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ROD ELLIS &BRIAN TOMLINSON

D V A N C E D

O X F O R D S U P P L E M E N T A R Y S K I L L S

SERIES EDITOR: ALAN MALEY

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

Oxford UniversiS. PressGreat Clarendon Street, OxJord OX2 6DP

Oxford New YorkAthens Auckland Bangkok Bogota BombayBuenos Aires Calcutta Cape Tovun Dar es Salaam DelhiFlorence Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kuala LumpurMadras Madrid Melbourne Mexico Ciff NairobiParis Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto

and associated companies inBerlin Ibadan

Oxford and Oxford Englisk are trade marks ofOxford Universiff Press

ISBN 0 19 453403 0

O OxJord Universiff Press 1988

First published 1988Fifth impression 1997

Al1 rights reserved. No part of this publication may bereproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted,in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the priorwritten permission of OxJord Universiff Press.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it sha1l not,by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, orotherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consentin any form of binding or cover other than that in which it ispublished and without a similar condition including thiscondition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

Set by Tradespools Ltd, Frome, Somerset

Printed in Hong Kong

AcknowledgementsIllustrations by:

John BattenBill BelcherCaroline della PortaPeter MelnyczukLiz RobertsMartin UrsellThe publishers would like to thank the following for theirpermission to reproduce photographs:Aquila PhotographicsHP Bulmer LtdFormatThe Ronald Grant ArchiveSally & Richard GreenhillKobal CollectionAcknowledgements are made to the following writers andpublishers who have allowed us to see material that fallswithin their copyright:Richard Adams and Penguin Books Ltd for an extract fromWatershif Dowz; J. Charles Alderson, A. H. Urquhart andLongman Group Ltd for an extract from Reading in aForeign Language; Economist Publications Ltd for thearticle 'Not just parrot-talk' from The E conomist (8October 1983); Graham Greene and The Bodley Head foran extract from TheTenth Maz; Howard Giles and NewSociety Ltd for the article 'Our reactions to accent'fromNew Sociely (14 October 1971); John Irving andTransworld Publishers Ltd for an extract from CiderHouse Rules; Carl James and Longman Group Ltd for thechapter'Macrolinguistics and contrastive analysis' fromContrastiueAnabsls; Garrison Keillor and Faber andFaber for an extract from Lake Wobegon Dars; AlisonLurie and Sphere Books Ltd for an extract fromForeignAffairs; Alan Matthews, Carol Read and Collins Publishersfor and extractfromThemes: Tom McNab and CenturyHutchinson Publishing Ltd for an extract from The FastMen; Njabulo Ndebele and Readers International Inc. foran extract from Fools and Other Stories; Christine Nuttaland Heinemarm Educational Books Ltd for an extract fromTeaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language; TomSharpe and Pan Books Ltd for an extractfrom IndecentExposure; Willy Russell and Methuen London Ltd for anextract from E ducating Rita; Dale Spender and TimesNewspapers Ltd for the article 'Don't talk, listen'from theTimes Educational Suhrlelnenl (3 November 1978): SueTownsend and Methuen London Ltd for an extract fromThe Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 314; Alice Walkerand David Higham Associates for an extractfromTheColor Purple.

CONTENTS

Foreword iaIntroduction to the teacher u

1 SEXISM 11 Argument 12 First person narrative 123 Review activities 15

2 COMPREHENSION 171 Exposition 172 Narrative 333 Review activities 41

3 ANIMAL LANGUAGE 431 Reporting an experiment 432 Third person narrative 523 Review activities 58

4 RULES 60I Analysis 602 Using rules 673 Review activities 79

5 ENGLISHACCENTS 81I Classification 812 Drama 893 Review activities 97

6 ARGUING 98I Advice 982 People arguing 1053 Review activities 115

Teacher's guide 117

1,U

FOREWORD This series covers the four skill areas of Listening, Speaking, Readingand Writing at four levels-elementary, intermediate, upper-intermediate and advanced. Although we have decided to retain thetraditional division of language use into the 'four skills', the skills arenot treated in total isolation. In any given book the skill being dealtwith serves as the focus of attention and is always interwoven withand supported by other skills. This enables teachers to concentrateon skills development without losing touch with the more complexreality of language use.

Our authors have had in common the following principles, thatmaterial should be:

. creative-both through author-creativity leading to interestingmaterials, and through their capacity to provoke creative responsesfrom students;

. interesting-both for their cognitive and affective content, and forthe activities required of the learners;

. fluency-focused-bringing in accuracy work only in so far as it isnecessary to the completion of an activity;

. task-based-rather than engaging in closed exercise activities, touse tasks with pay-offs for the learners;

. problem-solving focused-so as to engage students in cognitiveeffort and thus provoke meaningful interaction;

. humanistic-in the sense that the materials speak to and interrelatewith the learners as real people and engage them in interactiongrounded in their own experience;

. learning-centred-by ensuring that the materials promote learningand help students to develop their own strategies for learning. Thisis in opposition to the view that a pre-determined content is taughtand identically internalized by all students. In our materials we donot expect input to equal intake.

By ensuring continuing consultation between and among authors atdifferent levels, and by piloting the materials, the levels have beenestablished on a pragmatic basis. The fact that the authors, betweenthem, share a wide and varied body of experience has made thispossible without losing sight of the need to pitch materials and tasksat an attainable level while still allowing for the spice of challenge.

There are three main ways in which these materials can be used:

. as a supplement to a core course book;

. as self-learning material. Most of the books can be used on anindividual basis with a minimum of teacher guidance, though theinteractive element is thereby lost.

. as modular course material. A teacher might, for instance, combineintermediate Listening and Speaking books with upper-intermediateReading and elementary Writing with a class which had a goodpassive knowledge of English but which needed a basic grounding inwriting skills. (Alan Maley)

Aims of this book

This book assumes that your students will already have had extensivepractice of traditional reading skills (for example, skimming andscanning) and that they have afatrly high level of linguisticcompetence.

It has three principal aims:

. to develop the students' ability to read for study purposes, and inparticular assist them in identifying the discourse structure of fairlylong texts.

. to enable the students to identify authorial stance (i. e. , the attitudethe writer takes to the content of a passage).

o to encourage the students to respond imaginatively to what theyread.

The materials

The book is divided into six units. Each unit has a theme, such asSexism, and there are three sections in a unit. Section 1 is intended toprovide a thorough attack on a text. We want to help the students tostrip a text down in order to discover its 'architecture'. The texts inthis section will be semi-academic in nature and have been chosen toillustrate a particular type of discourse, such as an argument or areport. Section 2 is intended to provide opportunity for a moreimaginative response to a different text, which in this case is fictional.Both Section 1 and Section 2 follow the same structure: there arePreparation tasks, Extensive reading tasks, Intensive reading tasksand Extension tasks. Section 3 provides review and evaluationactivities relating to the general theme of the unit and based on thetexts within it.

There are a greatvariety of tasks based on the texts. Some of theseare 'closed' (each question has a single, correct answer) but themajority are 'open', designed to provoke thinking and discussion. Formany of the questions, therefore, there are no 'correct' answers, only'best' ones. For some, the answers are entirely a matter of opinion,although the students are always expected to justify their personalopinions. The tasks also take a variety of formats: true/false, multiplechoice, text-diagrams, tables for completion, qtizzes, jumbled

sentences for reordering, etc. It has been one of our aims to provide avariety of task types.

One special feature of this book is that each task is preceded by anaims box. This tells the students as clearly as possible what thepurpose of the task is. It also helps students to use the book for self-study.

INTRODUCTIONTO THETEACHER

at

Using the book

The Teacher's guide at the back of the book provides advice abouthow to teach each task and also gives answers to various tasks. It isimportant to recognize that in most cases these answers are onlysuggestions. Your students may come up with answers that areequally, and maybe even more, valid. The answers have beenprovided to give you an idea of what each task is aiming at' Theyshould not be used to assess the students.

Some of the sections (particularly section 1) in a unit are long and willrequire several lessons to complete them' The length is necessary in

order to provide the depth of text-attack which is our intention.However, there is always the risk that the students will becomebored with hammering away at a single passage. It is up to you,

therefore, to judge how much time should be spent on a section.There is no need to do every task; select the ones that you think willmotivate your students most. Also there is no need to do all the tasksin class time; you can set some for self-study. The Teacher's guideprovides sample schemes for teaching a section, but you don't need tofollow these if you think they are not appropriate for your students.

We assume always that the students will read the passages silently.The way in which they read silently is important and you shoulddiscuss with them appropriate reading strategies for the tasks theyare given: for example, if the task requires skimming, make sure theyknow how to do it.

We assume also that you will vary your teaching methodology. Thatis, sometimes you will do questions orally with the whole class,sometimes ask them to write answers individually, sometimes tellthem to work in pairs or gloups and perhaps sometimes evennominate a student to take over the 'teacher'role (for example, inclass discussion following group work). All the students do not haveto do all the tasks or all the questions within a task; you can givegroups different tasks or questions to do. Again the Teacher's guidegives advice on methodology for you to follow, if you like.

1 Argument

Preparation

Task I

This activity is designed to help you activate yourown knowledge and preconceptions about the topic

of the passage.

You are going to read a text calledDon't talk, listen! which discussesthe use of language by males and females.

Do men and women use language in the same way? Work with apartner and make notes about what you think are the similarities andffierences, using the points of comparison listed in the table below.

When you have finished hold a class discussion on the majordifferences.

Point of combarison Males Females

voice pitch

vocabulary

range of conversationaltopics

politeness

amount of talk

frequency of interruptions

Sexism

/,i,/E

A f l N U A Lq E N E R A LMEETI Nq

Unit I

Task 2

This activity is designed to help you identifythe general position which the writer takes up

in the passage.

Use the quotations below, taken from the passage, to decide which ofthe following best describes the position that the writer takes up onmale/female language differences.

The writer's position is

! a that research into male/female language differences supportsour preconceptions about the differences

! b that there are no real male/female language differences! c that male/female language differences arefar greater than we

might expecttr d that the most important male/female language differences

relate to the question of social control

1 'Because we think that language also shouldbe divided intomasculine and feminine we have become very skilled at ignoringanything that will not fit our preconceptions.'

2 'Ot the many investigators who set out to find the stereotyped sexdifferences in language, few have had any positive results.'

3 'Research into sex differences and language may not be telling usmuch about language, but it is telling us a great deal about gender,and the way human beings strive to meet the expectations of thestereotype.'

4 'Although as a general rule many of the believed sex differences inlanguage have not been found . . . there is one area where this is anexception. lt is the area of language and power.'

Extensive reading

Task 1

The purpose of this activity is to encourage you tolook at how the writer has organized the passage

into sections.

The passage can be divided into three main sections, each dealingwith a separate issue. These issues are:

1 Myths about sex differences in language2 Sex differences in language and power3 Sex differences in language and learning

Skim through the passage and write down the line numbers whereeach section begins and ends.

Unit I

To do this activity you don't need to read every sentence in thepassage. Before you start, discuss with your teacher what is the mosteffective way of reading to complete the task.

Don't talk, Iisten!'In mixed-sex classrooms, it is often extremely difficult forfemales to talk, and even more difficult for teachers toprovide them with the opportunity'. Dale Spender looks atsome myths about language and sex differences.

Ours is a society that tries to keepthe world sharply divided into mas-culine and feminine, not becausethat is the way the world is, butbecause that is the way we believeit should be. I t takes unwaveringbelief and considerable effort tokeeo this division. It also leads usto make some fairly foolish judg-ments, particularly about language.

Because we think that languagealso should be divided into mas-culine and feminine we havebecome very skilled at ignoringanything that will not fit our pre-conceptions. We would ratherchange what we hear than changeour ideas about the gender divisionof the world. We will call assertivegirls unfeminine, and supportiveboys effeminate, and try to changethem while st i l l retaining ourstereotypes of masculine and femi-nine talk.

This is why some research on sexdifferences and language has beenso interesting. It is an illustration ofhow wrong we can be. Of the manyinvestigators who set out to find thestereotyped sex differences in lan-guage, few have had any positiveresults. It seems that our images ofserious taciturn male speakers andgossipy garrulous female speakersare just that: images.

Many myths associated withmasculine and feminine talk havehad to be discarded as more re-search has been undertaken. If fe-males do use more trivial wordsthan males, stop talking in mid-sen-tence, or talk about the same thingsover and over again, they do not doit when investisators are around.

