MINIMAL RESPONSES AS THE IAD STRATEGY TO DEVELOP LISTENING COMPREHENSION IN A BEGINNING LEVEL.

I am going to present my statement of the problem in next paragraph.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Beginners are suppossed to make listening comprehension in a conversation or  when they  are listening whatever like music,radio or  someone but the reality is that they do not have some idea about the content  with a formality level and so on of the discourse.Such ideas are based on what J.C.Richards calls "Script competence",that is the knowledge we possess in advance about the subject-mater or context of the discourse(´Listening´,TESOL Quarterly 17:2) .
Another important aspect is the relation between listener expectations and their purposes in listening comprehension.For example if the students want to know the answer of a question,they are going to ask and they expect to hear a relevant answer and for that they have to pay attention to certains key words or phrases.It leads to use their "listening out"(to listen carefully).
Another aspect is that the listener does not have active spoken participation and their expectation may be less defined nevertheles the listener is part of the conversation because the listener is connected with their purpose.
According with presented it before there are some problems that the students has to face to develop listening comprehension.It is because they do not have an strategy that help them to make understanding in a conversation and for that it is necessary  they are going to be able to make minimal responses which are indicators that the listener is understanding what the speaker is saying as well as they will acquire self-confidence to participate in a conversation and at the same time is important that the speaker speaks accurately and makes sense while is speaking. It means that if the students do not understand what the speaker is saying in a conversation in this case as a result the listener is  going to be unable to make a response which indicates misunderstanding.

The evidence that i can observe is in the classroom that teacher says something like instructions or  when he is talking about anything and after he asks to the students if they understood but anyone answer  because they did not know about the topic or may be they did not recognize  the sounds and the meaning of certains words and less they can make minimal responses that indicates understanding about what the teacher is saying. 

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

What is suppossed to happen ?

They are suppossed to make listening comprehension in a conversation or in any kind of situation that implies to make understanding like listen to music,radio,to the teacher or something like these.In addition,if they receive  previous knowledge about the content thet they are going to hear ,they will be able to  get the idea or message that the speakers tries to convey to the listener.

What happens?

The students  expect to hear something that they look to know but the reality is that if they do not have knowledge about the content first about it, they do not make understanding because every student has different needs and purpose to use this listening comprehension and also  if the speaker mispronounced or misused the words in  the talking ,the listening comprehension seems more difficulty for the listeners and also if they do not konow the word i mean that if the students do not know very well certains words.For example how the speaker pronounces the word that they are not going to hear and   making an appropiate and accuracy listening comprehension as they expect.

What evidence do you have?

The evidence that i can observe is in the classroom and also with my brother because he is learning english but he does not study the vocabulary and the pronounciation of certain words so when they listen to music in english obvious he cannot understand what the song says because he had never heard this music before and he does not know the content of the music because if he  had known the most of the words , he would have understood what the singer tried to say in the song so in  his case he has specifics purpose which are to certificate english for his carrer and understand what says his favorites songs and for him, it could be more easy to get listening comprehension because he is interested and motivated by himself.

 

MINIMAL RESPONSES AS THE AID STRATEGY TO DEVELOP LISTENING COMPREHENSION IN A BEGINNING LEVEL.

STRATEGY

A method or plan chosen to bring about a desired future, such as achievement of a goal or solution to a problem.

METHOD

An established, habitual, logical, or prescribed practice or systematic process of achieving certain ends with accuracy and efficiency, usually in an ordered sequence of fixed steps. See also scientific method and procedure.

LISTENING SKILL

Listening is the ability to accurately receive and interpret messages in the communication process.

READING SKILL

Reading is a simple process: readers decode (figure out how to pronounce) each word in a text and then automatically comprehend the meaning of the words, as they do with their everyday spoken language

WRITING SKILL

Writing is a method of representing language in visual or tactile form. Writing systems use sets of symbols to represent the sounds of speech, and may also have symbols for such things as punctuation and numerals.

SPEAKING SKILL

Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information.

