. The effective way to do so is by revising the rules that have been taught at the beginning of the next session.

1.8.2. Who Should Correct?

The teacher needs to inform the students when an error occurs. He is then likely to provide correction, or he/she encourages the learners to correct themselves. This takes place, especially in co-operative classrooms where students are bound to work together. In

correcting, it is better to avoid saying: “No, that’s wrong”; the teacher may say instead “That was close,” or “That’s a good idea, but not right”. Furthermore, when the students give a correct version, it is good to use phrases like “Excellent work,” “Well-done” for more encouragement.

1.8.3. Ways of Correcting

The teacher may repeat what the student says and then stops where the error, or he gives the students a look in which he or she understands that there is something wrong. In addition, the teacher might give the learners some time to think after asking some questions like “Do you find that correct?”, or “Does that sound right?” besides to naming the type of the error whether it is tense, word order, or pronunciation. Another way of correcting is by letting the student chooses between two sentences as in “I went windsurfing yesterday morning” or “I went wind surfing yesterday”. If he or she cannot discover that, the teacher may give other learners the opportunity to correct. Additionally, the teacher can motivate the learners for paying attention by using his/her hands to indicate or correct mistakes like

incorrect word, missing word, or missing contraction. He can refer to the words of the uttered sentence by his fingers and then shakes the one where the mistake is and says “Grammar”.

After that, he encourages other students to correct it (Baker & Westrup, 2003, p. 34-35-36).

1.9. Assessment of Speaking

Nation and Newton (2009, p. 171-172) assert that there are two ways for assessing students’ speaking proficiency: the one where the learners are encouraged to speak includes interviews, describing something to someone to draw, and involving the speaker in a

conversation. In addition, the one in which the learners’ performance is tested: it includes rating skills, communicative results, and assigning marks for the part of an outcome. They are demonstrated at the following:

1.9.1. Interviews and Scales

Henning (1983) states that learners’ speaking can be assessed by involving them in individual interviews. The teachers can motivate them to speak through conversing with them about subjects that spark their interests. This does not mean that the interviewer provides them with a series of questions. The questions need to be as similar as possible so that they can be rated on a scale from one to five taking into consideration grammatical correctness, fluency, richness of vocabulary, and expression (as cited in Nation & Newton, 2009, p. 171).

1.9.2. Group Oral Exam

Folland and Robertson (1976) affirm that in-group oral exam speaking assessment, the students are given cues or cards. Each card contains a topic to be discussed or a problem to be solved after we split them into groups of four or five. Two teachers observe each student expressing what he or she could prepare in a few minutes of thinking (as cited in Nation& Newton, 2009, p. 171).

1.9.3. Dycoms (Split Information)

Byer (1973) demonstrates that the whole classroom in split information is divided into

two groups. The students are given fifty items (items A and items B) where they can describe

in pairs two senses that are nearly the same. The learners need to find the similarities and differences between the two items, and then they are asked to write “S” in similarities and

“D” in differences. At the end, they need to decide whether they are similar or different. After finishing five items, another pair takes the turn. Their performances are scored according to the communication abilities during the test (as cited in Nation & Newton, 2009, p. 172).

1.9.4. Describe and Draw

Brown, Anderson, Shillcock and Yule (1984) affirm that the learner in describe and draw is provided with a picture, and then he/she is told to describe it while another partner or teacher is drawing it in accordance to what has been said. The teacher gives the marks merely on those parts that he/she is expects the students to describe them (as cited in Nation&

Newton, 2009, p. 172).

1.9.5. Conversational Cloze

According to Hughes (1981); Brown (1983), in this type of tests, the learners are not supposed to speak or listen. They are given a transcript of a conversation, and after each seven words, there is a missing word. The learners have to guess the missing words, and then write them down. The teacher gives the marks according to the correct words that are found (as cited in Nation & Newton, 2009, p. 172).

Conclusion

We have devoted this chapter to discussing issues related to speaking skill that EFL teachers and learners must take them for granted when teaching or learning English language.

This in turn helps them to enhance learners’ speaking skill, as well as encourages them to be

more confident in their speaking as in the case of how we correct students’ errors during

classroom speaking activities. When teachers use a set of activities in teaching and testing

aspects of language, this is proven that learning becomes amusing, learners are more

interested, and, they find it more inspiring.

