This document discusses fluency, intelligibility, and spoken language. It covers three types of fluency - cognitive fluency, perceived fluency, and utterance fluency. It discusses Levelt's model of speech production and how cognitive fluency fits into this model. It also discusses the peculiarities of spoken language compared to written language, including how spoken language is more "non-sentence-based", "freestanding", and "co-constructed". The document examines the concept of "conversational grammar" and challenges of analyzing spoken language using a metalanguage inherited from writing. It covers using "chunks" and the "idiom principle" in analyzing spoken language and implications for teaching spoken grammar.

1. Fluency, Intelligibity,
and Spoken Language
(Week 3)
ORAL I V
(HE281)
Prof. Dr. Ron Martinez
drronmartinez@gmail.com

2. Goals for the week
• Introduce and discuss the nature of oracy and
spoken language in general

4. 3 types of fluency (Segalowitz, 2010)
Cognitive
Fluency
Perceived
Fluency
Utterance
Fluency

5. COGNITIVE
FLUENCY
UTTERANCE
FLUENCY
PERCEIVED
FLUENCY

6. Levelt’s model of speech production
• Conceptualization
• Formulation
• Articulation
• Self-monitoring
• - Levelt, W.J.M. (1989) Speaking: From
Intention to Articulation
Part of cognitive fluency

7. Fluency and the peculiarities of spoken
language

8. Spoken vs. Written

9. Spoken vs. Written (cont.)

11. ‘Conversational Grammar’ (Carter &
McCarthy, 2015)
• non-sentence-based
• much language is ‘freestanding’
• ‘co-constructed’ and highly interactive
• ‘poses questions’ concerning metalanguage

12. ‘Non-sentence-based’: an extreme case

14. ‘metalanguage’
“Spoken grammar has, in many respects,
come of age. However, problems remain. We
are still struggling under the burden of a
grammatical metalanguage inherited from
writing that does not seem always to work for
speaking, and many teaching resources have
yet to reflect what everyday speaking is really
like. Meanwhile, technology forces us to re-
think the conventional spoken/written
distinction.” (Carter & McCarthy, 2015, p. 8)

17. ‘Chunks’ and ‘the idiom principle’

18. What about teaching?

19. Carter and McCarthy (2015, pp. 3-4)
“Henry Sweet’s (1899) work on the teaching and learning of
languages stressed the principle of ‘starting from the spoken rather
than the literary language’ (p. vii), rejecting the notion that
speaking was a corruption of writing (p. 50). Sweet pointed to the
paratactic nature of spoken utterances, noting the importance of
phrases, (today’s chunks or clusters) which, he asserted, were
neglected in pedagogy because they could not be brought within
the purview of the conventional grammar rules (p. 121). However,
he admitted that everyday conversation, with its characteristic
ellipses and disconnectedness, if reproduced unedited, would be an
unsuitable model for foreign language learners (p. 169). Conversely,
he had harsh words for those who wrote unnatural-sounding
dialogues for language learning (pp. 215–18). In his 1900 grammar,
Sweet refers frequently to distinctions between the grammar of
speaking and the grammar of writing…”

20. Homework
• Go over the scripts from your classmates. Any
evidence of the features discussed today?
• Watch ‘Grammar Cops’ video (on class
website). Do you think this was a good EFL
teaching activity? Why (not)?

24. Today’s agenda
• Explore some of the practical – especially
pedagogical – implications of the theory
presented and discussed regarding ‘spoken
grammar’.
• Will look at how technology has shaped the
way we think about spoken and written
language.

25. ‘metalanguage’
“Spoken grammar has, in many respects,
come of age. However, problems remain. We
are still struggling under the burden of a
grammatical metalanguage inherited from
writing that does not seem always to work for
speaking, and many teaching resources have
yet to reflect what everyday speaking is really
like. Meanwhile, technology forces us to re-
think the conventional spoken/written
distinction.” (Carter & McCarthy, 2015, p. 8)

26. English Trivia!
1. What is the most common word in English?
2. What is the most common pronoun in
English?
3. What are the three most common verbs in
English?

28. COCA exercise
1. Look up the most common verbs in spoken English. Make
a note of the first 5.
2. Choose at least one verb and make a note of interesting
examples of how it is used.
3. Look up the most common verbs in academic English.
Make a note of the first 5.
4. Choose at least one verb (it may be the same one) and
note interesting examples of how it is used.
5. Generate a list of the most common adverbs in spoken
English, and then another list for written. What
differences do you notice?
6. Find one adverb that appears in both lists. Are they used
in the same way? Make a note of some examples.

32. ‘metalanguage’
“Spoken grammar has, in many respects,
come of age. However, problems remain. We
are still struggling under the burden of a
grammatical metalanguage inherited from
writing that does not seem always to work for
speaking, and many teaching resources have
yet to reflect what everyday speaking is really
like. Meanwhile, technology forces us to re-
think the conventional spoken/written
distinction.” (Carter & McCarthy, 2015, p. 8)

33. The “Grammar Cops” Activity

35. “Grammar Cops”

40. “Grammar Cops”: 1st viewing
• You will watch the video twice.
• 1st question: Do you think the students enjoyed the
activity? Why?

43. “Grammar Cops”: 2nd viewing
• Now watch again, and think of these two questions while
watching:
1. What did you like about the activity? Anything you did not
like? (You may use the worksheet.)
2. Reflecting on the Carter and McCarthy (2005) article you
read, how reflective is the activity of current thinking?

45. “Grammar Cops”: 2nd viewing
discussion
Discuss in small groups for 10 minutes:
1. What did you like about the activity? Anything you did not
like? (You may use the worksheet.)
2. Reflecting on the Carter and McCarthy (2005) article you
read, how reflective is the activity of current thinking?

46. Language as choice

48. Homework
• Choose a TED talk to watch and identify
elements of spoken grammar.
• Is the talk formal, informal, or both (or
neither)?