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Grammar and the Spoken Language1
University of Nottingham
In this paper, we argue that language teaching which aims to foster speaking skills and natural spoken interaction should be based upon the grammar of spoken language, and not on grammars which mainly reflect written norms Using evidence from a mim-corpus of conversational English, we look at how four grammatical features which occur with noticeable frequency in the corpus are dealt with in currently popular pedagogical grammars Our investigation shows that treatment of the selected features varies from adequate to patchy to complete absence from the grammars surveyed We conclude that research in discourse analysis does offer some helpful insights into the usage of these features, but that, in the absence of easy access to discourse analysis work and given the mixed treatment in grammar books, teachers and learners will often be thrown back on their own resources However, we argue that even very small amounts of real spoken data can yield significant evidence which can be used imaginatively within inductive and language awareness approaches in and out of the classroom to increase awareness and knowledge of the grammar of conversation
1 This article is a version of a paper delivered by the authors at the Second MATSDA Conference at the University of Luton, UK in January 1994, and at TESOL, Baltimore, USA, in March 1994 Further versions were presented at TESOL Greece, Athens March 1994, IATEFL Argentina, Buenos Aires, July 1994, and BRAZTESOL, Riberao Preto, Brazil, July 1994 The authors are grateful for the many comments offered by participants at those conferences which have helped to shape and refine the present article
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