Chapter Two: Language Formality Introduction

Language is a unique social phenomenon that belongs to human beings in

particular. Its existence arises in the presence of the social members of the society and erases in their absence. Formality in language comes as a result of those barriers and due to the norms that human beings set for their communication. The speakers overall produce a careless style when speaking to someone who is socially close to them, and a careful style when addressing someone higher in status. In the following chapter, the focus is on

discussing some issues of LF. At first, we introduce the fact of diversity in language styles.

Then, we present the different definitions of the term language formality. In addition, we describe the informal language through providing its main characteristics and features. At last, techniques for teaching informal language are discussed in the frame of this chapter.

2.1. Diversity in Language Styles

Language speakers have a tendency to master many language styles. They unconsciously shift the style or register for various reasons and in different situations. Additionally, LS do not have an exact scientific description of the boundaries that separate them (Akmajian, Demers, Farmer, & Harnish, 2001, p. 287).

According to Labov (1972, p. 245), “the most immediate problem to be solved in the attack on sociolinguistic structure is the quantification of the dimension of style.”In fact, each individual has his/her own speaking style that is different from the other members of the society.

Furthermore, this diversity is a result of the way people express themselves, their

ideas, and thoughts, when addressing different persons in different settings, or discussing

various subjects and topics. Thus, a huge number of possible language variations are found

(Bell, 1984, p. 13).

2.2. Factors Integrated with Language Shift

Holmes (2013, p. 60-62-63) demonstrates that language shifts occurs for several factors: economic, social, and political factures.

2.2.1. Economic, Social, and Political Factures

a- The careful choice of language is affected by the social status and prestige.

b- Obtaining a work is considered as an economical factor for learning a second language.

c- The pressure of institutional fields such as schools and universities is another political facture.

2.2.2. Demographic Factures

a. Language shift takes place more in urban than rural zones.

b. The size of the group is a frequent factor.

c. Intermarriage, i.e., marriage between two groups accelerates language shift.

2.2.3. Attitudes and Values Factures

The shift in language does not increasingly occur among social groups where the minority language is the dominant. For instance, the language of ethnic group is highly recommended in case where it is important, and vice versa.

2.3. Language Styles

Joos (1962, p. 20-21) has categorised LS into five levels:

2.3.1. Frozen Style

The frozen style is known as the oratorical style. It is the most formal style and the

highest selected variety that is characterised by an unchangeable wording. It is usually used

in public speaking in front of a large number of people, symbolic occasions, rituals, and even within proverbs.

2.3.2. Formal Style

The formal style or the deliberative style is the one that is marked by cohesion of form, organization of utterances, explicit pronunciation, and grammar that does not tolerate ellipsis (deletion). It is mainly performed in speaking to people that are not close to the speaker, or that may differ with him/ her in the social or knowledge level, such as the language that is used in teaching, administration, and other official settings.

2.3.3. Consultative Style

Consultative style is the one that is used for facilitating understanding in non-

permanent interactions. Thus, it may contain a complete grammar, a clear pronunciation, as well as some utterances such as yeah, unhunh, that’s right, oh I see, and yes I know. It intends to be informative. Furthermore, it is distinguished from the formal one by providing

background information when it is required in a discourse. It is used mainly in everyday conversation among non-close people, such as seller/buyer and doctor/patient conversation.

2.3.4. Casual Style

Casual style is the style used mainly for such conversations where the social barriers tend to be somehow low, as the conversations with our friends or colleagues, or even

sometimes with family members. It is marked by rapid pronunciation, ellipsis, slang, and the absence of background information because the participants belong to the same group or level, as well as the addressee is considered as “an insider".

2.3.5. Intimate Style

It is a private or personal code shared only within families, lovers, and the close friends. The words that are generally used within this style are the ones such as “dear”,

“darling”, and “honey”. In addition, intimate language is full of private jargon (characteristics

of specific groups), omissions, ellipsis, deletion, indistinct pronunciation, and non-verbal communication. The example for this style is “Hey darling, how are you?”

