Teaching the interpretative skills

READING
David Nunan : Reading: A Discourse Perspective (ch.4)
✓ Bottom-up approach: the reader constructs the text from the smallest units (letters to words to phrases to sentences,
etc).The reader processes each letter as it is encountered and these letters are matched with the phonemes of the lg, which
it is assumed the reader already knows. These phonemes are blended together to form words. The derivation of meanings is
the end process in which the lg is translated from one form of symbol ic representation to another. Once a reader has
blended the sounds together to form a word, that word w il l be recognized. It’s assumed that the reader has an oral voc
which is extensive enough to al low decoding to proceed. The assumption that phonic analysis skil ls are al l that’s needed to
become a successful reader is questionable.

Criticisms:

1. Spel l ing-to-sound correspondences are complex and unpredictable.

2. The serial processing of every letter w ould slow reading up to the point where it’d be difficult for meaning to be retained.
Given the fact that we can hold in working memory about 7 items at a time, readers would forget the beginning of a
sentence before they’ve reached the end.

3. It’s impossible to make decisions about how upcoming letters and words wil l sound until the context provided by the rank
above the one containing the item has been understood.

4. Errors provide evidence that something more than mechanical decoding is going on when readers process texts.

✓ Top-down approach: argues that readers bring a great deal of kn, expectations, assumptions and questions to the text
and, given a basic understanding of the voc, they continue to read as long as the text confirms their expectations.

It emphasizes the reconstruction of meaning rather than the decoding of form. The interaction of the reader and the text
is central and readers bring to this interaction their kn of the subject at hand, kn of and expectations about how lg works,
motivation, interests and attitudes towards the content of the text. Rather than decoding each symbol, or word, the
reader forms hypotheses a bout the text elements and then “samples” the text to determine whether the hypotheses are
correct or not. The l ink bet our knowledge of l inguistic forms and our kn of the world is very cl ose and it has impl ications
for discourse processing:

1. The more predictable a sequence of l inguistic elements, the more readily a text wil l be processed. It has been suggested
that texts for initials L1 readers should come close to the oral lg of the reader.
2. Ensure not only that l inguistic element is more predictable but also that experiential content is more famil iar and
therefore more predictable.

Criticisms:

- This model sometimes fails to distinguish between beginning readers and fluent readers. Fluent readers operate by
recognizing words on sight.

- Reading proceeds through the generation of hypotheses about upcoming text elements. The generation of hypotheses
would be more time consuming than decoding would be.
✓ Schema theory and reading: suggests that the kn we carry around in our heads is organized into interrelated patterns.
These are constructed from previous experience of the experiential world a nd guide us as we make sense of new experiences.
They also enable us to make predictions about what we might expect to experience in a given context.

Widdowson postulates two levels of language: systemic level and schematic level

Systemic level: includes phonological, morphological and syntactic elements of the lg, while the schematic level relates to out
background kn. This background kn exercises an executive function over the systemic level of lg. I n comprehending a given piece
of lg, we use interpretive procedures for achieving a match between our schematic kn and the lg w hich is encoded
systematical ly. The connectivity of text cannot always be explained exclusively in terms of the lg in the text. It also depends
on our interpretive abil ity to make connections which don’t exist in the text, but which are provided by use from our
schematic kn of the subject in hand, or the functional purposes which the different elements are fulfil l ing.
Grel let : Developing Reading Skil ls
-What is reading comprehension? → Extracting the required info from it artificially. A competent reader will reject irrelevant info and
find what he is looking for. It’s not enough to understand the gist of the text; more detailed comprehension is necessary.
-What do we read? → text-types: novels, plays, poems, letters, articles, recipes, instructions, reports, etc.
-Why do we read? → for pleasure or for information
-How do we read? → ways of reading:
✓ Skimming : quickly to get the gist.
✓ Scanning : quickly to find a particular piece of info.
✓ Extensive reading : for pleasure. Fluency activity
✓ Intensive reading : to extract specific info. Reading for detail.
Our reading purposes vary, so, when devising exercises, we should vary the questions and activities according to the type of text
studied and the purpose of reading it.

