Unit 1: Reading
Strategies for Learning and Speaking English
This unit will explore some strategies to make your foreign language learning skills better. Though not every idea in this unit may seem to fit you, trying out the strategies mentioned here may give you more clues about language learning.
The most difficult aspect of English for most Taiwanese is speaking. When communicating, you'll probably need to use different strategies to get your message across.
One unproductive and commonly used strategy by unsuccessful language learners is avoiding some topics. Another is suddenly quitting a conversation. For example, if a topic or word is unfamiliar or a learner doesn't know how to continue in English, some people just give up. This is strategy doesn't help in learning or communication.
Some better strategies include switching between English and Mandarin or asking for help from someone who knows the word you are looking for. Another option is using gestures to express an idea.
Probably the most useful communication strategies are approximating with one or two words or using many round-about words. For example, let's suppose you wanted to say, "A-mei is deep into taikwando." A short, approximate way of saying this might be, "A-mei loves Chinese fighting." The main idea is presented, but some information is blurred. A longer, round-about way of expressing this might be, "A-mei loves Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee style martial arts."
Both approximating with few words or saying nearly the same idea with many are good ways to communicate more effectively. Both of these stategies are part of "paraphrasing" - or expressing ideas in different words. The key difference is that approximating uses less words than round-about phrases.
The table below compares these communication strategies -
How Communicative? Strategy Explanation good Approximating Using a word or expression that is close to what the speaker wants to say, but is not exact, in order to get a message across. Using round-about words Describing the characteristics or elements of an object or action when lacking the proper term or expression. Fair Switching languages Switching to Mandarin when encountering unknown word(s) or phrase(s). Appealing for help Asking someone for the necessary word(s) or phrase(s). Miming
(Gesturing)Using body language to express unknown words or phrases. bad Avoiding a topic Trying to not talk about certain topics. Giving up Giving up suddenly when unable to express an idea.
Communicative strategies based on Tarone (1981)
After studying these learning and speaking strategies, try to use them the next time you encounter a problem in speaking English. By using them, you will see an improvement in your English communicative ability. Remember the reason you are studying English isn't for a grade; it's for your life and future. These strategies will give you tools to improve your English and your future.
- Charles Estus and T. Newfields
copyright (c) 1999 by Ming Chuan University
Ver. 1.5 - Updated 1 Nov 1999
www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Field/1087/mcu/PE3-1read.htm