None of these characteristics offemale speech have been found.And even when sex differenceshave been found, the questionarises as to whether the differenceis in the eye-or ear-of the be-holder, rather than in the language.

Pitch provides one example. Webelieve that males were meant totalk in low pitched voices and fe-males in high pitched voices. Wealso believe that low pitch is moredesirable. Well, it has been foundthat males tend to have lowerDitched voices than females. But itiras also been found that this differ-ence cannot be explained bYanatomy.

If males do not speak in highpitched voices, it is not usuallybecause they are unable to do so.The reason is more likely to be thatthere are penalties. Males withhigh pitched voices are often theobject of ridicule. But pitch is notan absolute, for what is consideredthe right pitch for males varies fromcountry to country.

Some people have suggested thatgender differentiation in Americais more extreme than in Britain.This perhaps helps to explain whyAmerican males have deepervoices. (Although no study hasbeen done, I would suspect that thevoices of Australian males are evenlower.) This makes it difficult toclassify pitch as a sex difference.

It is also becoming increasinglydifficult to classify low pitch asmore desirable. It is less than 20years since the BBC Handbookdeclared that females should notread the news, because their voiceswere unsuitable for serious topics.

,4 Unit I

90

95

100

r05

110

115

r20

r25

135

140

130

Presumably women's voices havebeen lowered in that 20 years, orhigh pitch is not as bad as it used tobe.

Research into sex differencesand language may not be telling usmuch about language, but it istelling us a great deal aboutgender, and the way human beingsstrive to meet the expectations ofthe stereotype. Although as a gen-eral rule many of the believed sexdifferences in language have notbeen found (and some of the differ-ences which have been found bygender-blind investigators cannotbe believed) there is one areawhere this is an exception. It is thearea of language and power.

When it comes to power, somevery interesting sex differenceshave been found. Although wemay have been able to predictsome of them, there are otherswhich completely contradict ourbeliefs about masculine and femi-nine talk.

The first one, which was to beexoected. is that females are morepolite. Most people who are with-out Dower and find themselves in avulnerable position are morepolite. The shop assistant is morepolite than the customer; the stu-dent is more polite than theteacher; the female is more politethan the male. But this has little todo with their sex, and a great dealto do with their position in society.

Females are required to bepolite, and this puts the onus onthem to accommodate male talk.This is where some of the researchon sex differences in language hasbeen surprising. Contrary to ourbeliefs, it has been found repeat-edly that males talk more.

When it comes to husbands andwives, males not only use longersentences, they use more of them.Phylis Chesler has also found that itis difficult for women to talk whenmen are present-particularly ifthe men are their husbands.

Although we might all be famil-iar with the sight of a group ofwomen sitting silently listening to amale speaker, we have rarely en-

countered a group of men sittingquietly listening to a femalespeaker. Even a study of televisionpanel programmes has revealed theway that males talk, and femalesaccommodate male talk; men arethe talkers, women the polite, suP-portive and encouraging listeners.

If females want to talk, theymust talk to each other, for theyhave little opportunity to talk in thepresence of men. Even when theydo talk, they are likely to be inter-rupted. Studies by Don Zimmer-man and Candace West have foundthat 98 per cent of interruptions inmixed sex talk were performed bymales. The politeness of femalesensures not only that they do notinterrupt, but that they do notprotest when males interrupt them.

The greater amount of man-talkand the gteater frequency of inter-ruptions is probably something thatfew of us are conscious of: webelieve so strongly in the stereo-type which insists that it is the otherway around. However, it is notdifficult to check this. It can be aninteresting classroom exercise.

It was an exercise I set myself ata recent conference of teachers inLondon. From the beginning themen talked more because althoughthere were eight official malespeakers, there were no femaleones. This was seen as a problem,so the organizing committee de-cided to exercise positive discrimi-nation in favour of female speakersfrom the floor.

At the first session-with posi-t ive discrimination-there were 1.4male speakers and nine female: atthe second session there were 10male speakers and four female.There was almost twice as muchman talk as woman talk. However,what was interesting was the im-pression people were left withabout talk. The stereotypes werestill holding firm. Of the 30 peopleconsulted after the sessions, 27were of the opinion that there hadbeen more female than malespeakers.

150

155

160

165

t70

175

190

195

180

185

t45

200

Unit I

t r 5

- t :

This helps to explain some of thecontradictions behind sex differ-ences in language. On the one handwe believe that females talk toomuch; on the other hand we haveample evidence that they do nottalk as much as males. But thecontradiction only remains whenwe use the same standard for bothsexes; it disappears when we intro-duce a double standard, with onerule for females and another formales.

A talkative female is one whotalks about as often as a man.When females are seen to talkabout half as much as males theyare judged to be dominating thetalk. This is what happened at theconference. Although femaleswere less than half of the speakers,most people thought they haddominated the talk.

This double standard was notconfined to the general session; itwas also present in the workshopon sexism and education. At thefirst workshop session there were32 females and five males. Whenthe tape was played afterwards, itwas surprising to find that of the 58minutes of talk32 were taken up bymales.

It was surprising because no onerealized, myself included, just howmuch the males were talking. Mostpeople were aware that the maleshad talked disproportionately butno one had even guessed at theextent. We all. male and femalealike, use the double standard.Males have to talk almost all thetime before they are seen to bedominating the talk.

There are numerous examples ofthe ways in which males canassume the right to talk in mixed-sex groups. Not only can they usetheir power to ensure that they talkmore, but that they choose thetopic. The polite female is alwaysat a disadvantage.

It is not polite to be the centre ofconversation and to talk a lot-ifone is female. It is not polite tointerrupt-if one is female. It isnot polite to talk about thingswhich interest you-if one is

female. It l's polite to accommo-date, to listen, to be supportive andencouraging to male speakers-ifone is female.

So females are kept in theirplace. They enjoy less rights totalk. Because they have less powerand because politeness is part ofthe reoertoire of successful femi-nine 6ehaviour, it is not evennecessary to force females to bequiet. The penalties are so great ifthey break the rule, they will oblig-ingly monitor themselves.

In the past few years, a lot ofattention has been paid to the roleof language and learning, but theassumption has been that the sexeshave enjoyed equal rights to talk.Yet it is quite obvious that femalesdo not have equal access to talkoutside the classroom, so it wouldbe surprising if this was reversed inthe school.

However, if talking for learningis as important as Douglas Barnesmaintains it is, then any teacher ina mixed-sex class who upholds thesocial rules for talk could well bepractising educational discrimina-tion. Such teachers would be allow-ing boys to engage in talk morefrequently than girls.

In looking at talk, it becomesclear that there are differences ingirls' single-sex and mixed-sexschools. In single-sex schools (pro-viding, of course, that the teacheris female), females are not obligedto defer to male authority, to sup-port male topics, to agree to inter-ruptions, or to practise silence; orto make the tea while the malesmake the public speeches.

'Free speech' is available to fe-males in a way which is not avail-able in mixed-sex schools. Thiscould be the explanation for thefrequently claimed superiorachievement of females in single-sex schools; free to use their lan-guage to learn, they learn more.

ln mixed-sex classrooms it isoften extremely difficult for fe-males to talk, and even more dif-ficult for teachers to provide themwith the opportunity. This is notbecause teachers are supremely

270

265

275

285

280

290

295

300

305

310

lb{l

315

Unit I

sexist beings, but because theY aregoverned by the same social rulesas everyone else.

It is appropriate for normal boYsto demand more of the teachers'time, and they cannot alwaYsmodify this situation. Male stu-dents in the classroom conform toexpectations when they are boister-ous, noisy and even disruptive;female students conform when theYare quiet and docile; teachers con-form when they see such behaviouras gender appropriate.

When questioned, some teachershave stated, in fairly hostile terms,that the girls in their classroomstalk all the time-to each other!This of course is a logical outcomeunder the present rules for talk:females do not get the same oppor-tunity to talk when males arearound. If females want to talk,they experience difficulties if theytry to talk with males.

In visiting classrooms, I haveoften observed the teacher engagedin a class discussion with the boys,while the girls chat unobtrusively toone another. I have seen girls ig-nored for the whole lesson, whilethe teacher copes with the demandsof the boys. I have heard boyspraised for volunteering their an-swers, while girls have been re-buked for calling out.

Angela Parker has found thatnot only do males talk more inclass. but that both sexes believethat'intellectual arsumentation' in

the classroom is a masculine activi-ty. If girls believe that it is un-feminine for them to speak up inclass, they will probably take si-lence in preference to a loss offemininity-particularly duringadolescence.

I asked a group of girls at anInner London secondary schoolwhether they thought it was un-feminine to speak up in class. Theyall agreed. The girls thought itnatural that male students shouldask questions, make protests, chal-lenge the teacher and demand ex-planations. Females on the otherhand should 'just get on with it'-even when they, too, thought thework was silly, or plain boring.

Although it is unlikely thatteachers deliberately practise dis-crimination against their studentson the grounds of sex, by enforcingthe social rules for talk they areunwittingly penalizing females. Butthis situation is not inevitable.There is no physical reason, no sexdifference, which is responsible forthe relative silence of females. AsJohn Stuart Mill stated, this asym-metry depends upon females wil-lingly conceding the rights tomales.

Perhaps teachers can help fe-males to be a little less willing to besilent in mixed-sex classrooms.Perhaps they can help females toenjoy the same rights to talk asmales. But we would have tochange our stereotypes.

Task 2

The aim of this activity is to help you identify thetheme and purpose of the Passage.

Answer these questions in groups. Make sure that you are able tojustify your answers.

I Which of the following would make the best title for the passage?

tr a How men discriminate against women in talkI b Changing our stereotypes of males and females! c Recent research into sex differences in language! d Sex ineoualities in classroom talk

L-nit I

2

--

What was the writer's main purpose?

a To reportb Topersuadec To informd To instruct

Intensive reading

The activities in this section will require a careful reading of thepassage, section by section.

Task 1

The questions in this activity are designed tohelp you to come to a detailed understanding of

how the topic in the first section (L.1 to 93) of thepassage is developed.

a Find the places in the first section of the passage where thefollowing words are used:

preconceptions myths stereotypes

b These words all refer to the same idea. What is it?

c These words have been chosen to suggest the writer'sviewpoint.What is her viewpoint?

d Why can these be consideredhE words in the text?

e Make a list of the myths associated with masculine andfeminine language which the writer mentions in the text.

The diagram below represents the traditional approach to maleifemale language differences which Spender describes (see L.1to 24).

Basic belief aboutmale/female language

differences

lgnore conflictingevidence

Preconcept ionsabout male/female

language differences

Use the information in the diagram to summarize what thistraditional approach consists of.

What is Spender's opinion about this traditional approach?

Unitl

The third and fourth paragraphs describe what has led to thepreconceptions being challenged.

a State what this is.

b Explain why the preconceptions have had to be discarded.' P itch proaides one example' (L.52).

a What does 'pitch'provide an example of?

b What is the preconception about pitch which Spenderchallenges?

c What is the true explanation for male/female pitch differences?

d What evidence does Spender give for this explanation?

Paragraph ten has two main discourse functions. One is tosummarize the writer's argument up to this point. Can you saywhat the other function is?

Study this diagram which shows how the topic is organized in thefirst section of the passage.

Read through the first section again, concentrating on how thetopic is developed. Write down the line numbers where thedifferent sub-topics shown in the diagram begin and end.

Traditional approach tomale/female language differences

Challenging thepreconceptions

An example(Pitch)

Summarizing and preparingfor the next section

[- nit I

Task 2

The questions in this activity will help you'understand how the writer develops her argument in

the second section (L.94 to 275) of the passage.

Which of these statements best describes the relationshipbetween the topic of section one and that of section two in thepassage?

! a Whereas section one deals with some common fallaciesregarding male/female language ffierences, section twodeals with some real differences.

tr b Section one explains some fallacies regarding maleifemalelanguage differences and section two illustrates thesefallacies.

! c In section one arguments relating to sexdifferences inlanguage use are considered; in section two thesearguments are rejected.

n d In section one the writer's general position regarding sexdifferences in language is outlined; in section two thisposition is illustrated.

Which of the following statements are true and which are false?Rewrite the false ones to make them an accurate record of whatthe writer says.

a Women are more polite than men simply because they arewomen.

b The common belief that women talk more than men hasbeen found to be incorrect.

c Women find it easier to talk when men are present if themen are their husbands.

d Women do not interrupt as much as men in mixed-sex talk.

e We perceive men as dominating talk because they talkmore than women.

f Men are responsible for keeping women in their place bythe way they dominate talk.

