TOPIC 5. Oral communication. Elements and rules that govern oral discourse.

Frequent routines and formulas. Characteristic strategies in oral communication.

What is language if it is not communication? Oral communication is a common part of

our everyday lives and it would be impossible for us to go about our daily business of
interaction without being able to communicate with others.

This unit will look at the different factors involved in oral communication and consider
sociological and ethnographic approaches to it. It will examine Hymes’ model for oral
communication, it will study some typical routines and formulas used in oral
communication along with typical opening and closing sequences. Finally, it will look at
strategies used in communication and conversation.

1. ORAL COMMUNICATION
1.1 General considerations

Oral communication is an interactive process between a speaker and listener//listeners

that allows humans to exchange information. The speaker encodes a message and the
listener decodes it in order to understand it. Many linguistic and extra-linguistic factors
come into play in oral communication.

These factors are important from a teacher’s point of view when planning oral
communication activities for the classroom. Any communicative task should contain a
message which the student should transmit using appropriate language for the context.

E.g: an information gap activity in which students work in pairs and must form a
complete text by asking and responding. If it is based on personal information
pertaining to the students, the communication achieved in the task is more authentic
and the motivation level is higher.

Saussure’s notion of the signifier and the signified means that in a conversation, the
speaker first mentally encodes the signified into signifier and the opposite process is
then carried out by the listener.

Various levels can be shown to influence communication:

- The syntactic level that deals with the formal properties of the signs/signals
involved.
- The pragmatic level concerned with the situation/context and the relationships
between the participants.
- The semantic level that defines the meanings of the signs involved in the
communication.

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Oral communication differs greatly from written communication as it is planned and well
structured. However, the oral text is produced in real time and, therefore, has
imperfections, false starts, repetitions, corrections, ungrammatical utterances, fillers…

In order for the communication to be effective, two important factors must be present:
only one person should speak at a time + speaker change should occur

1.2 Hymes’ SPEAKING model

Hymes brought together the fields of Ethnography and Linguistics to analyse the
interaction and roles seeking to combine communicative behaviour in a social context
with the linguistic analysis of its structure.

The SPEAKING model created by him includes the components that must be present
in a speech event:

S Setting//Scene
P Participants
E Ends
A Act sequence
K Key
I Instrumentalities
N Norms
G Genre
The physical surroundings of the speech act (in the workplace).
The speaker and the audience, distinguished between the
addressee(s) and other hearers who may overhear a conversation.
The purpose of the communication and its results. (to instruct the
employee in a specific task).
The form and content of the speech event following conventional
norms and sequences.
The tone and manner of the speech art.
The channel through which the communication takes place, may be
both verbal and non-verbal.
The specific rules or conventions applicable to the speech act
(when the employer is instructing the employee, the employee may
be expected to interrupt in order to ask questions).
The different textual categories that the speech act can represent
(joke, request, a conversation…)

Closely related to the components of the speech event, we find the communication
functions also stablished by Hymes:

Expressive Transmits feelings and emotions.

Directive Used to request or demand.
Referential To convey meaning and content.
Poetic Aesthetics in communication.
Phatic To transmit empathy and solidarity.
Metalinguistic Referring to language itself.

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 2. ELEMENTS AND RULES THAT GOVERN ORAL DISCOURSE

All speech communities possess an underlying set of non-linguistic rules and norms
which govern how oral communication takes place in that community. (E.g. The
linguistic formulas and intonation used to express a polite request are different in
English and Spanish.)

Conventions vary even between varieties of the same language (In the UK is impolite
to talk about one’s earning but in the USA it is an appropriate ice-breaker).

That is way, this extralinguistic knowledge is important to be taught effectively in the

English classroom

2.1 Conversational maxims

Grice (1975) described four Maxims of conversational behaviour:

 Maxim of Quality: speakers should not say what they know is untrue.
 Maxim of Quantity: speakers should contribute the information which is
necessary for the aims of the conversation, not more or less.
 Maxim of Relation: the speaker’s contributions should be as relevant as
possible.
 Maxim of Manner: speakers should try to make their contributions as clear and
precise as possible, avoiding ambiguity and overlong contributions.

These maxims were designed to be a description of the ways in which effective

conversations took place if it wants to be equal, uniform and cooperative. Their
limitation lies in the fact that they presuppose that the conversation takes places
cooperatively. However, in the real world many conversations involve disagreement
between the participants in a conversation, power is rarely equally distributed between
the participants…

2.2 Speech acts

Speech acts deal with the intentions of the speaker and the functions of the language
used in encoding these intentions in messages. However, there is often a further level
of action beyond that of the utterance itself that must be inferred by the listener.

