Proposition 7:
| ["Where is he?"] ["When?" ] [one's signature ] [a lifting of the eyebrows] | [John asked at that point ] [after: "I'll drop it offthis afternoon." ] [on the signature of the application form ] [byEarl whenhe sees this ] |
Proposition 8:
Proposition 9:
Proposition 10:
Where
We call the set [...]A. C "paraphrastic transforms" or"functionally equivalent topic nominals."
Proposition 11:
Proposition 12:
Proposition 13:
Proposition 14:
Proposition 15:
Proposition 16:
Proposition 17:
Proposition 18:
Summary Principles Relating to the Technology ofDiscourse 15 P1: Discourse is a visible product of the interaction between the individualand the setting; P2: Discourse is always treated as having been-authored by a particularperson; P3: The production of discourse by a person is always spontaneous; P4: Discourse is always produced in minimal units, sequentially over time; P5: The minimal unit of discourse is the situateddisplay of the argument; P6: Situated displays have a variable structure and a determinate (fixed)function called the standard: P7: Particular displays routinely recognizable through their structure orformat have a specifiable standard function; these discourse segments are calledtransactional idioms: P8: All social settings are particular and identifiable through localizationin time, sequence, and place; P9: Every particular identified social setting is capable of evokingsituated displays, e.g., discourse segments treated as having been authored by aparticular person; P10: Every discourse segment can always be marked, labeled, identified,referred to again, by a recognized procedural device called topic; P11: Any social setting is interconnected with a finite set of standardfunctions; these are labeled and identified by discourse segments calledtopic nominals; P12:. Particular and identified social settings are contrastive in terms ofthe specific composition of their standard functions as locally practiced;hence, they each evoke a finite set of discourse segments or topic nominals,each in correspondence to the finite specifiable set of their standardfunctions; P13: Display repertoire is the class of all topic nominalsthat label specific standard functions; thus, it is an index or catalogue of alldiscourse segments that can be evoked by a particular identified social setting;an exhaustive catalogue of situated displays is called thetransactional glossary; P14: Relationship is a standard function of all social settings thatspecify an interaction between at least two participants; e.g., the discoursesegments evoked in a conversational interaction are interconnected by thisfunction; P15: Standardized imagining is a standard function of allsocial settings that specify the occurrence of discourse thinkingand private. nonvisible, dialogue; e.g., the production ofdiscourse segments while making a report, giving a description, or rehearsing anargument, are evoked by the functional connection between standardizedimaginings and the particular identified social setting; P16: Transactional engineering involves the control of displayrepertoire through the functions of relationship and standardized imaginings; P17: Co-participants in an interaction always treat another's situateddisplay as a signal for an obligatory return-signal; this pair of signals iscalled an adjacency pair; all adjacency pairs are composed of twoelements, the first of which is called the contentionpoint, while the second is called the resolution; thespecific relation between contention point and resolution is marked by a locuscalled topic focus; P18: Since particular topic nominals, and their corresponding discoursesegments, are evoked by identifiable relationship functions and standardizedimaginings, they can be treated in specialized settings as capable of beingindexed and catalogued; these lists consist of finite entries calledtransactional glosses; the use of these glosses as a technique forsupplying discourse segments related to an imagined setting is calledlanguage learning; the programming of the order in which sub-listsof transactional glosses are practiced and rehearsed, is called languageteaching. Corollaries on the Technology of LanguageTeaching (1.) "Language use" can be approached pedagogically as equivalentto "the production of situated-discourse". (2.) "Situated discourse" is visible text spontaneously evoked byparticular features of a social setting so long as individuals have had practicewith or have rehearsed appropriate interaction co-ordination. (3.) "Appropriate interaction co-ordination" is the purpose oflanguage teaching; from the language teacher's point of view, it consists ofengaging the student-learner in practicings and rehearsings of all sorts ofadjacency-pairs; each adjacency-pair is composed of an initiating move thatfunctions as a standard contention point, followed by a second move, whichmust be treated as a reply move; this reply move is anacceptable version of a standard resolution to the particular contention raisedin the initiating move. And that's all! Anything additionalin terms of linguistics and psychodynamics is unnecessary and distracting, thusinterfering with the goal of enlarging the learner's display repertoire. (4.) The attempt to deliberately practice and rehearse appropriateinteraction co-ordination between a language teacher and the students is greatlyfacilitated by an approach called transactional engineering. This approachtreats discourse (including discourse thinking) as composed of finiteidentifiable segments whose minimal unit is called topic nominal. Topic nominalsare segments of discourse or text that have a conventionalized, recognizableformat: e.g., words, terms, expressions, phrases, idioms, utterances, sentences,spaces on the page, pauses, looks, gestures, titles, labels, markers, etc.:these form a class of didactically maniputable units, that is, units ofdiscourse and text that can stand alone as nominal (framed and boxed andstandard), to which a complement can be attached or connected appropriately. (5.) Finite lists of topic nominals presented with complements thattogether produce a situated or meaningful display can be constructed by thelanguage teacher; these lists would be called transactionalglossaries; an example would be the following: Level 1: Private or Imagined Settings Type A: Method X: Method Z: Type B: Method X vs. Method Z: Level 2: Interpersonal or Real Settings Type A: Face-to-Face Interaction: (6) The transactional engineering approach avoids familiar problems in thelanguage classroom; e.g.: (i) learner hesitations involved in voicing and articulating duringinteractions spontaneously disappear when their underlying justifications areremoved or rendered inoperative by the teacher; in other terms, thetransactional