Spender points out three ways in which women's politenessaffects their language in mixed sex talk. Complete this list.

The need to be polite which women feel is reflected in

a . . . . . .b . . . . . .c not talking about things which interest them.

T/F!

n

n

!

tr

!

10 Unit 1

4 Spender refers to two small pieces of research which sheconducted to investigate male/female talk. Write note summariesof each in the table below.

5 In order to explain the results ofthese studies Spender refers to a'double standard' (L.2I4) that operates. Explain in your ownwords what this double standard is.

6 Why is the female polite?Why does being polite put her at a disadvantage?

7 Read through section two of the passage again, paying particularattention to how Spender develops her argument.

Try to identify the sub-topics in this section, and then draw adiagram like the one in Task 1.6 (page 8) to show how the topic isorganized.

Task 3

The questions in this activity are intended to helpyou follow the writer's line of reasoning in the third

section (L.276 to 399) of the passage.

In section three Spender idenffies aproblem and then suggests asolution to the problem. State briefly in your own words what theproblem is and what solution Spender proposes.

Organze the jumbled sentences below to summarize the problemSpender describes.

a Unfortunately both teachers and pupils (boys and girls)take forgranted these social rules for talk.

b Children learn through talking.

c As a result, boys achieve more than girls.

Unitl 11

I

2

3

d The social rules for talking lead to educational discrimination.

e Boys are allowed to talk more than girls.

f The source of the discrimination is, therefore, maintained.

3 Complete this table by listing the differences between male andfemale classroom language behaviour which Spender describes.

Male behauiour Fernale behauiour

boisterous and noisy

talk to the teacher

encouraged to volunteeranswers by the teacher

engage in intellectualargumentation

challenge the teacher

4 Reread section three, concentrating on the reasoning Spenderuses to argue that girls suffer from educational discrimination.Prepare a brief summary of her argument.

Extension

Task I

This activity is designed to help you identify yourown response to the way the article is written.

I Work out your own response to the article by ringing theappropriate number on each of the scales below.

ln Don't talk, listen!l consider that Dale Spender is:calmsen0uslogical

objectivefai

i m p e r s o n a l I 2 3 4 5 p e r s o n a l

I 2 3 4 5 a n g r yI 2 3 4 5 f r i v o l o u sl 2 3 4 5 i l l o g i c a l

I 2 3 4 5 s u b j e c t i v el 2 3 4 5 u n f a i r

Work in a group (a mixed group, if possible). Compare yourresponses with those of the other members of your group.Discuss any ffierences.

Unit I12

Task 2

This activity will help you to evaluate to what extentyou agree with Spender's views about sexist

language behaviour.

What is your own opinion about Dale Spender's arguments? Doyou

! a agree completely with them?

! b agree in part with them?

n c completely disagree with them?

Give your reasons.

In what ways has this article influenced the way you think aboutmen and women and their language behaviour?

2 First person narrative

Preparation

Task 1

This activity will help you to clarify your own ideasof what a 'sexist husband' is.

There are many differing views on what the ideal relationship

between a husband and wife is. Which of the following views do

you support?

I a The role of the wife should be that of caring for thehusband, the children and the house; the role of the

husband should be to provide for the family.

X b The role of the wiJe and that of the husband should be

discussed until there is mutual agreement about what they

should be.

tr c There should be no role-typing: both husband and wife

should be prepared to undertake any task related to the

marnage.

What do you think are the typical features of a 'sexist husband'?

Make a list. Compare your list with that of other students in your

group.

Unit 1 1 2

Extensive reading

Task I

In this activity you will establish a goodunderstanding of the content of the extract from

The Colour Pwrble.

The C olour P urple, by Alice Walker, is an epistolary novel. That is, itconsists of letters written by characters in the novel. The 'letter' youare going to read is written by Celie, a black American woman whohas been married off to Mr. In the letter Celie describes themarriage between Harpo, Mr. -'s son, and Sofia.

Note: The Colour Purple is written in the dialect used by Celie. Youshould expect to find a number of features that are different fromstandard British English.

Read through the letter quickly to find the answers to thesequestions.

1 What exactly is Harpo's complaint about his wife?2 What do Mr. - and Celie tell him to do?3 What does Harpo do?4 What is the result of this?

Dear God,Haroo want to know what to do to make Sofia mind, He sit out on the

porch with Mr. - . He say, I tel l her one thing, she do another. Neverdo what I say. Always backtalk.

To tell the truth, he sound a little proud of this to me.Mr. - don' t say nothing. Blow smoke.I tel l her she can' t be al l the t ime going to vis i t her sister. Us marr ied

now, I tel l her. Your place is here with the chi ldren. She say, l ' l l take thechildren with me. I say, Your place is with me. She say, You want to come?She keep primping in front the glass, getting the children ready at thesame t ime.

You ever hit her? Mr. - ast.Harpo look down at his hands. Naw suh, he say low, embarrass.Wel l how you spect to make her mind? Wives is l ike chi ldren. You have

to let 'em know who got the upper hand. Nothing can do that better thana good sound beating.

He puff on his pipe.Sofia think too much of herself anyway, he say. She need to be taken

down a peg.I like Sofia, but she don't act like me at all. lf she talking when Harpo

and Mr. come in the room, she keep r ight on. l f they ast her wheresomething at, she say she don't know. Keep talking.

I think bout this when Harpo ast me what he ought to do to her tomake her mind. I don' t mention how happy he is now. How three yearspass and he st i l l whist le and sing. I think bout how every t ime I jump when

14 Unit I

Mr. - cal l me, she look surpr ise. And l ike she pi ty me.Beat her. I say.Next time us see Harpo his face a mess of bruises. His lip cut. One of

his eyes shut like a fist. He walk stiff and say his teef ache.I say, What happen to you, Harpo?He say, Oh, me and that mule. She fractious, you know. She went crazy

in the field the other day. By time I got her to head for home I was allbanged up. Then when I got home, I walked smack dab into the crtb door.Hit my eye and scratch my chin. Then when that storm come up last nightI shet the window down on my hand.

Well, I say, After all that, I don't spect you had a chance to see if youcould make Sofia mind.

Nome, he say.But he keep trying.

Intensive reading

Task 1

In this activity you will explore the attitudes of thecharacters and what motivated these.

I Find evidence in the text for each of the following statements.

1 Harpo doesn't really mind that Sofia is disobedient.2 Harpo feels he has to prove himself a real man.3 Celie is frightened of her husband.4 Sofia is not frightened of her husband.5 Celie is resentful of Sofia.6 Harpo wants his father to think highly of him.

2 Use the following list of adjectives to describe the characters inthe table below.

uain stoical stubborn conformistcruel arrogant jealous sPirited

L elie Sofia Harpo Mr. -

Unit I 15

Extension

Task 1

The purpose of this activity is to encourage you toexplore the theme of the extract in relation to

your own opinions.

1 Which of the characters in the extract do you

. identify with most?o admire most?

Try and explain why.

2 In groups of four, write a short play based on the content of theextract.

Act out your play.

3 Review activities

Task 1

The purpose of this activity is to encourage you torelate the points made in the first passage to the

evidence of sexism provided in the second passage.

Below are a number of quotationsfromDon't talk, listenl Study themcarefully. Then turn to the extract from The Colour Purple. Id/}:ratevidence is there in the extract to support Dale Spender's assertions?

I '0urs is a society that tries to keep the world sharply divided intomascul ine and femin ine . . . '

2 '. . . human beings strive to meet the expectations of the stereotype.'

3 'When it comes to power, some very interesting sex differences havebeen found.'

4 'Females are required to be polite, and this puts the onus on them toaccommodate male talk.'

5 ' . . . females are kept in their place,'

6 ' . . . this asymmetry depends upon females wil l ingly conceding therights to males.'

In what ways does Sofia in The Colour Purple flout the conventions offeminine behaviour, as described by Dale Spender? What do you t}inkis likely to happen to Sofia in the novel?

16 Unit I

Task 2

This activity is designed to help you use the ideasyou have read about in this unit to formulate you own

views about male and female roles.

If you are female, make a list of the characteristics of your 'ideal'

man. If you are male, make a list of the characteristics of your'ideal'woman.

If your class is a mixed one, pair off with a member of the oppositesex. Show each other your lists ofcharacteristics. Ifyour class isa single-sex one, pair off with another student and evaluate eachother's lists of characteristics for evidence of stereotypical sexistattitudes.

Discuss to what extent your list has been influenced by the ideasyou have read about in this unit.

Dale Spender suggests that there is a need for'positivediscrimination'to rectify the inequalities between men andwomen. Hold a class discussion about

. whether you think positive discrimination is a good idea.

. what forms you think positive discrimination should take.

A N N U A Lq E N E R A L,VIEETIN Gr

P O 5 I T I V E D I S C R I M I N A T I O N

1 Exposition

Preparation

Task 1

In this task you will be asked to think about anddiscuss your ideas of what comprehension involvesin order to help you to anticipate the main ideas in

the reading passage.

Think about the meaning of 'comprehension' and try to write adefinition of the word.

Form a gloup with two or three other students. Look at eachother's definitions and use them to write a group definition of'comprehension'.

In your group list the skills you need to comprehend a writtenstory.

Which of the following statements would you agree with? Givereasons.

n a You need to understand every word in order to understanda story properly.

D b The real meaning of a story is the meaning intended by theauthor.

c Each reader gives a slightly different meaning to a story.d Comprehension cannot take place if we cannot relate the

situation being described to our own theory of the world.e Most school comprehension tasks are tests of memory,

not of comprehension.f The main problem in understanding a story in a foreign

language is making an accurate translation'

Discuss with the other members of your group exactly what yousee whenyou read each of the sentences below.

a Mr Smith took off his shoes before he went onto the beach.b Rick took off his shoes before he came off the beach.c Lady Smithfield asked for the bread.d Phi l cut up the orange juice.e Mrs Smith passed the bread.f Pat danced with Bi l l a l l n ight.

How did your own images of these sentences differ from theillustrations shown?

Discuss with the other members of your group how you feeltowards the people described in the following sentences.

a Benjamin stayed brooding in his room instead of going down tojoin the party given in his honour by his father.

Comprehension

tr!

T

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18 Unit2

b Sheila has been a militant socialist ever since she went touniversity.

c Sarah screamed hysterically.

d When he was told about his wife's affair with B// he packed asuitcase and drove furiously to London.

e When she started crying again Mr Jones slapped her.

7 Make use of the implications of your discussions in 5 and 6 aboveto help you to work out a theory of what comprehension of awritten passage involves.

Task 2

In this task you will make predictions about thecontent of the passage you are going to read.

The following headings are taken from the passage you are going toread.

ls the reader's role passive?

What makes a text difficult?

Shared assumptions

ldentifyi ng presuppositions

Total understanding?

Active involvement of the reader

Reading as interaction

Making sense of the text

Prediction

What do you think the writer of the passage is going to say aboutcomprehension?

Extensive reading

Task 1

In this task you will make use of your discussionsand predictions in the preparation tasks to help you

to read the passage.

Read through the passage to find out what the writer, ChristineNuttall, thinks is involved in reading comprehension. As you read,relate the passage to your predictions in Preparation Task 2 aboveand decide to what extent you were right. At this stage don't worryabout any words or ideas you don't completely understand.

i--nit 2 19

4 The communicat ion process; gure 1 gives a very simple model of the process of communicat ion. On: ire lef t is the wri ter; but s ince he could equal ly wel l speak his message,,'ie will use the more general Ierm encoderfor his role. The encoder has aTessage in his mind (it may be an idea, a fact, a feeling, an argument,etc.) which he wants somebody else to share. To make this possible henust first put it into words: that is, he must encode it, 0nce it is encoded,r either spoken or written form, it is available outside his mind as a text.

The text is accessible to the mind of another person who hears or readst. i .e. who decodesthe message i t contains.Once i t is decoded, the'nessage enters the mind of the decoder and communicat ion is achieved.