E.g: It’s a bit warm in here, isn’t it? – this may not be a simple comment on the
temperature, but a request for someone to open a window.

Four categories of common speech acts can be determined:

 Constatives. Making statements, giving responses, information, predicting…

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  Directives. To have an influence on the listener, through requests, advice,
orders, suggestions, warnings…
 Commissives. To express action on the part of the speaker like agreeing,
inviting, offering, promising…
 Acknowledgments. To express recognition on the part of the speaker through
apologies, condolences, congratulations…

Speech acts can be direct or indirect, and literal or nonliteral. It’s a bit warm in here,
isn’t it? (indirect) – I was glued to the seat; I loved the film! (nonliteral).

2.3 Turn taking

Turn taking is a basic form of organisation for conversation in order to achieve

successful communication. These conventions govern who speaks, when and for
how long. Some basic concepts of turn taking in conversations are:

- There are changes between speakers, at least once in the exchange.

- Normally, only one participant speaks at the same time. Repair mechanisms
can be used to deal with errors and violations in turn taking; if two participants
self-select at the same time and begin to speak concurrently, normally one will
stop in order to allow the other to continue.
- The order and length of turns is not fixed but varies during the conversation.
- The transfer from one speaker to the next occurs at transition places. One
speaker’s utterance is seen to have com to an end and another is invited (the
intonation falls, the intonation rises, the speaker address directly to another
speaker by name…) However, it can also be done extra-linguistically by turning
to the person in question and pointing to them.

Turn-taking systems provide motivation for the other participants in the

conversation to follow what the current speaker is saying closely. Related to turn
taking is the concept of assent terms, which are used to show the listener’s
ongoing attention to what the speaker is saying (uh-huh, right, okay, yes…) or also
ratifying responses (I bough this when I was in London – London?)

2.4 Topics

Good management of effective communication involves being able to select

appropriate topics depending on the context, situation and the participants. It is
common for speakers to link new topics in the conversation with what has already been
said (that reminds me…), speakers may also signal the direction of a conversation

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using discourse makers (anyway, well…). It is also common to find the use of clichés to
end a topic (all’s well that ends well; worse things happen at sea…)

2.5 Formal features

The grammar and syntax of oral communication are different from written language as
it is corrected or scrapped and started again before the reader sees it. Oral
communication, as takes place in real time, doesn’t possess any of these possibilities
so:

- Structurally contain much less subordination and more coordinated clauses

(and, so, but).
- Frequent repetitions of words, grammatical forms omissions including subjects
and auxiliaries (fancy a beer?)
- The vocabulary and lexis are likely to be much more informal than written and
much less precise. Common terms which are not often found in writing include
sort of, a bit like, something like that…

3. FREQUENT ROUTINES AND FORMULAS

3.1 Routines

These are fixed structures which can be deemed single units and considered as such,
as they cannot be usefully broken down into their component parts; the meaning is
given by the whole. (hi, hey, have a nice day!)

Routines may be one-sided, meaning, contained in the utterance of only one

participant in an oral communication (How do you do?).

It is often devoid of denotative meaning and it simply has a phatic function (How are
you? - they are often not really enquiring as to the health of the interlocutor.)

Many routines are based on cultural knowledge, and therefore present problems for
language learners who may learn the meanings of the word but no the contextual
significance of the routine (bless you, I beg your pardon – after involuntary bodily
noises, burping or belching).

Jokes are a form of well-known routines used in everyday language (I had Sarah on
the phone last night – Didn’t she fall off? – It is evident that the meaning of the first line
is not meant to be taken as literal.

The importance of teaching these routines to language learners is crucial so that they
can interact correctly in diverse situations and sound natural.

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 3.2 Adjacency pairs

Adjacency pairs are utterances produced by two successive speakers, with the second
an expected follow-up to the first.

The most common instance of an adjacency pair is a simple question-answer

exchange (Do you know what time is it? It is 4 o’clock), but there are many other
possibilities.

Greeting - Greeting Hello – Hi

Degreeting - Degreeting See you – Bye bye

Congratulations - Thanks Happy birthday – Thank you

Apology - Acceptance Sorry, I’m late – That’s okay

Inform - Acknowledge Your mum is here – Thanks

Invitation – Acceptance / Decline Would you like a cup of tea? Yes / No, thanks.

Complaint - Excuse It’s cold in here. – Oh sorry, I’ll close the window.

Various norms apply to adjacency pairs:

- They are produced by different speakers.

- The first part requires there to be a second part; otherwise, the exchange is
considered as incomplete.
- After a given first part, there is a limited choice of second parts.
Do you fancy a cup of tea? (The possible replies is normally limited to an
acceptance or a refusal, often with some explanation).