engineering approach using transactional glossaries (see precedingCorollary) to structure time of the students is void of those controllingconditions that make it undesirable to make mistakes or to produce incompleteand abnormal or non-standard display attempts; also absent are the dramatizedscenarios of role-interactions that often make psychodynamic interpretationsappear valid and actual; under these conditions, teacher and learners may waiverfrom their task and goal and be at times inefficient and distracted, but neverexploitative and victimizing; (ii) since discourse is evoked by the setting, and the setting is viewed asa functional system connecting particular topic nominals to identified standardfunctions of relationship and imagining, the learner is freed from thetraditional focus on "how to say it or write it or express it", andinstead, relaxes into the transactional engagements into which he is pulled bythe teacher; under these conditions, language learning is spontaneous,engrossing, useful, and informative about the real world of social practices; (iii) the traditional arsenal erected against the language learner is mostimpressive (e.g. see the lists in James, 1970; and Mackey, 1964) and includeslanguage learning ability or aptitude; memorization skills and skills ofdiscrete-point testing; motivation, persistence, attitude, and intelligent studyhabits; drills in pronunciation, grammar, and prompted moves in practiceinteractions; grades, contracts; levels; programs; and others; under theseconditions there is plenty of opportunity for dramatizing teacher-pupilsyndromes: resentment; fear; avoidance; emotional involvement that remainsun-topicalized and un-admitted; learning that is private and un-shared;competitive focus and insecurity; and etc.; these psychodynamic syndromes arethus co-ordinated functional exchanges governed by practices in the community ofthe school and neighborhood to which the classroom members belong and withoutwhich they couldn't be in school: they are occasioned by the socio-culturalrealities and contingencies of the public life of the citizens; these exchangesare naturally of all types (good or bad, etc.) and in their aggregate,characterize the educational climate; the language teacher who uses atransactional engineering approach re-asserts his professional status as"expert discourse technologist" by staying clear of distractingsocio-cultural and psychodynamic dramatizations in their relationship withstudents, and focuses instead, as the primary raison d'etre of theirrelationship, on the simple and literal fact - "stubborn fact" - thatthey each must find an acceptable justification for their co-presence; whateverthey do, in each other's public presence, must have this stamp of approval, orelse, raise trouble in the form of psychodynamic dramatizations; thus,authenticity in being who one wants to be seen as being, or in other terms,authenticity viewed as joyous self-approval, accompanied by feelings ofgenuineness and secure well-being; in short, authenticity is the best conductfor the professional student and professional teacher alike. (7) The transactional engineering approach restores the language teacher toa crucial position in the educational curriculum; this is a consequence of hisspecial interest in and cumulative experience with the functions of discourse inrelationship and in imaginings; since this approach involves practicingobjectivity in interactional exchanges between teacher and students, thelanguage classroom also serves as an ordinary social locale in whichtransactional skills are rehearsed, as well as discourse segments produced in aforeign-sounding signaling game; this by-product of the language course is avaluable feature of the language teacher's contribution. (8) The transactional engineering approach allows the language teacher todefine his goals and specific objectives in terms that are not injurious to hisrelationship to the students or to the supervisors, The conflict does not arisebetween spending time on structure and practicing using the language for real.All the time available in the classroom and additional time outside is spentpracticing using the target language for real. The amount of materialsstudents produce when engaged by the teacher in activities of the type describedin transactional glossaries (see Corollary 5) is stupendous: they maketranscripts; they translate dictionaries; they write objective diaries in whichthey index their moves on the daily round; they search through libraries makingconceptual lists of topics; they catalogue, categorize, and interconnectsemantic and lexical fields; they produce tapes of their readings, recitations,rehearsals, and horse-plays; they memorize utterances to please you and writeyou half-legible notes that are delightful; they ask questions and can keep alist of them under specified conditions; and many other very impressive thingsthat no supervisor or parent or legislator can easily scoff at! And, thatis language teaching. And if someone should dare ask you "But can Johnnytalk French?", you must show them all what Johnny has done toFrench in those impressive piles of work. Following that, you will tellthat person that the only way Johnny is going to talk French is to take theHonors Program in French in college, as a result of which he'll get to spendsummers in France or Quebec and then he'll talk French. If he reallywants to. In the meantime, will anyone deny that Johnny's contributions to hisunderstanding of discourse functions are a sufficiently important by-product ofthe language teacher's efforts, and his own? Does not such language teachingdeserve our support more than the current euphemisms of applied linguistics,sociolinguistics, and psychodynamics? VII. Implementing a Transactional EngineeringProgram: Hints to the Language Teacher A. EXERCISES FOR B. EXERCISES FOR (1) Making diagrams that represent the organization of text, i.e. bookindices and outlines; menus and schedules; newspaper type-shifts in column andheadline size; and the like...; C. EXERCISES FOR (1) Making an Index for some text; D. EXERCISES FOR (1) Sustaining each other's line of regard for longer than fifteenseconds while talking; E. EXERCISES FOR Some brief comments on these illustrations are in order: | Back To Table of Contents | PreviousSection | Next Section | Finalsection |
Lists of classes of displays that are finite anddeistically present, i.e., available for demonstration and rehearsing: e.g.,etymological derivations, function words, argument operators, transactionalidioms, territorial spacing during different types of interactions, normativeranges of stylistic variation for the sake of ease of comprehension and routineacceptability in pragmatic situations; etc., etc.