Obviously this model is too simple, for things can go wrong at any stagen the process. That is why I have put a quest ion mark in the decoder 'snind, for we cannot be sure that he has received the message that was'rtended. However, the process is clear enough for us to say that readingneans getting out of the text as nearly as possible the message that the,vriter out into it. We shall need to consider in a little more depth the part

rlayed by the writer, the reader and the text itself in this process; and weruill start with the reader.

l+.1 ls the reader's role passive?Figure 2 illustrates one fairly widely held view of reading. The text is full of'neaning like a jug full of water, and it can be poured straight into the'eader 's mind which soaks i t up l ike a sponge. In this view, the reader 's'c le is a passive one: al l the work has been done by the wri ter and the'eader has only to open his mind and let the meaning pour in.

Why do we reject this? One obvious reason is that it seldom happenske this. Not al l the meaning in the text actual ly gets into the reader 's

mind; the figure should show at least some of the water trickling - if notslreaming - down the reader 's face. The fact that the meaning is in thetext is unfortunately no guarantee that the reader will get it out, for we<now from personal experience that a text that seems easy to one personrray seem difficult to another.

4.2 What makes a text difficult?To throw some l ight on the quest ion, we wi l l examine some texts thatmany people would find difficult.Text A

lstuin eraana tammikuun loppupdivdnd Ti i t in kanssa KokkolastaJyvZiskyldrdn kulkevassa linja-autossa. Oli kirped pakkasilma, taivas olik irkas, ja aurinko heit t i lumihangi l le ja t ien poikki puiden pi tkei i s inis idvarJ0Ja.

Y. Kokko, Ne Tulevat Takaisin (Werner Soderstrom OY: 1954)

lf you found this text difficult, it is because you are not familiar with thecodein which i t has been expressed; you do not know Finnish, theianguage in which it is written. So one of the prerequisites for satisfactorycommunicat ion is that wri ter and reader should share the same code. Themplicat ions for FL teaching do not need point ing out. But this is not theonly reason for finding a texi difficult.

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25

30

1 0

1 5

35

Fig 1 The communication process

Fig 2 One view of reading

SENDERencoderwfl ters p e a K e r

RECEIVERdecoderread erl rs tener

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20 Unit2

45 Text BIn the first example, a carbon anion is formed that is stabilized byresonance (electrons delocalized over the carbonyl group and thea carbon atom). In the second case, a carbon anion is formed that isstabilized by the electron withdrawing inductive effect of the three

50 chlorines.The Language Centre, University of Malaya, Reading Proiects: Science

(University of Malaya Press/Nelson, 19791

This text is difficult to someone, who, like me, knows nothing aboutscience. l t would not help me if I looked up some of the words in a

55 dictionary, because I should not understand the definitions. The only thingthat would help would be a course in chemistry, starting from basics. Sothe difficulty here depends on the amount of previous knowledge that thereader brings to the text.

Text C60 ldeas imprinted on the senses are real things, or do really exist, this

we do not deny, but we deny that they can subsist without the mindswhrch perceive them, or that they are resemblances of anyarchetypes existing without the mind: since the very betng of asensation or idea consists in being perceived, and an idea can be

65 l ike nothing but an idea.G. Berkeley, Pilncifles of Human Knowledge (Nelson, 1949)

The vocabulary used in this text does not seem particularly difficult, butmany people find that its message eludes them. Even if you have a vagueidea what it is about, you will probably not be able to explain it clearly

70 unless you have read a good deal more by Bishop Berkeley (who wrote it)and thought carefully about his arguments. For here the difficulty lies notin the language, and not in the amount of knowledge the reader requires,but in the complexity of the concepts expressed.

Text D75 Cavorting in the vicinity of the residential area populated by those of

piscatorial avocation, the minuscule crustacean was enmeshed in areticulated object with interstices between the intersections.

The vocabulary is the only source of difficulty here, since you can'translate'this into extremely simple English and the message is not

B0 challenging intel lectually. For readers whose vocabulary is l imited, this ismore like the problem of text A than B or C: the writer's code is onlypartly the same as the reader's.

4.3 Shared assumptions

From these examples of different kinds of textual difficulty, we can seehow important it is that the reader and the writer should have certain

85 things in common, i f communicat ion between them is to take place. Theminimum requirement is that they should share the same code: that theyshould write and understand the same language. Text D shows us thatthey should also have in common a command of that language that is not

wtt 2 21

::,r rvidely different: if the reader has a far smaller vocabulary than theln**-ter, for example, he willfind the text hard to understand. In FL reading,:- s oroblem is basic and famil iar.

,A more interesting requirement is that the writer and reader should:,-are certain assumptions about the world and the way it works. We saw:-at if the writer expects his reader to have a basic understanding of:remistry, the text will not be readily understood by anyone who lacks:- s: the writer does not tell the reader what he assumes is already known.S: problems in understanding arise when there is a mismatch between:e presuppositions of the writer and those of the reader.

Naturally there always is a mismatch of some kind; no two people have-ad identical experiences of life, so the writer is always likely to leave-nsaid something that he takes for granted, but that the reader does not.

Figure 3 is a simple way of showing how, for any two people, certainn.nds of experience wi l l be shared, whi le others wi l l not. The shaded areaurtrere the two circles overlap represents the things the two people haver common. In this area wi l l be included al l the knowledge - includingmowledge of language - that they share. But it will also include morentangible things like attitudes, beliefs, values, and all the unspokenassumptions that are shared by two people who have been brought up infie same society. ln the unshaded areas are the things that are notshared: the experiences and knowledge that are unique to eachrdividual.

4.4 ldentifying presuppositions

You may find it helpful to see how this works with some actual examples:f texts. Study the following extracts and try to wrrte down for each one:he presuppositions that the writer has, and the assumptions he makesabout his reader. There are some comments below.

a Red-watt led Lapwing: In general shape not unl ike the EuropeanLapwing and found in simi lar types of country. (From a handbook ofbird identification)

c The biggest problem in getting animation accepted has been the ideathat 'animation' means Walt Disney. (From an art ic le about animationin films)

c Rubber futures closed the morning easier at the lows and mostly from0.70 to 0.80 pence per kilo down from yesterday. Turnover was 188lots of 15 tonnes, including 26kerb trades and two options. (From anewspaper business page)

d Total movement of the belt should be approximately 10 mm midwaybetween the pump and jockey pulleys when checked with normal wristeffort. (From a car user's handbook)

e lt was a puppy. A tiny rickety puppy, mangy, starved; a loose ribbybundle on the ground. l t made no noise. l t t r ied to l i f t i tsel f up. l t onlycollapsed again, without complaint, without shame. (From The Suffrageof Elvira by V.S. Naipaul)

Area of sharedassumptions

1 I 0 Fig 3 Presupposition and communication

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100

105

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r25

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22 Unit2

Here are my comments; you may well find other things.

a No use to the reader unless he too knows what a European Lapwing135 looks l ike, and in what sort of country i t is found.

b Rel ies on the reader 's knowing that Walt Disney is one of the bestknown oroducers in animated f i lms. Also rel ies on his knowing whattype of f i lms Disney produced, and sharing the wri ter 's impl ied viewthat Disney f i lms are in some way undesirable in relat ion to his theme.

140 c Relies on the reader's understanding of technical iargon (futures,easier, lows, down, kerb trades, optionsl, but also on widerunderstanding of the way rubber (and other commodit ies) is dealt with;for instance, is 0.70 to 0.80 a big drop or a smal l one? ls 188 lots a bigturnover or not? Are lots always of 15 tonnes? - presumably not, since

145 the writer has mentioned it; in that case, what is the significance? Andso 0n.

d Tr iv ial ly, the wri ter expects us to understand the code, including theabbreviation mm and the technical labels (belt, pump, iockey pulleys).He also expects us to know what wrist effod is 'normal', and what sort

150 of movement of the belt is involved. (Where do you put your ruler tomeasure 10 mm?)

e The writer expects the reader to share his attitude to the puppy;readers from some cultural backgrounds have interpreted it as disgust(misled by words |ke mangr, which they themselves react to with

155 disgust), havrng failed to tune in to the sympathy signalled by tiny,starved, and the half-admiring description of its stoicism anddeterminat ion. This is an example where the assumptions are so deepthat they need to receive only the sl ightest l inguist ic expression.

4.5 Total understanding?

The f inal example above indicates the importance of background inunderstanding. l t wi l l be obvious that for people of s imi lar background,the shaded area in Figure 3 wi l l be much bigger than for people comingfrom different backgrounds, let alone people from entirely differentcul tures. l t is also clearthatthe greaterthe size of the shaded area, theeasier communicat ion wi l l be. l f the wri ter and the reader are closelysimi lar in background, training, at t i tude and so on, the reader is l ikely tointerpret the text with no conscious effort. There are stil l dangers ofmisunderstanding, however: a careless reader may read into the textmeanings that are not there, s imply because his sense of having muchin common with the wri ter is so strong. Such a reader is assuming thatthe extent of the shaded area - the common ground - is greater than i tactual ly is.

When the wri ter makes a simi lar false assumption about the extentto which the reader is l ikely to share his knowledge, bel iefs, etc. , thereader may be conscious of having to struggle to understand, andsometimes he may fai l . But the widely di f ferent backgrounds merelymake more obvious a fact that we sometimes forget: that we can neverunderstand one another total ly. Except in the most severely scient i f ic

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175

l-'nit 2 23

,,-'rrting, this seems inevitable, because all of us have had different:xperiences which make us see things sl ight ly di f ferent ly, even though,,*'e also have a great deal in common.

But of course one reason for reading is that we want to understand:ther people's ideas; i f we were al l ident ical , there would be no point innost communicat ion. Fortunately, for most purposes, thernderstanding need not be total: but the fact that we cannot get inside:he wri ter 's mind is no excuse for not doing our best to understand,rhat he wants to say. lf we are in conversation with someone, we canstop him and ask for explanat ions and examples whenever we need:hem. In the same way, when we have di f f icul t ies in reading, we need tonterrogate the text. Since the wri ter is seldom avai lable for:onsultat ion, the text is our only resource: and reading has beenjescribed as 'active interrogation of a text'.

4,6 Active involvement of the reader

'i/e can now begin to see why the model of reading shown in Figure 2 wasrnsatisfactory. The meaning is not merely lying in the text waiting to be:assively absorbed. 0n the contrary, the reader is act ively involved and,,,,il l very often have to work to get the meaning out. A model like Figure 4Tay seem nearer the truth: i t shows us a view of reading in which the'eader can be seen approaching meaning more act ively. The reader on:he left is finding little difficulty in interpreting the text: the meaning is;air ly c lear to him al l along, he has much in common with the wri ter andre has few problems with the language used. To the reader on the r ight,rowever, the same text appears very difficult. To get at the meaningnvolves an uphi l lstruggle and he is not at al l sure of the route. He cannring to the task so little of what the writer has taken for granted that the,,ray forward is cont inual ly blocked by problems of unfamil iar vocabulary,gnorance of facts or intellectual limitations. However, the reader on therrght is aware that he is not understanding; this awareness is important if,,ou hope to be a competent reader. Poor readers often do not evennecognize that they do not understand; so recognizing that there areoroblems is the first step towards competence.

The reader on the r ight is also tackl ing his problems with vigour and,,rith all the tools at his disposal. He has understood that to reach theTessage involves his own efforts as well as those of the writer: it is in a,vay a co-operative task. The so-called 'co-operative principle', as itappl ies to reading, might be formulated along these l ines:

The reader assumesa That he and the wri ter are usingthe same code (the same language).: That the writer has a message.: That the writer wants the reader to understand the message.

This applies so strongly that you may have found yourself even trying tonake sense of wri t ing which turned out to be nonsense. General lyspeaking, we assume that people are tel l ing the truth and have somethingsensible to say unt i l evidence to the contrary is too strong to resist .

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190

185

195

205

210

215

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Fig 4 Anotherv iewof readrng

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24 Unit2

Before

Fig 5 The text as a do-ifyourselt kit

4.7 Reading as interaction

The writer makes similar assumptions, including the reader's willingnessto make some effort to get at the meaning for himself. lf either lets the

225 other down, communication fails. lf the writer is careless, his messagemay be impossible to recover; if he makes demands that the readercannot fulfil, the message will not be received, even though to anotherreader i t might be clear. l f the reader on his side is careless or idle, theresult is similar: an incomplete interpretation or a distorted one. 0n both

230 sides, lack of shared assumptions is likely to be the worst problem,because it is not always recognized. The reader is likely to try to makesense of the text in terms of his own presuppositions, and it may be along time before he is forced to recognize that they differ from those ofthe writer.