INTRODUCTION

The listening comprehension of beginner students in the English language rarely if ever do we listen to something without some idea of what we are going to hear because usually we have some preconceived idea of the content, formality level and so on of the discourse we are about to hear and for that we need an strategy like minimal responses that helps to the students to make listening comprehension in a conversation or when they listen to anything or if they have an specific purpose.

Minimal responses are short answers that the listener makes while the speaker talk in a conversation so we have two different kinds of making minimal response:

 First, listener makes responses while the current speaker is talking.

Second, listener makes responses after the current speaker finishes the talking (Zimmerman & West, 1975)

There are some rules for defining minimal responses: First they are not to introduce as turn or to grab the floor. Secondly they do not answer the current speaker´s questions. Thirdly these are very brief and the last they are made as responses to the current speaker.

Minimal responses are signals which shown that the listener is receiving the message and also indicate that the speaker can continue talking.

The following forms are seen as minimal responses:                                                                

   1.-   Verbal response such as yeah, uh-Hu.

b 2.- Nonverbal responses such as nods and shakes of the head.

   3.-    Single words as response such as yes, no , okay

d 4.-    Phrasal utterances such as oh, really;oh,my god

e 5.- Short clauses such as that´s right, that’s true, I agree

f  6.- Longer utterances such as clarification request

g 7.-Smile and laugher

However, there are some variables that can determine minimal responses:

Social environment: social positions and social roles

Social environment is the culture that he or she was educated and the people who interact with.

To have a conversation is necessary to have two essential parts: listener and speaker and also it can be represented for a model of communication as the following:

LISTENER

CHANNEL

RECEIVER

 

As a conclusion, the use of minimal responses “increases immediacy, signals that the listener comprehends the speaker’s message, and reinforces the speaker’s role in a conversation” (Andersen, 1999:201). Minimal responses have different forms and therefore they have different functions. Generally speaking, minimal responses such as yeah, uh-huh, and mm, show the good listener ship and supportive to the current speaker. However, if they are used in a rapid way, they are used to ask the current speaker to stop (Knapp and Hall, 1997:427).

Bibliografía

Baker, J., & Westrup, H. (2003). Essential Speaking Skills. New York: the tower building.

Andersen, P. A. (1999). Nonverbal communication: Forms and Functions. CA: Mayfield Publishing Company.

Cohen, A. (1996). Developing the ability to perform speech acts:in second language adquisition.

Knapp, M. L., & Hall, J. A. (1997). Nonverbal communication in Human.

Reid, J. (2008). Gender Differences in minimal Responses. La trobe papers in LIinguistic.

Reppen, R., Fitzmaurice, S. M., & Biber, D. (2002). Using corpora to explore linguistic variation. Publishing Company.

Ruddel, R., Unrau, N., & R.Ruddell, H. (1994). Reading as a meaning-construction process:The reader,the text,and the teacher.

Sacks, H., Schegloff, E., & Fishman, P. (1973). Open up closings. Candace West.

Zimmerman, D., & West, C. (1975). Sex Roles,interruptions and silences in conversation.

Strategies for developing speaking skills in a beginning level

Minimal responses to develop listening comprehension in a beginning level.

Students often think that the ability to listen a language is the product of language learning, but listening is also a crucial part of the language learning process.

 Effective instructors teach students listening comprehension strategies -- using minimal responses, recognizing scripts, and using language to talk about language -- that they can use to help themselves expand their knowledge of the language and their confidence in using it. These instructors help students learn to recognise some words and utterances which the  students can use  in a conversation.

1. Using minimal responses

Language learners who lack confidence in their ability to participate successfully in oral interaction often listen in silence while others do the talking. One way to encourage such learners to begin to participate is to help them build up a stock of minimal responses that they can use in different types of exchanges. Such responses can be especially useful for beginners.

Minimal responses are predictable, often idiomatic phrases that conversation participants use to indicate understanding, agreement, doubt, and other responses to what another speaker is saying. Having a stock of such responses enables a learner to focus on what the other participant is saying, without having to simultaneously plan a response.