✓ Recognizing the script of a lg

✓ Deducing the meaning and use of unfamiliar lexical items
✓ Understanding explicitly stated info and info when not explicitly stated.
✓ Understanding the conceptual meaning, communicative value, relations within the sentence.
✓ Understanding relations bet the parts of a text through lexical cohesion
✓ Understanding cohesion bet parts of a text through grammatical cohesion
✓ Interpreting a text by going outside it
✓ Recognize indicators of discourse
✓ Identify the main point of important info
✓ Distinguish the main idea from details
✓ Extracting salient points to summarize
✓ Selective extraction of relevant points
✓ Basic reference skills
✓ Skimming and scanning
✓ Transcoding info to diagrammatic display.
To develop these skills, there are several types of exercises: question-types with two diff functions :
✓ To clarify the organization of the passage: questions about the function of the passage, the general organization or the rhetorical
organization, cohesive decides and intrasentential relations.
✓ To clarify the contents of the passage: questions about a plain fact (direct ref), an implied fact (inference), deduced meaning or
evaluation.

Bear in mind when producing a reading comp exercise:

1. It was assumed that a text was a succession of separate sentences thematically related and that it was necessary to deal with the
structure and meaning of sentences. This would only lead the students to become dependent on understanding every single sentence
and they would tend to read all texts at the same speed. This would also lead them to be reluctant to infer the meaning of sentences
or paragraphs from what comes before or after. If reading is to be efficient, the structure of longer units must be understood.
2. One should start with global understanding and move towards detailed understanding (top-down approach) the tasks should be of a
more global kind within students’ competence. As they read more fluently and get the gist of a text more easily, a deeper and more
detailed understanding can be worked toward. When constructing exercises, start with the overall meaning of the text, its function
and aim, rather than working on voc.
a. Efficient way of building up students’ confidence when faced with authentic texts that contain difficult voc or structures. If the
activity is global, students won’t feel lost.
b. It’ll develop an awareness of the way texts are organized
c. Students can be encouraged to anticipate what they are to find in the text. This is essential to develop their skills of inference,
anticipation and deduction.
3. Use authentic texts:
a. “simplifying” a text results in increased difficulty bc the system of references, repetition and redundancy as well as indicators one
relies on when reading are removed or altered
b. The difficulty of a reading exercise depends on the activity required of the students rather than on the text, provided it remains
within their general competence. One should grade exercises rather than texts
c. By standardizing the presentation of texts, it reduces interest and motivation and increases the difficulty. Pictures, size of
headlines all contribute to conveying the msg. Keep them as authentic as possible to help learners anticipate meaning by using these
non-linguistic clues.
4. Link different skills through the reading activities chosen: reading and writing (summarizing) reading and listening (matching opinions
and texts) reading and speaking (discussions, debates)
5. Reading is an active skill. Develop students’ powers of inference through systematic practice; introduce questions which encourage
them to anticipate the content from its title or illustrations. One should introduce exercises in which there’s no single
straightforward answer. This requires powers of judgment and appreciation and by extending the range of these exercises to cover
other reading skills will lead to greater discussion and reflection.
6. Flexible and varied activities, suited to the texts and to one’s reasons for reading. Take into account the author’s point of view,
intention, and tone for full understanding (open questions, multiple choice, etc)
7. Aim must be clearly defined and a clear distinction made between teaching and testing. Students must be taught how to approach
and consider the text to become independent and efficient readers.

Reading comprehension in the classroom:

✓ Constructing exercises: variety in the range of exercises which is important in motivation. An exercise should never be imposed on a
text. The text should be the starting point for determining why one would normally read it, how it would be read, how it might relate
to other info before thinking of a particular exercise. Many texts are meant to be enjoyed and too many exercises might spoil the
pleasure of reading.
We need a balance bet leaving students without any help and “squeezing the text dry”
✓ Classroom procedures: reading is a silent activity and silent reading should be encouraged.
a. Consider the text as a whole: title, pictures, diagrams, paragraphs, typeface used. Make guesses about who wrote it, who it is for,
where it appeared, etc.
b. Skim through the text to see if your hypotheses were right
c. Read again, more carefully, trying to understand as much as you can.

Aebersold , Jo Ann: From Reader to Reading Teacher – ch 1-2

CHAPTER 1: What is reading? Reading involves: the reader, the text and the interaction btW reader and text.