235 From what we have said, you can see that reading according to thisview is not just an active process, bu| an interactive one. We areaccustomed to thinking of conversation as interactive, because what onespeaker says obviously influences the contribution of the other. Theinteraction in reading is clearly rather different because the writer is not

240 normally available, and this makes the task of both reader and writermore difficult. Since he can get no feedback, the writer cannot knowwhich parts of his text will cause mtsunderstanding. He has to guesswhere the problems lie and shape his text accordingly, but since he neverknows exactly who his readers will be, he will never succeed completely.

4.8 Making sense of the text

245 However, the writer has an advantage which the speaker has not: he hastime to structure his text effectively, to help the reader by making it asstraightforward as possible. The reader also has time at his disposal: hecan stop and think, go back to check an earlier reference, reread themost difficult passages. Unless the text takes for granted a body of

250 knowledge that he simply does not have, a careful reader should be ableto reconstruct the assumptions on which the writing is based. He has toread with enough skill and care to make the right inferences about whatthe writer means, and he has to remain objective enough to recognizedifferences in viewpoint between himself and the writer. To do this he

255 must assess all the evidence - choice of words, selection of facts,organization of material and so on - so that he gets the messageintended rather than the message he might have preferred to receive.

All this suggests that a model of the reading process might be morelike that shown in Figure 5: the text functions rather like a do-it-yourself

260 construction kit. The message in the writer's mind is the perfect piece offurniture planned by the designer. The process of breaking this down intoits component parts and packing them all into a box with instructions forassembly is a little like the process of putting thoughts into words andorganizing them into a coherent text. A reader tackling a text resembles

265 the amateur furniture maker unpacking his do-it-yourself kit and trying towork out how the pieces fit together.

It would not be wise to press this analogy too far, but it does serve to

Unit2 25

emphasize how much the reader himself has to contr ibute. We can beginto see the force of the metaphor making sense: the reader does in truthhave to make sense of the text, almost like the amateur making his 270tturni ture. Whether his table is r ickety, incomplete or more or less asplanned depends not only on whether al l the pieces were packed and thernstruct ions clear, but also on whether he understands the basicpr inciples involved, whether he fol lows the instruct ions properly, andwhether he manages not to lose any of the pieces. 275

4.9 Prediction

,A man who knows a bi t about carpentry wi l l make his table more quicklythan the man who does not. l f the instruct ions are not very clear, or theshape of a piece is baff l ing, his experience helps him to conclude that i tmust fit there, or that its function must be that. In the same way, thereader's sense and experience helps him to predict what the writer is 280l ikelyto say next: that he must be goingto saythis ratherthan that, Areader who can think along with the wri ter in this way wi l l f ind the text

I am not suggesting that the reader is conscious of predicting his waythrough a text like this. Usually he is not, but the skill is so useful that you 285may wish to make your students aware of it so that they can use it totackle difficult texts. lt does seem to be the case that as we read we makehypotheses about what the writer intends to say; these are immediatelymodified by what he actually does say, and are replaced by newhypotheses about what will follow. We have all had the experience of 290bel ieving we were understanding a text unt i l suddenly brought to a halt bysome word or phrase that would not fit into the pattern and forced us toreread and readjust our thoughts. Such occurrences lend support to thenotion of reading as a constant making and remaking of hypotheses - a'pycholinguistic guessing game'. 295

lf you are interested in finding out how far this idea accords withpractice, and how useful it might be in dealing with a difficult text, you,rnay like to try out the text and questions on p.13. To do so, take a pieceof card and use it to mask the text (which is printed in roman type). Movet down the page, reveal ing only one sect ion at a t ime. Answer the 300question (printed in lfallctype) before you go on to look at the nextsection. Check your prediction against what the text actually says, andiLrse the new knowledge to improve your next prediction. You will need tolook back to earlier parts of the text if you are to predict accurately, foryou must keep in mind the general organizat ion of the argument as wel l 305as the detail within each sentence. Try this out before reading further.

lf you have tried this out, you have probably been interested to findhow much you can predict , though natural ly we should not expect to beright every time - otherwise there would be no need for us to read.Conscious use of this technique can be helpful when we are faced with a 310parl of the text that we find difficult: if we can see the overall pattern ofthe text, and the waythe argument is organized, we can make a reasonedguess at the next step. Having an idea of what something might mean canbe a great help in tnterpret ing i t . l t can be part icular ly helpful in leading us'fo interpret correctly Ihe value of an utterance, which we must now 315def ine.

26 Unit2

Task 2

In this task you will use your own experience toevaluate the points made by Christine Nuttall.

How well did you understand the passage? If you understood it quiteeasily, what do you think helped you to understand it? If you found itfficult to understand, what do you think made it difficult?

List what you think are the main points made by Christine Nuttallabout reading comprehension. Then use your experience of trying tocomprehend the passage to help you to decide to what extent youagree with each point.

Intensive reading

Task 1

In this task you will examine the text to decide whatthe writer's main objectives are and to discover what

strategies she uses to try to achieve them.

1 Which of the following objectives do you think Christine Nuttallhas tried to achieve in this passage?

! a to present proven factsn b to stimulate the reader! c to present objectively various theories of comprehensiontr d to make the topic interesting to the non-expert readern e to be controversial! f to persuade the reader to agree with her theories on

comprehension! g to provide practical advicen h to encourage the reader to think for herArimself

For each ofthe objectives you have selected above, try to find anexample from the passage to show how Christine Nuttall has triedto achieve it.

2 Find examples from the passage of the following strategies:

a asking a question to get the reader to think and then providingan answer to help them.

b using an analogy with an everyday experience as a way ofhelping the reader to understand an aspect of the process ofreading comprehension.

c making a statement and then clarifying and reinforcing it with aseries of statements which repeat and add to the original one.

L'nit2 27

3 'In this chapter of her book, Nuttall tries to get her readers to usethe reading skills she is describing in order to help them tounderstand what she is saying about the reading process.'

Find evidence in the passage to support or refute this statement.

Task 2

In this task you will examine and evaluate in detailsome of the techniques and utterances used by

Christine Nuttall in the passage.

Give an example of a situation in which the decoder of a writtentext misinterprets the message intended by the encoder of thetext. Explain the cause(s) of the misinterpretation in yourexample.

Redraw the diagram in Fig. 2 so that it represents a moreaccurate version ofwhat the process ofunderstanding a textinvolves.

Summarize in one sentence Nuttall's views in 4.2 aboutwhat canmake a text difficult to understand.

Write a number of short texts in which the encoder iscommunicating the same message to:

a a friend who shares the same experience and knowledge.b a stranger who shares similar experience and knowledge.c people who do not have the same experience and knowledge

as the encoder.

What presuppositions do you think Nuttatl made when she waswriting this chapter? What assumptions do you think she madeabout her readers?

Give two examples of situations in which the decoder of a textneeds only a partial understanding of the encoder's message.Give an example of a situation in which the decoder has to try toachieve almost total understanding of the encoder's message.

What difference in reading activity are there between readingfor partial understanding and reading for total understanding?

Give examples of types of reading situations in which you wouldfind it easy to make predictions, and examples of situations inwhich you would find it dfficult.

Find a short article from a newspaper. Write out the articlesentence by sentence. After each sentence write a questionwhich would help the reader to make predictions about the nextsentence.

c

28 Unit2

For example: Robsonfi.nds the answer in Zurich.'Who is Robson? What is the article about?'

Bobby Robson was a happy man last night.'Why was he happy?'

When you have finished, swap your article with another student.Read their article and as you read make predictions about thenext sentence by answering your partner's questions.

Afterwards discuss the two articles with your partner and decideto what extent making predictions helped you to read the articleyou were given.

9 In the last sentence of the extract you have read Nuttall saysshe is going to define what is meant by the 'value'of anutterance. Use your understanding of what she has said so far topredict what she will say about'value'.

10 The passage is full of similes and metaphors which try to helpthe reader to understand what Nuttall is saying aboutcomprehension by relating aspects of it to experiences likely tobe familiar to the reader.

Locate all these comparisons in the passage and list themaccording to the following categories:

I aery helfful2 quite helpful3 not helpful

Explain why the comparisons you put in the first category helpedyou to understand and why those in the third category didn't helpyou at all.

Extension

In these tasks you will make use of your knowledgeand experience ofprediction and ofrelating a text to

world knowledge in order to

r work out what is going to happen in a number ofstories

r write the beginning of a story which requires thereaders to revise their predictions and to relate whatthey read to their experience of the world.

Ltnit 2 29

Task 1

1 Look at the front cover of The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged133/a and predict as much as you can about the story.

30 Unit2

Now read the first page of the novel below and revise and add toyour predictions.

Thursday January lst

BANK HOLIDAY IN ENGLAND,IRELAND. SCOTLAND AND WALES

These are my New Year's resolutions:

1. I will help the blind across the road.2. I will hang my trousers up.3. I will put the sleeves back on my records.4. I will not start smoking.5. I will stop squeezing my spots.6. I will be kind to the dog.7. I will help the poor and ignorant.8. After hearing the disgusting noises from downstairs

last night, I have also vowed never to drink alcohol.

My father got the dog drunk on cherry brandy at the partylast night. Ifthe RSPCA hear about it he could get done. Eightdays have gone by since Christmas Day but my mother stillhasn't wom the green lurex apron I bought her for Christmas!She will get bathcubes next year.

Just my luck, I've got a spot on my chin for the first day ofthe New Year!

Friday January 2nd

BANKHOLIDAYIN SCOTLAND. FULL MOON

I felt rotten today. It's my mother's fault for singing 'My Way'at two o'clock in the morning at rhe top of the stairs. Just myluck to have a mother like her. There is a chance my parentscould be alcoholics. Next year I could be in a children's home.

The dog got its own back on my father. It jumped up andknocked down his model ship , then ran into the garden with therigging tangled in its feet. My father kept saying, 'Three

months'work down the drain', over and over again.The spot on my chin is getting bigger. It's my mother's

fault for not knowing about vitamins.

Read Adrian's diary entry for December 31st that year and try towork out how accurate vour predictions were.

Unit2 31

The story of Adrian is continued in a follow up called The GrouingPains of Adrinn Mole.What do you think happens in this book? Ifyou are interested, try to read the two books about Adrian Moleand see how many of your predictions were correct.

The dog has pulled the Christmas fiee down and made all thepine needles stick in the shag-pile.

I have finished all my Christmas books and the library is stillshut. I am reduced to reading my father's Reader's Digestsand testing my word power.

Wednesday December30th

All the balloons have shrivelled up. They look like oldwomen's breasts shown on television documentaries abouttheThird World.

Thursday December 3lst

The last day ofthe year! A lot has happened. I have fallen inlove. Been a one-parent child. Gone intellectual. And had twoletters from the BBC. Not bad going for a 143/+yeat-oldl

My mother and father have been to a New Year's Eve danceat the Grand Hotel. My mother actually wore a dress ! It is overa year since she showed her legs in public.

Pandora and I saw the New Year in together, we had a deadpassionate session accompanied by Andy Stewart and a bag-piper.

My father came crashing through the front door at 1 a.m.carrying a lump of coal in his hand. Drunk as usual.

My mother started going on about what a wonderful son Iwas and how much she loved me. It's a pity she never saysanything like that when she is sober.

a

, 9

td't

-)

32 Unit2

2 a Read the following dedication:'For all those members of the South African Police Force whoselives are dedicated to the preservation of Western Civilization inSouthern Africa.'

This dedication is from the beginning of a novel. What do youthink the novel is about?

The novel is called,Indecent Exposure. Its author, Tom Sharpe,was deported from South Africa. Use this new information toconfirm or revise your predictions.

Read the following extract from near the beginning of thenovel and then make your final predictions about thenovel. Think about:. the setting. the characters. the story. the themes. the attitude and the intentions of the writer

Presently, leaving the Mayor discussing the advisability of allowing visitingJapanese businessmen to use the Whites 0nly swimming pools with theRev Schlachbals, the Kommandant moved away. At the entrance of thetent Luitenant Verkramp was deep in conversation with a large blondewhose turquoise dress fitted her astonishingly well. Under the pink picturehat the Kommandant recognized the features of Dr von Blimenstein, theeminent psychiatrist at Fort Rapier Mental Hospital.

'Getting free treatment?'the Kommandant asked jocularly as he edgedpasr.