Writing down some things but not others;presenting some things right after some other things; using available lists aswell as making up one's own; practicing saying it out loud, at times, andsilently at other times; using tests, at times, for feedback under controlledconditions; etc., etc.
Not writing anything down; having no prior order ofpresentation during practice interactions; using no visible lists; never usingtests; etc., etc.
Lists of classes of displays that are indeterminate andnot deistically present; instead, they are supplied or produced spontaneously byboth teacher and student in their interactions; some of these may be recorded,transcripted, or represented by a suitable notation system usable by the learneras an aid during practice and rehearsal: e.g. dictionary entries, writtensentences and compositions; memorized recitations -- text, song, paragraph --;taped segments of conversations and readings; prepared transcripts that visiblymap intonation, rhythm, and pause distribution; etc., etc.
The extent and purpose in the useof the tape recorder and of functionally annotated segments of transcripts andother discourse; the extent of use of mnemonic aids called "programmedmodules"; etc., etc.
(i) dyadic; (ii)group
Type B: Delayed-Displaced Interaction:
(i) individual exercises
(ii) homework
(iii) rehearsed, framed,and simulated dialogues
(iv) loud talking during group discussions
(v)reading out loud to others
(vi) recitations of one's own work
(vii)team homework and exercises; etc., etc. Type C: Special Simulated Settings
(i) self-taughtlanguage courses or sections thereof
(ii) drills and exercises having alinguistic or sociolinguistic motivation
(iii) drills and exercises havinga pedagogical motivation;
(iv) the practice of special and technicalskills (e.g. translation, poetry, abstracting, critiquing, correspondence,play-writing, etc.) Method X vs. Method Z:
The differences in personal styleduring interactions are the primary modalities that characterize method of instruction at Level 2; (for a discussion on the description of thesedifferences, see our notion of Personal pedagogic model ofthe language teacher, in the next section)..
A. Exercises for Conversational Interaction
B. Exercises for Reading Skills
C. Exercises for Writing Skills
D. Exercises for Communicative Contact
E. Exercises for Verbal Articulation etc., etc.
CONVERSATIONAL
INTERACTION (1) Tape recording verbal exchanges of self and others; listening toit;
(2) Talking on the telephone; calling each other and getting pre-arranged thingsdone;
(3) Walking around, doing any sort of a thing and describing out loud what oneis doing; ditto for another person's actions;
(4) Tutoring a fellow student in a task one is good at; being tutored in return;
(5) Telling stories; and giving reports of others' stories;
(6) Tying two kids together (with a rope) for not less than 25 minutes.
READINGSKILLS
(2) Representing the argument structure of a piece of text through diagram andsub-argument fragments; and discussing consequences of rearranging these;
(3) Reciting and/or memorizing chunks of text which may not be smaller than aparagraph;
(4) Looking up things in books, and looking through a book reading and skippingat will; doing things with and to books, magazines, comics, ...
WRITINGSKILLS
(2) Copying text and text annotations;
(3) Constructing topic domain fragments;
(4) Rewriting another's writing;
(5) Trying to write like another particular writer;
(6) Practicing "automatic writing";
(7) Writing a commentary on one's writing; then a commentary on the latter,...;
(8) Writing each other all sorts of notes, messages, reminders, promises, andstories;
COMMUNICATIVE
CONTACT
(2) Executing verbal commands given by someone in a rapid sequence;(3) Making up interaction games that require participants to take turns invarious determined order; then enact these;
(4) Write, make up, tape...a theatrical skit and enact it three times; all ofthis to be done in one session, (short skits build into scenes, acts,plays,...!)
(5) Modeling or mimicking all sorts of facial expressions and contortions madeby each in turn;
VERBALARTICULATION (1) Reciting text at an abnormally loud tone for longer than fifteenseconds;
(2) Modeling or Mimicking all sorts of sounds made by each other in turn.
(3) Maintaining conversation (or recitations) while assuming all sorts ofpostures;
(4) practicing whisper-talk;