On the other hand, McCrimmon (1972) classifies the speech into formal, informal, and colloquial; especially when it is concerned with the written language(as cited in Charles, Kline, & Dean Memering,1977, p. 99).

2.4. Definition of Language Formality

Richards, Platt, and Platt (1997, p. 144) define the formal speech as “the type of speech used in situations when the speaker is very careful about pronunciation and choice of words and sentence structure. This type of speech may be used, for example, at official functions, and in debates and ceremonies”. The formal speech is the style of language that is used in places where the casual pronunciation or form of sentences would be inappropriate.

According to Heylighen (1999), a formal speech is characterized by the use of words and expressions that avoid ambiguity, and increase the attention to speech (as cited in Heylighen & Dewaele, 2002, p. 295).

Moreover, Labov (1972) states that a formal style is marked by more attention to the structure in which the speaker seeks to be close to the standard language features, such as pronunciation, and forms. In other words, he tends to use a language that is similar to the one presented in books. Additionally, Hasan (1984, p. 110) points out that the measurement of language formality is accomplished through comparing the well-structured forms with the less structured ones. Furthermore, Heylighen (1993) asserts that speech is formal when it not vague, and when it is free from external constraints (as cited in Heylighen & Dewaele, 1999 para. 5)

Irvin (2009) has mentioned three senses for the general term “formality” that are

interrelated with each other:

These different senses have to do with whether the formality concerns properties of a communicative code, properties of the social setting in which a code is used, or properties of the analyst’s description….many authors use formality in the sense of an increased structuring and predictability of discourse (p. 774).

This means that formality has to do with the features of language, the settings in which it takes place, and the way the one may analyse it. In addition, a formal language is

characterised by the extra use of rules and conventions that enable the hearer to

communicate, understand, and reply precisely and accurately. According to Heylighen and Dewaele (2002, p. 302), sentences or utterances in a formal speech are featured by

complexity. When the participants, in a given situation, do not share any previous knowledge they tend to use long and complex expressions, besides to precise description that convey clear and specific meanings.

2.5. A Theoretical Definition of Language Formality

Heylighen and Dewaele (1999) establish a more-focused research regarding the issue of LF. They suggest that we have two types of formality: surface formality, and deep

formality. The surface formality refers mainly to how language is formed regarding

morphological, phonological, grammatical, and lexical rules. If the speaker respects those

rules, his/her speech is considered as formal and vice versa. However, the deep formality is

the basis of the surface formality; it is particularly concerned with how we could keep the

meaning of our expressions and utterances clear as much as possible. They have proposed

three main features of deep formality: Context dependence, Fuzziness, and continuum of

formality.

2.5.1. Context-dependence

Heylighen and Dewaele (1999, para. 15) state, “much of what in a formal language must be expressed explicitly in order to avoid ambiguity, will be conveyed in natural language by implicature”. Formal speech is directly reasoned; it is not conveyed through language by implicature that is very common in natural places among the participants. In these situations, the speakers tend to communicate indirectly. For instance, if two men have been discussing until a late hour, and one of them intends to go by saying:“I should get up early tomorrow.”This expression carries an implicit meaning that the speaker wants to go home.

According to Grice (1975), all expressions and words that appear ambiguous and have no direct sense in the background assumption become logical and obvious when they are interpreted in their actual context where and when they are used (as cited in Heylighen &

Dewaele, 1999, para. 15). These can be illustrated through simple expressions that are called deixis, such as pronouns (I, he, her, them ...) that must be connected to persons, adverbs (today, this morning, tonight ...) that need to be related to a specific time, as well as “here” ,

“over there”, “upstairs” that are attached to a particular space. The deixis expressions have multiple meanings. For example, the pronoun “he” may refer to “Peter” or “Jon”. These expressions are understood merely in the actual context or the places when they are uttered, whereas they show vagueness when they are separated from their actual context (this

example results in the other deixis). For instance, in an utterance like “The cup is on it.” The pronoun “it”, in this context, has an ambiguous meaning since it might be “a table,” “a chair,”

or anything else; however, when we hear “the cup is on the table,” we understand

immediately the meaning that the utterance conveys. This is simply because we have changed the context-dependent word or the word “it” by another one. Accordingly, both the

implicature and deixis are included in the general term “context-dependence”. This latter is