'Dr von Blimenstein has been telling me how she deals with cases ofmanic-depression,' said the Luitenant.

Dr von Blimenstein smiled. 'Luitenant Verkramp seems most interestedin the use of electro-convulsive therapy.'

' l know,' said the Kommandant and wandered out into the open air, idlyspeculating on the possibility that Verkramp was attiacted to the blondepsychiatrist. lt seemed unlikely somehow but with Luitenant Verkrampone never knew.

Task 2

Write the first page of a story which starts ,'I'm not scared,' I kepttellingmyself. Write the story in such a way that the readers will haveto use their knowledge of the world to work out what has happenedand to predict what is going to happen, (i. e., don't provide exactdetails ofthe setting, the characters and the story).

Swap your story with that of a partner and try to work out as much asyou can about the setting, characters and story. Tell them yourconclusions and ask them how accurate thev are.

L'nit 2 2 2

2 Narrative

Freparation

Task 1

In this task you will be asked to make use of shortextracts from a novel to help you to predict the

content and style of the novel.

1 The following extracts are from the first paragraph of a novel.Read them carefully and try to predict

. who thern in the first extract refers to

. where they are

. why they are there

a Most of them told the time very roughly by their meals . . . 'b ' . . . and when i t was dark they fel l asleep by taci t consent . . . 'c '. . . they had three good watches among thirty-two men, and a

second-hand and unrel iable - or so the watch-owners claimed -

alarm clock. 'd 'The two wrist-watches were the first to go . . . 'e '. . . and presently, some hours later, the watches reappeared on

the wrists of two of . . . '

2 Use the extracts to try to write the first paragraph of the novel.

3 Read the first paragraph of the following extract from the novelTheTenth Manby Graham Greene and compare it to yourversion. In particular look for differences in content and style.

Most of them told the t ime very roughly by their meals, which wereunpunctual and irregular; they amused themselves with the most chi ldishgames al l through the day, and when i t was dark they fel l asleep by taci tconsent - not waiting for a particular hour of darkness for they had norneans of tel l ing the t ime exact ly: in fact there were as many t imes asthere were prisoners. When their imprisonment started they had threegood watches among thir ty-two men, and a second-hand and unrel iable -

or so the watch-owners claimed - alarm clock. The two wrist-watches,were the first to go: their owners left the cell at seven o'clock onernorning - or seven-ten the alarm clock said - and present ly, some hoursater, the watches reappeared on the wrists of two of the guards.

That left the alarm clock and a large old{ashioned silver watch on achain belonging to the Mayor of Bourge. The alarm clock belonged to anengine dr iver cal led Pierre, and a sense of competi t ion grew between . .

34 Unit2

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Extensive reading

Task 1

In this task you will read a longer extract from thenovel in order to understand the main points about

the setting and the characters.

Read the whole of extract A through once fairly quickly, and as youread think about why the author has decided to start the novel in thisway and why the characters are so obsessed by time.

When you have finished reading discuss your conclusions with apartner.

Extract A

Most of them told the time very roughly by their meals, which wereunpunctual and irregular; they amused themselves with the most childishgames all through the day, and when it was dark they fell asleep by tacitconsent - not waiting for a particular hour of darkness for they had nomeans of telling the time exactly: in fact there were as many times asthere were prisoners. When their imprisonment started they had threegood watches among thirty-two men, and a second-hand and unreliable -or so the watch-owners claimed - alarm clock. The two wrist-watcheswere the first to go:their owners left the cell at seven o'clock onemorning - or seven-ten the alarm clock said - and presently, some hourslater, the watches reappeared on the wrists of two of the guards.

That left the alarm clock and alarge old-fashioned silver watch on achain belonging to the Mayor of Bourge. The alarm clock belonged to anengine driver called Pierre, and a sense of competition grew between thetwo men. Time, they considered, belonged to them and not the twenty-eight other men. But there were two times, and each man defended hisown with a terrible passion. lt was a passion which separated them fromtheir comrades, so that at any hour of the day they could be found in thesame corner of the great concrete shed: they even took their mealstogether.

Once the mayor forgot to wind his watch: it had been a day of rrlmour,for during the night they had heard shooting from the direction of the city,just as they had heard it before the two men with wrist-watches weretaken away and the word 'hostage'grew in each brain like a heavy cloudwhich takes by a caprice of wind and density the shape of letters. Strangeideas grow in prison and the mayor and the engine driver drew togetheryet more intimately: it was as though they feared that the Germans chosedeliberately the men with watches to rob them of time. The mayor evenbegan to suggest to his fellow prisoners that the two remainingt imeoieces should be keot hidden rather than that al l should lose theirservices, but when he began to put this idea into words the notionsuddenly seemed to resemble cowardice and he broke off in mid-sentence.

30

n--nit 2 35

Whatever the cause that night, the mayor forgot to wind his watch.rt/hen he woke in the morning, as soon as it was light enough to see he'goked at his watch, 'Well,' Pierre said, 'what is the time? What does theantique say?'The hands stood like black neglected ruins at a quarter to:ne. lt seemed to the mayor the most terrible moment of his life: worse,?r worse than the day the Germans fetched him. Prison leaves no sense.rnimpaired, and the sense of proportion is the first to go. He looked from-ace to face as though he had committed an act of treachery: he hadsurrendered the only true time, He thanked God that there was no one*rere from Bourge. There was a barber from Etain, three clerks, a lorry-Criver, a greengrocer, a tobacconist - every man in the prison but onewas of a lower social plane than himself , and whi le he fel t al l the greaterresponsibility towards them, he also felt they were easy to deceive, andhe told himself that after all it was better so: better that they shouldbelieve they stil l had the true time with them than trust to their unguidedguesses and the second-hand alarm clock.

He made a rapid calculation by the grey light through the bars. ' lt 's

twenty-five minutes past five,' he said firmly and met the gaze of the one'vhom he was afraid might see through his deceit: a Paris lawyer calledChavel, a lonely fellow who made awkward attempts from time to time toprove himself human. Most of the other prisoners regarded him as anoddity, even a joke: a lawyer was not somebody with whom one lived: hewas a grand doll who was taken out on particular occasions, and now hehad lost his black robe.

'Nonsense,' Pierre said, 'What's come over the antique? lt's just aquarter to six.'

'A cheap alarm like that always goes fast.'The lawyer said sharply, as though from habit, 'Yesterday you said it

was slow.' From that moment the mayor hated Chavel: Chavel and hervere the only men of position in the prison: he told himself that neverwould he have let Chavel down in that way, and immediately begantortuously to seek for an explanation - some underground anddisgraceful motive. Although the lawyer seldom spoke and had no friends,the mayor said to himself, 'Currying popularity. He thinks he'll rule thisprison. He wants to be a dictator.'

'Let's have a look at the antique,' Pierre said, but the watch was safelytethered by its silver chain weighted with seals and coins to the mayor'swaistcoat. lt couldn't be snatched. He could safely sneer at the demand.

But that day was marked permanently in the mayor's mind as one ofthose black days of terrible anxiety which form a private calendar:the dayof his marriage: the day when his first child was born: the day of thecounci l elect ion: the day when his wife died. Somehow he had to set hiswatch going and adjust the hands to a plausible figure without anyonespotting him - and he felt the Paris lawyer's eyes on him the whole day.To wind the watch was fairly simple: even an active watch must bewound, and he had only to wind it to half its capacity, and then at somelater hour of the day give it absent-mindedly another turn or two.

Even that did not pass unnoticed by Pierre. 'What are you at?' he askedsuspiciously. 'You've wound i t once. ls the ant ique breaking down?'

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36 Unit2

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' l wasn' t thinking, ' the mayor said, but his mind had never been moreactive. lt was much harder to find a chance to adjust the hands which formore than half the day pursued Pierre's time at a distance of five hours.Even nature could not here provide an opportunity. The lavatories were arow of buckets in the yard and for the convenience of the guards no manwas allowed to go alone to a bucket: they went in parties of at least sixmen. Nor could the mayor wait ti l l night, for no light was allowed in thecell and it would be too dark to see the hands. And all the time he had tokeep a mental record of how time passed: when a chance occurred hemust seize it, without hesitating over the correct quartering of an hour.

At last towards evening a quarrel broke out over the primitive cardgame - a kind of 'snap' with home-made cards - that some of the menspent most of their time playing. For a moment eyes were fixed on theplayers and the mayor took out his watch and quickly shifted the hands.

'What is the time?'the lawyer asked. The mayor started as if he hadbeen caught in the witness-box by a sudden question: the lawyer waswatching him with the strained unhappy look that was habitual to him: thelook of a man who has carried nothing over from his past to buttress himin the tragic present.

'Twenty-five minutes past five.'' l had imagined it was later.''That is my time,' the mayor said sharply. lt was indeed his time: from

now on he couldn't recognize even the faintest possibility of error: histime could not be wrong because he had invented it.

Intensive reading

Task 1

In this task you will be asked to analyze thepassage in detail to find out as much as possible

about how it is written.

In line 1 why is the anonlmous pronoun 'them' used instead of adescription of the group?Why did the men play'childish games' (L.2)? Give an example ofone of these games.Why were there 'as many times as there were prisoners' (L.5)?What did time mean to them?Why do you think the watch-owners claimed the alarm clock wasunreliable (L.7)?In L.8 why do you think the wrist-watches are mentioned beforetheir owners? What do you think happened to the owners?Why did Pierre and the Mayor of Bourge think that timebelonged to them?Why did the word'hostage' 'grow in each brain' (L.24)?Why did Pierre ask the mayor 'what is the time?' (L.36)?Explain why the mayor considered his forgetting to wind his

I

8I

.,-rtit 2 2,7

watch as 'treachery' and'surrender' . What does this tell us aboutthe mayor as a man and as a prisoner?

t0 What are the similarities between the mayor and Chavel. Whydid the mayor hate Chavel so much?

11 Why do you think the mayor went to so much trouble to concealthat his watch was pursuing Pierre's time at a distance of fivehours? Why do you think the author uses the word'pursued'(L.85) instead of, for example, 'followed'?

12 Why do you think Chavel asks the mayor the time (L.97)?13 What are the literal and figurative meanings of 'my' in L.104?14 InThe Sunday Times, John Coray referred to this novel as 'A

masterpiece - tapped out in the lean, sharp-eyed prose that fi,lmwork taught Greene to perfecf . On the evidence of the extract,say whether or not you agree with this statement and giveexamples from the text to support your answer.

Preparation

Task I

In this task you will be asked to use your experienceof reading extract A of the novel, your knowledge ofEnglish and your knowledge of the world to predict

what happens in extract B.

The prisoners you have read about in extract A are given aterrible choice by their captors. From your reading of the firstextract, what do you think this choice is?

Read the following short extract and see if you can be moreprecise about what the choice is.'How do we draw?' Krogh asked. Chavel said, 'The quickest way wouldbe to draw marked papers out of a shoe . . , '. Krogh saidcontemptuously, 'Why the quickest way? This is the last gamble someof us wi l l have. We may as wel l enjoy i t . I say a coin. '

38 Unit2

3 What does Krogh mean by 'draw'?

4 Why is Krogh so'contemptuous' of. Chavel?

5 Why will it be the last gamble for some of them?

6 Now read extract B below and as you read check how accurateyour predictions were and try to keep anticipating what is comingnext.

Extract B'lt won't work,'the clerk said, 'You can't get an even chance with a

coin. ''The only way is to draw,' the mayor said.The clerk prepared the draw, sacrificing for it one of his letters from

5 home. He read it rapidly for the last time, then tore it into thitty pieces.0n three pieces he made a cross in penci l , and then folded each piece.'Krogh's got the biggest shoe,' he said. They shuffled the pieces on thefloor and then dropped them into the shoe.

'We' l l draw in alphabet ical order, ' the mayor said.10 'Z first,' Chavel said. His feeling of security was shaken. He wanted a

drink badly. He picked at a dry piece of skin on his lip.'As you wish,'the lorry-driver said. 'Anybody beat Voisin? Here goes.'

He thrust his hand into the shoe and made careful excavations as thoughhe had one particular scrap of paper in mind. He drew one out, opened it,

15 and gazed aI it with astonishment. He said, 'This is it. ' He sat down andfelt for a cigarette, but when he got it between his lips he forgot to light it.