2. Recognizing scripts

Some communication situations are associated with a predictable set of spoken exchanges -- a script. Greetings, apologies, compliments, invitations, and other functions that are influenced by social and cultural norms often follow patterns or scripts. So do the transactional exchanges involved in activities such as obtaining information and making a purchase. In these scripts, the relationship between a speaker's turn and the one that follows it can often be anticipated.

Instructors can help students develop speaking ability by making them aware of the scripts for different situations so that they can predict what they are going to hear and what they are going to say as response.It can be through interactive activities, instructors can give students practice in managing and varying the language that different scripts contain.

3. Using language to talk about language

Language learners are often too embarrassed or shy to say anything when they do not understand another speaker or when they realize that a conversation partner has not understood them. Instructors can help students overcome this reticence by assuring them that misunderstanding and the need for clarification can occur in any type of interaction, whatever the participants' language skill levels. Instructors can also give students strategies and phrases to use for clarification and comprehension check.

By encouraging students to use clarification phrases in class when misunderstanding occurs, and by responding positively when they do, instructors can create an authentic practice environment within the classroom itself. As they develop control of various clarification strategies, students will get confidence in their ability to manage the various communication situations that they may encounter outside the classroom.

These are really useful  for developiing listening comprehension in a beginning level but i am going to focus just in "Minimal Responses" as the aid strategy and it was got from The National Capital Resource Center from Whashington.DC.(2003-2004)

http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/speaking/stratspeak.htm

Note.- I made some changes of my topic so it does not seem to have relation with the video as you realise.

Mind map of public speaking

Public Speaking

The objective  is how to make a appropiate and accuracy in a  public speaking.

In this mind map put a public speaking  how the main idea then we have "Speaker" who is the person that is speaking infront of the audience and "Listener" who is the person who picks up the message so they are both important aspects that we have to take into account because they are interacting all the time during the speaking public and the Communicator must be an appropiate and accuracy speech because he or she is going to convey the idea o the message that he or she wants to share with the audience.
Now,we  have a message that is very important because  the prime purpose in the  speaking public  is to share ideas,thoughts and experiences and the Communicator has to be carefully with the words that he or she uses beacause the audience has to understand and comprehend very well what the speaker is saying when the speaker make the speech.
And also we need to know what kind of message is for example If the message is intentional : we have an image in our mind that we wish to convey to the audience in a conversation with relative accuracy and if the message is unintentional: It is sent that we wish to convey is not the same as the message.




2.-Guidelines for Public Speaking 

How to have a successful speech?, if you want to know the answer  you need to take into account these important aspects :

Delivering Your Speech:
Impromtup: Giving answer to a question or express your opinion during a meeting
Extemporaneus: It is when the speaker present her or his ideas freely using only an outline or key words and Manuscript (a written a text an are delivered wor for word)

Appearance and body language:
Appearance: making  sure to find out what clothing is appropiate for the occasion,eye contact (make sure you mantain eye contact with the audience),facial expressions (an appropiate facial expressions can connect with your audience and reinforce the cont of your speech) and gestures (you can use these to establicsh contact with the audience and provide visual support for your message)

Vocal behavior: It is the waythat  we use pitch,rate and volume when we speak

Audiovisual support: Using posters, overhead transparencies, computer presentations, graphic, audiorecoordings)

Questions and answer-sessions: you may to invite questions with the audoience.Even though you won´t know precisly what the listeners will ask, many questions can be predicted)


There are different kind of speeches:


Narrative speech . It tells us a story and it has 5 parts:  opener, orientation, complicated events,resolution and coda.

Demonstration speech: it shows how something works or how something is done.

Informative speech: it aims to educate the audience.

Persuasive speech:it is to convince the audience.

Speech on special ocations: There are a number of occasions that call for short speeches.


Finally , i am going to show you my video that it explains a little more about this topic and it says what is the importance of speaking public and why  it is useful in our life? so you do not have to loose my video because it could be really useful for you so please watching my video.