"When I speak I would prefer that what I said be true to some coherent reality." - Earl Stevick in Success with Foreign Languages
In a Catalan oral exam I took part in a role-play situation where a garage owner was speaking to a motorist who had broken down. I didn't feel I played the part of the garage owner very well for several reasons.
Firstly, I do not run my own business and am not used to gathering info by telephone so I even forgot to ask the "motorist" for her name. In addition to that I don't even drive hence I felt alienated from the task no matter which role I was required to play. In theory, motorists and mechanics or their receptionists, provided they also have a decent grasp of the language, should do best in this type of activity.
This brings me to Stevick's point. He does not like "artificial language" which would have us repeating sentences like "My tailor is rich" when we do not even have a tailor. He prefers to say things that have real meaning - basic truths that are relevant to him.
This challenges the type of artifical role-play situation I mentioned above. Is the student likely to end up in such a scenario? But this does not mean we should limit language to that used in the workplace as not all language is vocational. I have heard people say in restaurants that the waiter speaks perfect English when he knows the appropriate functional language required for his job. However, it may be that he would have great difficulty in having a conversation in English about anything other than the food he serves.
25/10/07 @ 23:06