➢ The Reader: his engagement in the reading process is based on past experience in learning how to read and in the ways reading fits
into their lives. “More info is contributed by the reader than by the print on the page” That info comes from various sources in your
life and shapes your experiences of reading:
✓ Family influence: model reading behaviors, habits, attitudes. Reading is a powerful activity that confers kn, insight and perspective on
readers.
✓ Community influence: readers incorporate kn and values of the community into their perspective. Readers have memories of specific
events and build mental concepts of an event by extracting shared elements of those social events. The more varied the community
experiences, the more readers participate in community events, the richer the background.
✓ School influence: schools bring people into contact with communities other than their own. School experiences provide common
ground for people. There can also be different experiences in the same school.
✓ Cultural influence: culture shapes a group’s basic systems for seeing and interpreting the world around them. While different social
and economic groups may emphasize different uses for reading. Culture blocks or let through a set of learned patterns and attitudes
that form its core values. Cultural notions about reading are implicit and hard to identify; people acquire them unconsciously.
✓ Influence of individual characteristics: The differences from one individual to another raise the question of nature versus nurture.
L2 research investigates how motivation, learning styles, aptitude, and intelligence influence lg learning; teachers consider how
different readers read and how teachers can best facilitate that process.
The background info readers bring to a text is referred to as SCHEMA. What people know about history, culture, habits, politics help
them understand the reading about that topic.
➢ The Text: labels, instructions, advertisements, notes, etc. The kn readers have of text types allows to adjust their reading
expectations and skills to the text. Readers’ comprehension may change as they re-read but texts are static. Texts exhibit
characteristics that facilitate or hinder readers’ comprehension:
✓ Organization of info : rhetorical structures: organization of info. (description, classification, comparison, contrast, cause and effect,
process, argument, persuasion, etc)
✓ Syntax and grammar: newspaper and academic sentences are grammatically more complex; they have more clauses or reduced clauses.
Sentence length and complexity influence comprehension and can signal the type of the text. Another syntactic feature is cohesion
(the way ideas and meanings in a text are related to each other)
✓ Vocabulary: if the number of unfamiliar words is small and their content is not crucial to the basic meaning of the main msg, they
don’t hinder reading comprehension. If there are many unfamiliar words that are key words, comprehension begins to break down.
➢ The Interaction bet READER an TEXT: reading is what happens when people look at a text and assign meaning to the written symbols
in that text. The text and reader are two physical entities necessary for the reading process to begin. The interaction bet them
constitutes actual reading. The meaning the reader gets from the text may not be the same as the meaning the writer wished to
convey. These variations occur because of influences on the reader and because of individual differences in motivation, aptitude, etc.
Reading comprehension differs from one reader to another.
✓ Purpose and manner of reading: people read for a purpose. Purpose determines how people read a text: slowly, quickly, to
understand (comprehension) or get the general idea(skimming) or to find the
part that contains the info they need (scanning)
✓ Interaction through reading strategies: successful readers:
✓ Interaction through schema: schema is the kn readers bring to the text.
▪ Content schema provides readers with a foundation, a basis for comparison.
▪ Formal schema is the organizational forms and rhetorical structures of texts. The kn you bring to a text about structure, voc,
grammar, level of formality constitutes your formal schema.
▪ Linguistic schema includes decoding features we need to recognize words and see how they fit together in a sentence. Readers who
have not studied a word or a grammar rule in L1 cannot use that info when they read. They may be able to generalize a pattern or
guess the meaning of a word but it was initially a part of their linguistic schema.
➢ Models of reading
1. Bottom-up theory: readers construct the text from the smallest units and the process of constructing the text becomes so
automatic that readers are not aware of how it operates.
2. Top-down theory: readers bring a great deal of kn, expectations, assumptions, and questions to the text, given a basic
understanding of the voc, they continue to read as long as the text confirms their expectations. Readers fit the text into kn they
possess.
3. Interactive: both processes are occurring. Depending on the type of text and the readers’ background kn, lg proficiency, motivation,
strategy use, culturally shaped beliefs about reading, etc.

CHAPTER 2: Factors influencing reading in L2/FL

Student narrative:
Teachers need to understand students’ reading behaviors and help them understand those behaviors. Skilled teachers are careful
observers and know about the linguistic and educational background of their students. Students begin reading in L2 with a different kn
base than they had when starting reading in L1. L1 readers know words before they begin to read, ability to handle grammar and L2
readers have more world kn, highly developed cog abilities, ability to use metacognitive strategies and more motivation.