Chavel was fil led with a huge and shameful joy. lt seemed to him thatalready he was saved - twenty-nine men to draw and only two markedpapers left. The chances had suddenly grown in his favour from ten to one

20 to - fourteen to one: the greengrocer had drawn a slip and indicatedcarelessly and without pleasure that he was safe. Indeed from the firstdraw any mark of pleasure was taboo: one couldn't mock the condemnedman by any sign of relief.

Again a dull disquiet - it couldn't yet be described as a f ear - extended25 its empire over Chavel's chest. lt was like a constriction: he found himself

yawning as the sixth man drew a blank slip, and a sense of grievancenagged at his mind when the tenth man had drawn - it was the one theycal led Janvier - and the chances were once again the same as when thedraw started. Some men drew the first slip which touched their fingers:

30 others seemed to suspect that fate was trying to force on them aparticular slip and when they had drawn one a little way from the shoewould let it drop again and choose another. Time passed with incredibleslowness, and the man called Voisin sat against the wall with the unlightedcigarette in his mouth paying them no attention at all.

35 The chances had narrowed to one in eight when the elderly clerk - hisname was Lenotre - drew the second slip. He cleared his throat and puton his pince-nez as though he had to make sure he was not mistaken. 'Ah,

Monsieur Voisin, ' he said with a thin undecided smile, 'may I jo in you?'This time Chavel felt no joy even though the elusive odds were back again

40 overwhelmingly in his favour at fifteen to one: he was daunted by the

l,-nit 2 39

:ourage of common men. He wanted the whole thing to be over asquickly as possible: l ike a game of cards which has gone on too long, he:nly wanted someone to make a move and break up the table. Lenotre,si t t ing down against the wal l next to Voisin, turned the sl ip over: on theDack was a scrap of writing.

'Your wife?' Voisin said.'My daughter, ' Lenotre said. 'Excuse me. ' He went over to his rol l of

cedding and drew out a wri t ing pad. Then he sat down next to Voisin andoegan to write carefully, without hurry, a thin legible hand. The odds werecack to ten to one.

From that point the odds seemed to move towards Chavel with adreadful inevi tabi l i ty: nine to one, eight to one: they were l ike a point inginger. The men who were lef t drew more quickly and more carelessly:they seemed to Chavel to have some inner information - to know that he,vas the one. When his time came to draw there were only three slips left,and it appeared to Chavel a monstrous injustice that there were so fewchoices lef t for him. He drew one out of the shoe and then feel ing certainthat this one had been wi l led on him by his companions and containedthe penci l led cross he threw i t back and snatched another.

'You looked, lawyer, ' one of the two men exclaimed, but the otherouieted him.

'He didn' t look. He's got the marked one now.'

Extensive reading

Task 1

In this task you will use your experience of readingthe two extracts from the novel to find out as much asyou can about the main character of the novel and to

predict what is going to happen to him.

Who do you think is going to emerge as the main character in thenovel? What evidence is there to support your view?

What do we find out about him in the two extracts and how is this'information'revealed to us bv the author? What do we knowabout him from

a whathe saysb whathe doesc what is said about him by the authord what is said or thought about him by other characterse the words used to describe his thoughts and actionsf assumptions we make on the basis of our theory of the world

What do you think is going to happen to him in the rest of thenovel?

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40 Unit2

Intensive reading

Task 1

In this task you will be asked to answer detailedquestions about extract B.

1 Why do you think Chavel prepared the draw and why did hesacrifice one of his letters from home?

2 Why do you thinka the mayor suggests drawing in alphabetical order?b Chavel suggests starting wlthz?c the lorry-driver immediately agrees with Chavel?

3 Why did Voisin forget to light his cigarette?

4 Why did Chavel feela'huge and shameful joy' whenVoisin haddrawn his paper? Why did he later on feel 'a sense of grieuance' andthen consider the situation to be a'monstrotts iniustice'?

5 Why did Lenotre put on his pince-nez, and why, when he spoke toVoisin, was his smtle'undecided'?

6 Why do you think one of the two men accused Chavel of looking?

7 How do you think Chavel is going to react to drawing a markedsliP?

Extension

In these tasks you are going to use your experienceof reading extracts Aand.B to help you to write

narratrve.

In pairs or small groups do one of the following creative writing tasks.

Task I

In the novel Chavel tries to save his own life by offering all his money,property and land to anyone who will take his marked slip. A mancalledJanvier agrees and he is later shot instead of Chavel.

In your groups choose one of the following to do:

I Write the page which describes Chavel's offer andJanvier'sacceptance of it.

2 Imagine you are either the mayor or Krogh and write a letter fromthe prison to a friend or relative describing what happened on theday when allthe prisoners drew lots.

3 Later in the novel Chavel visits the house he gave toJanvier inorder to save his own life. Write the page which describes thisvisit.

Unit2 41

I The novel ends dramatically and violently when another of the ex-prisoners visits Chavel's old house and meets Chavel there. Writethe last page of the novel.

Task 2

As a group do one of the following:

I Write the first page of a novel set in a future war in which theprisoners have to make a'terrible choice'.

2 Write letters from two prisoners glving different accounts of howthey both escaped death whilst in prison.

Review activities

In these activities you will relate your experience ofreading the passage in Section 1 to your experience

' of reading the passage in Section 2.

a Read the first page of a novel or story in English. As you readtry to focus on the exact meaning of each word and phrase. Ifyou wish, you can use a dictionary and a grarnmar book to helpyou.

b Read another first page of a novel or story in English, but thistime don't worry about the exact meaning of every word orphrase. Before you start reading try to predict what the storywill be about using clues such as the cover of the book, theblurb on the back or the inside cover, the tifle, the chapterheading, the first sentence, etc. Thenas youreadkeep ontrying to predict what is coming next and ask yourselfquestions based on your knowledge of the world beingdescribed in the book.

c Use your experience of reading pages of narrative in twoffierent ways to decide which of the two ways

r was the most enjoyable. enabled you to understand the story better. was the most useful

Read the following extract from another book about reading,Reading in aforetgn language, and as you read it relate it to whatNuttall says about comprehension and to your recent experiencesof reading narrative.

42 Unit2

Fifthly, the product of reading will vary according to the reader. Differentreaders will arnve at different products because they start off fromdifferent positions (Strang 1972). Bransf ord et al. and Steffensen andJoag-Dev, in particular, clearly demonstrate the effect of culturalknowledge on the product of comprehension, appealing to the processesof distortion and elaboration to account for the differences between arecall of text and the original text. Bransford et al. show that not only isrelevant knowledge important to processing, but also that suchknowledge needs to be activated before it can contribute tounderstanding.

Sixthly, the product of reading will vary according to the reader'spurpose and motivation, as both Royer ef a/. and Fransson show in theircontributions to this volume. Royer et al. reporl attempts to manipulatethe reader's intent in order to influence what the learner learns, and showthat the purpose a reader has in reading a text will affect the outcome ofhis understanding: the product. Fransson shows that the reader'smotivation (rather than the experimenter's attempts to manipulatepurpose) has an effect, not only on the product of comprehension, butalso upon the process of understanding. Variables such as differentbackground knowledge, adherence to different tasks, different motivation,all cast doubt on an attempt to describe reading comprehension simply interms of a set of hierarchically ordered skills.

One final point to be made about the tradition of research into 'skills' isthat it is based upon the assumption that texts have predictablemeanings, which can be extracted only if the reader is sufficiently skilful.Widdowson (I979) suggests that text does not have meaning, bulpotentialfor meaning, which will vary from reader to reader, dependingupon a multitude of factors, but crucially related to purpose andknowledge. In this view, meaning is actually created by the reader in hisinteraction with the text.

In groups decide. if there are any dffierences between what this extract says

about reading and what Nuttall says.. if there are any points in this extract which you disagree with.o what you think are the essential features of efficient

comprehension of narrative.

3 Write a paragraph giving your advice to an intermediate levelstudent of English on the best way of reading narrative in English.Make your advice as simple and practical as possible.

1 Reporting an experiment

Preparation

Task I

This activity will prepare you to read the passage byencouraging you to think about some of the issues

which it raises.

You are going to read a text called No t just parrot-talk. The textreports on an experiment to teach a parrot English, and alsodiscusses some of the problems with this kind of experiment.

1 Most people would agree that animals are able to communicate.However, they would also agree that animal communication ismuch more restricted than human communication.

a What kinds of messages can dogs communicate to theirowners?

b What means do they use to communicate these messages?c In what way is this communication ffierent from the

communication that takes place between people?

2 It is possible to teach a parrot to 'talk'. But what exactly has a'talking'parrot learnt to do? Complete this table by putting a tick(/) or a cross (X) to show what you think a'talking'parrot haslearnt. If you're not sure put a question mark (?).

A'talking' parrot has learnt:

1 to imitate words or short phrases

2 to imitate complete sentences3 to remember words or short phrases

4 to remember complete sentences5 to understand the meaning of words6 to distinguish objects by their names7 to join words together in 'new' ways (i.e., in combinations other

than those that have actually been taught)8 to mention objects that can be seen at the time of speaking9 to mention objects that cannot be seen at the time of speaking

10 to count (e.g., from one to five)1 1 to request an object12 to ask a question

13 to answer a ouestion14 to refuse something it doesn't want

Animallanguage

44 Unit3

3 This is a description of a simple experiment designed to find outwhether parrots can learn English. What criticism would youmake of this experiment?

The researcher showed the parrot four objects, (an orange, a banana,an apple and a grape). She held up each object and said its namecontinuously until the parrot imitated the word accurately. Wheneverthe parrot did so, it was rewarded by being allowed to eat the fruit ithad named. This was repeated for three days. 0n the fourth day, theresearcher held up each object but did not say the name. The parrotpronounced each name correctly without assistance. The researcherconcluded that the parrot had successfully learnt English in much thesame way as a young child.

What experiment would you carry out to find out whether parrotsreally can learn English like a child?

4 The title of the text you are going to readis Not just parrot-talk.Which of the following does this title suggest?n a'Parrot-talk'isdifferentfrom'real-talk'.tr b In this case the parrot did more than just mimic sounds.! c Parrots cannot learn how to talk.! d The parrot in the experiment came close to learning how

to talk but didn't quite succeed.

Extensive Reading

Task I

In this activity you will practise scanningthe information in the text in order to find

specific information.

Read through the text quickly to find out what the experiment showedthe parrot was able to do. Complete the table below by putting a tick(/) to show what the parrot had learnt, according to the informationin the passage.

UnitS 45

89

The parrot had learnt:

Iz3456

to imitate words or short phrases

to imitate complete sentencesto remember words or short phrases

to remember complete sentencesto understand the meaning of wordsto distinguish objects by their namesto join words together in 'new' ways (i.e., in combinations otherthan those it has actually been taught)to mention objects that can be seen at the time of speakingto mention objects that cannot be seen at the time ofspeaking

10 to count (e.g., from one to five)I I to request an object12 to ask a question

13 to answer a question

14 to refuse something it doesn't want

Compare your table with that of a partner. Discuss any differencesand check the passage to decide who is correct.

Were there any differences between what you expected to read andwhat the passage told you?

Not just parcot-talkScientists have taught a parrotEnglish. So what? This time, itseems, the bird not only says thewords but also understands them.Alex, an African grey parrotresiding at America's PurdueUniversity in Indiana, has avocabulary of about 40 words withwhich he identifies, requests andsometimes refuses more than 50toys. He seems to manipulatewords as abstract symbols-inother words, to use a primitiveform of language.

In many birds, communicationtakes the form of simple,stereotyped signals. Some birds,like parrots, are capable oflearninghuge repertoires of phrases by

mimicking each other or otherspecies. But, until now, there hasbeen no evidence that any birdcould make the big Ieap toassociating one sound exclusivelywith one object or quality.

Alex can. Dr Irene Pepperberg,his trainer, exploited the naturalcuriosity of the parrot to teach himto use the names of different toys.She did this with a techniqueknown as model/rival training. Thetrainer and an assistant play withthe toys and ask each otherquestions about them. To join in,the parrot has to compete for thetrainer's attention.

The results have beenspectacular. Alex rapidly learnt to

46 UnitS

40

50

55

60

65

70

ask for certain objects, identifyingthem by words for shape, colourand material (eg, three-corneredgreen paper, or five-corneredyellow wood). He is asked torepeat words until he gets themright and is then rewarded by beinggiven the object to play with. DrPepperberg believes it is importantthat the bird is not rewarded withfood, because that would make himthink of words as ways of gettingtreats rather than as symbols forobiects.