Adjacency pairs are often used for starting and closing a conversation.

In addition, the components of an adjacency pair can be used to build longer

utterances, through embedding or sequencing of pairs. It occurs, for example, when
asking for clarifications:

A. What can I get you madam?

B. Have you got any cheese?
A. Yes, Cheddar and Red Leicester.
B. Half pound of Cheddar, please.
A. Certainly. Here you are.
B. Thank you.

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 3.3 Openings and closings

The structure of conversations can be divided into various levels. An oral encounter,
which can be transactional if it has a specific purpose (buying something in a shop,
negotiating a contract…) or interactional if it is purely social, is often divided into three
phases:

- The opening is a very formulaic exchange, in which the two participants decide
whether or not there is scope for continuing the conversation. One participant
will often use a pseudo-apology (sorry, excuse me…) in order to start.
- Within the central phase of the conversation, the structure can be broken down
into various exchanges.
- Closings are also cooperative activities and may also be fairly ritual. There are
also some pre-closing signals used by the speakers (ok then, right, I’ll let you
get on…) before the leave-taking formula at the end of the conversation (bye
bye, see you…)

3.4 Conversation gambits

Conversation gambits are routines used in everyday oral communication. Without

them, conversations would appear very direct and the speakers rude. There are
thousand more possible gambits, but some of them are:

To initiate a turn or a conversation Sorry, excuse me

To recap Where was I?
To introduce undesired information To tell the truth
To change the subject That reminds me, by the way
To give an opinion If you ask me
Introducing a contrasting opinion Actually
Expressing surprise You’re pulling my leg!

4. CHARACTERISTIC STRATEGIES IN ORAL COMMUNICATION

Strategies in oral communication deal with the need to maintain communication when
problems occur. These problems may occurs owing to lack of competence in the
language, especially in the case of language learners.

4.1 Avoidance strategies

Avoiding a problem and imply some degree of loss of the objective of the
communication.

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- If a speaker has difficulty in pronouncing a certain phoneme in a word, he may
use a different word. Spanish speakers who have difficulty with the phoneme
/w/ (would) might change to a different modal form such as might, should even
though this means a change in meaning.
- On a grammatical plane, a speaker might ignore grammatical rules using
instead a grammatical form that is more familiar. Regular past tenses forms in
irregular verns I goed, I buyed…
- At a more extreme level, leaving a message or a sentence unfinished owing to
lack of grammatical or lexical knowledge.

4.2 Compensatory strategies

They involve speakers attempting to compensate for gaps by using replacement

forms or substitutes:

- Time fillers. Umm, uh, let’s see, well…

- Using blanket or more general terms which are less specific.
- Describing/explaining an object or action which they do not know how to
express.
- Using an approximate term.
- Creation of new words.
- Translation, especially phrases and idioms, directly from L1 TO L2. Speaking of
the king of Rome (sp) – Speaking of the devil (en).
- Mime/Gesture.

4.3 Repair strategies

Because conversation is a two-way process, the listener, during a speaker’s turn,

will have an influence on what the speaker is saying. Both the speaker and the
listener can help to maintain communication when a breakdown occurs. These
strategies are to be used by both the listener and the speaker.

- Nonlinguistic repairs. Mime, gesture and facial expressions.

- Checking. Ok? Are you with me? Got that?
- Repetition. The speaker will do so if the feels that the listener has not properly
grasped the sense, and the listener will do so as a signal that he wishes the
speaker to give clarification of a specific point.
- Expansion of contracted language. The speaker will recontract forms and
abbreviations used.

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 - Contrastive stress. To clear up a misunderstanding. I am going to the cinema
on Friday. – On Saturday? – No, on FRIday.

CONCLUSION

Oral communication is an interactive process between two or more participants, in

which many linguistic and extralinguistic factors are involved. It takes place in many
different situations and the norms and conventions will vary accordingly.

Hyme’s SPEAKING model provides a basis for the analysis of the communication
event by outlining the different factors which are present and the functions present
in speech acts.

Communication acts and conversations conform to sets of norms and conventions

follow fixed routines that should be learnt by the students. Moreover, the various
strategies which can be used to improve and repair communication are also
important.

Oral communication must play a vital role in the English classroom. Teachers
should encourage students to study the way in which those conversations are
structured. Relevant strategies for turn taking and communication repairs must also
be practiced by giving them relevant tasks no matter what level of proficiency they
have.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

HYMES, D.: Models of the Interaction of Language and Social Life. New York: Holt,
Rinehart & Winston, 1972.

SAUSSURE, F. de: Cours de Linguistique Générale. Paris: Payot, 1916.