➢ Cognitive development and style orientation: Learning strategies are quite different. L1 reading levels, world kn, reading strategies
influenced by this difference. Hatch says that they influence success on lg learning and Segalowitz says that L1 and L2 reading use
different underlying cog processes. Each person brings a preferred learning style to the learning process. The reflective learner, risk
taker, field dependent (sees contexts and relationships) and field independent (pick out details but miss larger context); tolerance to
ambiguity or intolerance. Learners have style orientation preferences for sensory input: visual, auditory, kinesthetic modes, etc. The
student who has always been to translate every word in a text will have a difficult time adjusting to skimming and scanning exercises
and will have low tolerance for dealing with ambiguity. Some may read through a passage and try to construct a msg for it.

➢ Reading performance and competence in L1: skilled L1 reader has potential for using L1 skills to engance L2 reading. There is a
transfer of reading skills from L1 to L2. The more a person has learned to be flexible, adaptable, questioning, comprehension-monitoring
reader in L1, the more likely it is that he will be like that in an L2. Competence indicates a conscious understanding of lg rules that
govern lg production. Performance is the ability to produce lg.

➢ Metacognitive knowledge: It consists of student’s ability to discuss, describe, give rules for and comment on L1 lg use. Children learning
to read in L1 have a sophisticated but unsconscious grasp of the syntax, pronunciation and voc – considerable proficiency but limited
metacognitive kn. Children learning L2, the T cannot use complex grammatical explanations and linguistic terminology.
An adult has a good kn of grammar structures – good proficiency and metacognitive kn. This ability is shaped by cultural values. Learning
L2 includes instruction of grammar and those with a solid metacognitive kn of the structures of L1 will better apply such linguistic kn
in L2 learning and reading.
➢ L2/FL lg proficiency: weaknesses in L2 lg competence can “short-circuit” reading performance. There must be a basic level of L2
prof for the reading and that level varies according to the difficulty of the text. L2 readers won’t be able to read as well in L2 as in
their L1 until they’ve reached a threshold level of competence in the TL. L2 lg proficienvy influences T’s selection of materials; it’s
important to avoid frustration that arise from constantly being required to tackle L2 reading texts that are far beyond one’s lg
competence.
➢ Degree of difference bet L1 & L2: Readers who use the same alphabet/writing system will have less to learn and be able to begin
reading faster. Readers switching from a system with a limited number of symbols to a system with abundant characters will need
more time to become proficient.
➢ Cultural orientation: influences reading behaviors, beliefs and performance. Cultural differences are passive
✓ Attitudes toward text and purpose for reading: those who learn to read by having stories read to them and being asked to
imagine, question, interpret and answer queries develop the kinds ofacademic reading skills expected
✓ Types of reading skills and strategies in L1: personal exp, beliefs, cultural training, educational experience. Not all readers will have
developed the same reading strategies and the strategies they develop will be dependent on the values and attitudes of their culture
toward reading.
✓ Types of reading skills and strategies in L2: being able to read long texts efficiently, infer meaning, interpret and understand
ambiguity, recognize implicit meaning in texts.
✓ Beliefs about reading process
✓ Knowledge of text types in L1 (Formal schemata)
✓ Background knowledge (content schemata)

Widdowson - Teaching lge as communication ch 4 - comprehending a nd reading.

The reading passage as dependent exemplification
The presentation of lge through reading passages is a well-established and very familiar pedagogic practice. But what is the purpose of
such passages? When they appear in structurally graded courses they seem primarily to be used as a vehicle for usage, to consolidate a
knowledge of structure and vocabulary that has already been introduced and to extend this knowledge by incorporating into passages
examples of whatever elements of usage come next in the course. In this case, the passage is intended as a manifestation of selected
parts of the lge system and in consequence they frequently exhibit an abnormally high occurrence of particular structures.

