Speaker
Description
This presentation describes an action research project that sought to develop learners’ ability to engage in naturalistic spoken narrative. The teaching focused on key elements of spoken narrative such as formulaic phrases for abstracts, reported speech, use of sense verbs, upgrade adjectives and self-paraphrase. In video-recorded data of student narrative exchanges, results were mixed with sporadic use of the taught items in narrative sequences, revealing the difficulty many students face in being creative.
Abstract section 4: Outcomes/results
The results were mixed. While there was a general orientation to Labovian structure, there was only sporadic use of the taught language items and an overall pattern of basic propositional utterances and a rather low level of listener participation/support. The study highlights the difficulties that many students face in learning how to be creative with language use, develop varied ways of saying the same thing, and managing the pragmatics of interactive narrative events.
Abstract section 2: Contribution/research questions
The research sought to promote the ability of student to engage in spoken narrative events.
Question 1: What are the ways in which students do narratives?
Question 2: What language practices are generally not present in student narratives?
Question 3: Can students be explicitly instructed in the methods of spoken narratives that results in them being able to more closely align with naturalistic practices in the target language?
Abstract section 5: References
Bavelas, J. B., Coates, L., & Johnson, T. (2000). Listeners as co-narrators. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(6), 941–952.
Labov, W., & Waletzky, J. (1967). Narrative analysis: Oral versions of personal experience. In I. Helm (Ed.), Essays on the verbal and visual arts. Proceedings of the 1966
Annual Spring Meeting of the American Ethnological Society (pp. 12-44). University of Washington Press.
Norrick, N. R. (2000). Conversational narrative: Storytelling in everyday talk. John Benjamins Publishing.
Tannen, D. (2007). Talking voices: Repetition, dialogue, and imagery in conversational discourse. Cambridge University Press.
Abstract section 1: Relevance
Spoken narrative is a central skill of conversation (Tannen, 2007; Norrick, 2000), and as such, is a key target for language learners. However, spoken narrative is much more than a sequence of propositions related in temporal order. Stories have a recognizable interactional structure (Labov and Waletzky, 1967). Accomplished storytellers utilize a subtle blend of formulaic utterances and repetition alongside novel formulations, creative metaphor, reported speech etc. Narrative events also rely heavily on the participation and support of listeners (Bavelas, Coates and Johnson, 2000).
Abstract section 3: Content/method
The target structures were explicitly taught and practiced repeatedly in structured and semi-structured activities over the course of a semester. Finally, the students were video recorded in small groups relating narratives within a framework of naturalistic interaction. The videos were then analysed in detail.
| Title | Spoken Narrative: Promoting agency and creativity |
|---|---|
| Teaching Context | College and university education |