The reading passage as independent ‘comprehension piece’

Passages also appear independently presented in practice books of reading comprehension exercises. Here the structural constraints
are less severe in that the passages don’t have to fitted into slots within a graded syllabus. The possibility of approximating to actual
discourse is accordingly increased. The distortion due to excessive exemplification can be avoided. These are intended as
demonstrations of lge as use. Two questions arise: How far do they actually approximate to discourse? How far do they need to do so
to be effective? To approach an answer we first have to distinguish three kinds of passages: extracts, simplified versions and simple
accounts.
★ Extracts
The problem of authenticity
The extract is a piece of genuine discourse, an actual instance of use. There are, however, certain complications: the very fact that
these passages are extracted from the context of larger communicative units and presented in detachment for lge learning purposes
is bound to reduce their naturalness as discourse. The extracts are, by definition, genuine instances of lge use, but if the learner is
required to deal with them in a way which doesn’t correspond to his normal communicative activities, then they cannot be said to be
authentic instances of use. So, one of the difficulties about extracts is that although they are genuine, the fact that they are
presented as extracts imposed on the learner for lge learning purposes necessarily reduces their authenticity
 (Genuineness is a characteristic of the passage itself, authenticity is a characteristic of the relationship between the passage and
the reader and it has to do with appropriate response.) How can we present reading material in such a way as to persuade the
learner to consider it as normal lge use, even when it is not? The topic of discourse has to be one which will appeal to the learner
in some way. One way of giving extracts a communicative reality, of setting up conditions favourable to authentication, might be to
combine them into a rhetorical whole whose topic relates to other areas of the learner’s studies.
The comprehending problem
There’s another difficulty: even if the learner is motivated to read a particular extract and is ready to give an authentic response,
he will be denied the opportunity if the linguistic difficulty of the passage is such that he cannot process it. We must take care
that passages don’t present difficulties of usage which would prevent the learner comprehending to the extent necessary to read
the passage effectively as discourse. A genuine instance of use cannot be authenticated if it consists of syntactic structures and
lexical items which the learner just has not the competence to comprehend.
One solution is to provide a list of words and phrases (those which are judged to be outside the learner’s current competence) and
their meanings before they begin to read. Priming glossaries are those explanations that precede the reading passage since their
purpose is to prepare the learner beforehand for his encounter with possible problems in the passage. Two types: signification
gloss (meaning of a word) and value gloss (provides the value which a lexical item takes on in this particular context). Prompting
glossaries are explanations which are linked to particular problems as the reader actually encounter them in context.(Occasionally
they appear as footnotes or in the margins). A feature of this kind of glossary is that it tends to deal not with individual lexical
items but with much larger units of meaning. (Commentaries or interpretations).

★ Simplified versions
Passages that are derived from genuine instances of discourse by a process of lexical and syntactic substitution. In effect, what
they do is to incorporate the glosses we have been considering directly into an original extract to produce a version which is
judged to be within the linguistic competence of the learner. One of the problems of this procedure is that the simplification of
usage can often result in a distortion of use. Since one’s attention is on lexis and syntax, the simplified version always tends
towards exemplification.

★ Simple accounts
What distinguishes it from a simplified version is that it represents not an alternative textualization of a given discourse, but a
different discourse altogether. It is the recasting of info to suit a particular kind of reader.
A simple account is a genuine instance of discourse, designed to meet a communicative purpose, while a simplified version is not
genuine discourse, it is a contrivance for teaching lge.
What we have to bear in mind when presenting lge for the development of the reading ability: The lge must be one that the learner
is willing and able to react to it authentically as an instance of discourse. This means that passages have to engage the learner’s
interests and impress him as being in some way relevant to his concerns, and they have to be pitched at an appropriate level of
linguistic difficulty. The passages should draw upon and extend the learner’s knowledge of usage while at the same time developing
his knowledge of use, thus deriving reading ability from the comprehending skill.
Lge for reading might be presented by means of a procedure called gradual approximation. This involves the development of a series
of simple accounts of increasing complexity by reference to two sources: a linguistic source in the form of a set of sentences, and
a non-linguistic source in the form of a diagrammatic representation of info. The sentences provide the usage base and the
diagram provides the communicative context.
Common practice: to teach reading through reading passages with appended ‘ comprehension questions ’. Arguments have been put
forward for preferring multiple choice questions, to wh- questions, or yes-no questions. These types of questions have to do
with how the learner’s understanding is to be demonstrated, what kind of overt response is required of him. We are concerned in
this case with what form questions should take and so with what form of answer the learner should be expected to provide. But
we can also think of questions in relation to what kind of understanding the learner is expected to demonstrate and here we are
concerned with what function they have.
Types of questions by reference to form: 4 types:
A- Wh- questions
B- Polar questions
C- Truth assessments
D- Multiple choice

The difference between them has to do with social and mental reality.
Types of question by reference to function
We can distinguish two broad categories of questions:
★ Usage reference: it calls for a demonstration of the learner’s comprehending skill and makes appeal to his knowledge of usage.
★ Use inference: it calls for a demonstration of the learner’s reading ability and requires him to infer meanings from context and
to treat the reading passage as an instance of discourse and not just as a conglomeration of sentences. It is subdivided into
assimilation , the immediate processing of discourse in linear sequence, and discrimination , the selective processing whereby the main
points are abstracted and relative significance established.

Usage reference: questions are those which require the learner to engage his comprehending skill. They direct his attention to a
particular sentence in the passage and he provides a correct answer by noting how the signification of the sentence of the
question relates to the signification of the sentences in the passage. He is not called upon to interpret that sentence as having a
discourse value at all. To answer these questions, the learner has to comprehend the signification of the interrogative sentence
which serves to pose the question and look for a the sentence in the passage that corresponds with it. In actual fact, in these
cases, the learner doesn’t even have to understand what the sentences signify: all he needs to do id to recognize their structural
relationship. No demands are made on the communicative abilities, since the learner is not called upon to consider what value the
sentences might have in context. His attention is directed to their signification as separate units of meaning: the rest of the
passage might just as well not be there.

Use inference: questions focus the learner’s attention on the value of sentences rather than on their signification, on the
propositions, they express and on the illocutionary acts they count as in context. They are designed to direct the learner to a
discovery of how sentences are used in discourse.
The discrimination level is the most difficult to operate on since it involves not only a recognition of how propositions develop
through sentences but also, more crucially, what these propositions count as: which of them take on the value of exemplification,
qualification, generalization and so on. At the discrimination level the learner has to perceive the illocutionary structure of the
discourse.
 LIST ENING

● Reciprocal l istening: opportunity for the l istener to interact with the speaker n to negotiate the content of the
interaction

● Non-reciprocal l istening: the transfer of the info is in one direction only → from the speaker to the l istener.

The l istener must integrate the fol lowing skil ls:

1. identify spoken signals from the sounds

2. segment the stream of speech into words

3. grasp the syntax of the utterance

4. formulate an appropriate response

5. having an appropriate purpose for l istening

6. having appropriate social and cultural kn and skil ls

7. having the appropriate background kn

● Listening is active. We have to l isten and interpret what we hear according to our purpose in l istening n our
background kn. We then store the meaning of the message (not the grammar)

● Listening tasks:

1. Bottom-up: work on the incoming message itself, decoding sounds, words, clauses and sentences. (scanning the input, segment the
stream, using phonological cues to identify the info focus, using grammatical cues to organise the input into constituents)

2. Top-down: involve background kn to assist in comprehending the message. (assigning an interaction to part of a particular event,
assigning places, people or things into categories, inferring cause-effect relationships, anticipating outcomes, inferring the topic of a
discourse, inferring the sequence bt events, inferring missing details)

3. Functional dimension: interactional (maintenance of social relationships) and transactional (transfer of info).

Potential problems in listening

● Difficulty in recognising speech and non-speech sounds

● The listener may pay attention to what s/he listens to and recognise the words but s/he might not comprehend the message
→ the listener as a tape recorder (alternative: the listener as an active model builder→ listener’s coherent representation of
what s/he has listened to)

❖ Speech perception (hearing) and speech interpretation ( understanding)

❖ We may resort to sources of information to comprehend: 1 systemic or linguistic knowledge ( (kn of the lge system)) and 2
schematic or non-linguistic information (background and procedural kn) (mental structures of relevant individual kn and experience
that allows us to incorporate what we learn → mental scripts)
● Listening and speaking are taken as separated skills and the L is not allowed tointeract with the input to check comprehension

● Young learners:

❖ Many children don’t realise the importance of message quality

❖ They have problems assessing message quality( recognising when input is ambiguous or uninformative)

❖ They rarely provide feedback for speakers (they don’t confirm whether they have understood)

● Background problems: gaps in kn of L2 culture or in background knowledge the speaker thinks s/he shares with the listener (but
in fact they don’t)

● Language problems: difficult input.

● Listening problems: identifying the topic of the conversation, so they can make a response → development of conversation
skills (asking the other person)