Alex is a clever boy

Twice a week, Alex is tested andhe normally gets about 80Eo of theobjects right. The mistakes areusually small omissions (forinstance, he forgets to name thecolour of an object) rather thanspecific errors. To discover if hereally is able to grasp concepts likecolour and shape, he is shownentirely novel combinations. Whenfirst shown a blue piece of leatherhe said'blue hide'even though theblue objects he had previously seenwere all keys or made of wood.This suggests that he is capable of'segmentation': that is, he is awarethat words are building blocks thatcan be used in different com-binations.

Still, a vocabulary of adjectivesand nouns hardly amounts tomastery of a language. Thescientists have been looking forevidence that Alex understandsmore complicated ideas. Oneunexpected breakthrough was

when he learnt to say 'no'. Hepicked this up from theconversations between trainer andmodel and seems to understand atleast one meaning of the word-rejection (for instance, when DrPepperberg tries to play with himand he does not feel like it). He canalso count to flve when asked howmany objects are being shown.

There are occasional hints thathe has grasped even moreadvanced concepts but DrPepperberg is cautious. Thedebates over the abilities ofchimpanzees to use sign languagehave recently descended fromeuphoria to acrimony and nobodydares make extravagant claims anYmore. It is not that people doubtthe ability of apes to accumulate alarge vocabulary of signs. (The topscorer is probably Dr FrancinePatterson's gorilla, Koko, atAmerica's Stanford University,with over 600 signs.) The argumentis about whether apes can under-stand syntax or segmentation.

Examples which seem to showthem doing so are few anddisputed. For instance, Washoe,the first and most famous of thetalking chimpanzees, once pointedto a swan and signed 'water bird'.Or did she? Dr Herbert Terrace ofColumbia University (who astrainer of the chimpanzee NimChimpsky, came to cheer andstayed to jeer) pointed out that shemight simply have signed 'water'

and 'bird' in quick succession.Other sceptics argue that, in the

course of a lifetime, it would besurprising if such apes did notoccasionally throw togethersyntactical combinations of signs bypure chance. A more seriousallegation is that the apes areresponding to unconscious cuesfrom their trainers.

Unconscious cueing is known asthe 'clever Hans effect' in honourof a famous horse in nineteenth-century Germany. Hans appearedto knock out the answers tomathematical sums with his hoof.In fact, the horse was not doing thesums but was responding to subtle

ntr

Unit3 47

150

2

Task2

The purpose of this activity is to encourage you tolook at how the passage has been organized into

sections.

The passage can be divided into t}ree main sections, each dealingwith separate but related issues:

a The parrot experimentb Problems with animal languageJearning experimentsc Overcoming the problems

Skim through the text quickly and write down the line numberswhere each section begins and ends.

Another way of organizing the text might have been as follows:

a Previous animal languageJearning experiments: summary andproblems

b The parrot experimentc Advantages of the parrot experiment over previous

experiments

Which type of organzalson do you prefer, the actual or thealternative? Why?

Why do you ttrink the writer chose the type of organization shedid?

TaskS

The aim of this activity is to help you to consider whothe intended audience of the passage is.

TVho do you think this passage was written for?

tr a theeducatedgeneralreadertr b trained scientistsn c trained linguiststr d students studying linguistics

Make a list of all the clues in the passage that you used to arrive atyouf answer.

signs from the crowd which toldhim when to stop. When the crowddid not know the answer, Hanscould not do the sum.

Dr Pepperberg believes that herexperiments are free of such aneffect because speech is less easy tocue than sign language. She arguesthat this makes talking parrots

better subjects than signing apesfor probing the limits of animalintelligence. She would like to seeAlex (or, even better, a youngparrot) compared with children tosee if the bird discovers ideas in thesame order as the children do andexactly where the children leavethe bird behind.

48 Unit3

Intensive reading

The activities in this section will require a careful reading of thepassage, section by section.

Task 1

In this activity you will examine in detail thenature of the information in the first section of the

passage (L.1 to 88).

The main purpose of the first section of the passage is to tell thereader about a new experiment that has been carried out to teach aparrot Enftlish.

A report of an experiment usually has information about

. the subject (who or what was being studied)

. the method (the way the experiment was carried out)r results (what was observed during the experiment). conclusions (what the er<periment showed)

Here is a list of sentences from the passage in the order in which theyoccur. State what kind of information (i.e., the subject, method,results or conclusions) each sentence provides.

1 Alex, an African grey parrot residing at America's Purdue University inIndiana, has a vocabulary of about 40 words with which he identifies,requests and sometimes refuses more than 50 toys.

2 He seems to manipulate words as abstract symbols - in other words,to use primitive forms of language.

3 Dr lrene Pepperberg, his trainer, exploited the natural curiosity of theparrot to teach him to use the names of different toys.

4 Alex rapidly'learnt to ask for certain objects, identifying them bywords for shape, colour and material (e.g., three-cornered greenpaper, or five-cornered yellow wood).

5 He is asked to repeat words until he gets them right and is thenrewarded by being given the object to play with.

6 Twice a week, Alex is tested and he normally gets about 80% of theobjects right.

7 This suggests that he is capable of 'segmentation': that is, he is awarethat words are building blocks that can be used in differentcombinations.

8 He can also count to five when asked how many objects are beingshown.

UnitS 49

Task2

This activity is designed to help you examine howthe information in the first section of the passage is

organized (L.1 to 88).

a Does the-information in the passage follow the order below?

subjectmethodresultsconclusion

b In what kind of writing would you expect the information to bepresented in this order?

Read the first two paragraphs carefully.

a Which of these statements most accurately summarizes thewriter's purpose in the first two paragraphs?

tr (a) to introduce the topic of the article - teaching animalslanguage.

(b) to give information about the subject of the experiment.(c) to persuade the reader that the experiment is a novel one

and therefore worth reading about.(d) to provide a statement of the main conclusion of the

experiment - that animals can learn a primitive form oflanguage.

b What is'the meaning of So what? nline 2. What is its function inthe text?

c Use the following framework to explain what the writer seemsto be trying to tell the reader in the first two paragraphs.

Previous experiments

+Problems

3 Read paragraphs three and four careftrlly.

a What is the principalkind of informationwhich these twoparagraphs provide?

! (a) the subjectn 6) the methodn (c) the resultstr (d) the conclusions

trtr

n

50 Unit3

b The writer describes two different methods used to teach theparrot English. State briefly what they are.

4 Read paragraphs five and six.

a These two paragraphs contain jumbled information about theresults and the conclusions of the experiment. Separate theinformation into these two areas.

b Write out the results reported in these two paragraphs.

c Write out the conclusions mentioned in these two paragraphs.

d This diagram represents how the information in these twoparagraphs is organized. Match the parts of the diagram withsentences in the text.

Task3

The questions in this activity will help you tounderstand how the information is organized in the

second section of the passage (L.89 to 140).

Read section two (paragraphs seven to ten) of the passage carefully.

1 What animals is this section about?n a parrotstr b apesn c horses! d none ofthese

2 The writer refers to another set of animal experiments toillustrate a general problem about interpreting previous animallanguage experiments. Find the sentence that refers to thisproblem.

3 The main theme of this section is disagreement. Make a list of allthe words the writer uses to indicate or suggest disagreement:for example, acrimony.

Unit3 51

4 The writer provides a number of arguments that have been usedto cast doubt on whether the chimpanzee experiments reallyshow that animals can learn language.

Complete this summary of these arguments.

a Evidence that chimpanzees produce novel combinations, suchas 'water bird', are not clear; they may just be producingseparate words.

b . . . . . .c . . . . . .

Task4

In this activity you will consider the functionof the information in the final section of the

passage (L.14I to 159).

Read the final section (paragraph eleven) carefully.

I Which of the following best describes the function of the finalparagraph?

! a to summarize the main points of the article.tr b to suggest that Pepperberg's experiment is not just

another animal language experiment.! c to reach a conclusion about whether a als are capable of

learning language.! d to cast doubt on the value of Pepperberg's experiment

with the parrot.

2 Explain in your own words why Pepperberg considers parrots arebetter subjects than apes for animal language experiments.

Extension

Task I

In this activity you will consider the attitude whichthe writer takes to the content of the article.

I What is the writer's attitude to the parrot experiment in thepassage? Describe his attitude by ringrng the appropriate numberon each of the scales below.

The writer's attitude to the parrot experiment can be described as:

scepticaldismissiveboredfrivolous

. biasedcritical

n a Az 5 +

2 3 42 3 4n ^ Az 5 +

2 3 42 3 4

5 convrnced5 supportive5 interested5 serious5 objective5 uncrit ical

52 Unit3

2 Work in a group. Compare your responses with those of othermembers of your group. Support your own responses withevidence from the passage.

Task2

In this activity you will consider your ownresponse to both the content of the text and also the

way that it is written.

a In paragraph six the writer provides evidence to support theclaim that the parrot understands 'more complicated ideas'.What is this evidence? How convincing do you find it?

b Why is it important to demonstrate that the parrot is capable of'segmentation'(paragraph five)? Do you think that the parrotexperiment has demonstrated that Alex is capable ofsegmentation?

To what extent has this article convinced you that parrots (andother animals) can learn language? If you are not convinced, whatother evidence would you like to have?

This article is an example of 'serious journalism'. What changeswould need to be made if the article was intended to be a 'serious

scientific report'?

2 Third person narrative

Preparation

Task 1

This activity is designed to make you thinkabout what you already know about fiction

based on animals.

Do you know a novel in which the main characters are animals?

What is the title of the novel?Which animals figure in it?Who is it intended for: adults, adolescents, children or everyone?Is the novel just a 'story' or does it have a serious 'theme'? Whatis the theme?

Animal characters in novels are often invested with humancharacteristics. Complete this table by indicating what youconsider to be the typical human characteristic(s) of each animal.

UnitS 53

Animal Characteristics

plgshorsesdonkeyscatsspidersrabbits

3 Fiction based on animal characters is often used for satire. Makesure you know what'satke'is. Why do you think this kind offiction is so well-suited to satire?

Extensive reading

Task 1

The aim of this activity is to help you toa general understanding of an extract

Watershib Donn.

achievefrom

Watership Down, anovel by Richard Adams, describes theadventures of a group of rabbits who leave their warren and make along trek to find another place to live. In the novel, the authorexplores the nature of different types of social and politicalorgantzation.

In the extract you are going to read, two rabbits have decided to go tothe Chief Rabbit of their walTen to discuss something important.

54 Unit3

1 Read through the extract quickly to find the answers to thesequestions.

a What are the names of the two rabbits visiting the ChiefRabbit?Who agrees to take them to the Chief Rabbit?What do the two rabbits want the Chief Rabbit to do?Why do they want him to do this?Why does the Chief Rabbit refuse?What happened to Bigwig? Why?

'Hazel?' said Bigwig, sniffing at him in the deep twilight among the tree-roots. ' lt is Hazel, isn't it? What are you doing here? And at this time ofday?' He ignored Fiver, who was waiting farther down the run.

'We want to see the Chief Rabbit,'said Hazel. ' lt 's important, Bigwig.Can you help us?'

'We?' said Bigwig. 'ls he going to see him too?''Yes, he must. Do trust me, Bigwig. I don't usually come and talk like

this, do l? When did I ever ask to see the Chief Rabbit before?''Well, l ' l l do it for you, Hazel, although I'l l probably get my head bitten

off. I ' l l tell him I know you're a sensible fellow. He ought to know youhimself, of course, but he's getting old. Wait here, will you?'

Bigwig went a little way down the run and stopped at the entrance to alarge burrow. After speaking a few words that Hazel could not catch, hewas evidently called inside. The two rabbits waited in silence, broken onlyby the continual nervous fidgeting of Fiver.

The Chief Rabbit's name and style was Threarah, meaning'Lord RowanTree'. For some reason he was always referred to as'IheThrearah'-perhaps because there happened to be only one threar, or rowan, nearthe warren, from which he took his name. He had won his position notonly by strength in his prime, but also by level-headedness and a certainself-contained detachment, quite unlike the impulsive behaviour of mostrabbits. lt was well-known that he never let himself become excited byrumour or danger. He had coolly - some even said coldly - stood firmduring the terrible onslaught of the myxomatosis, ruthlessly driving outevery rabbit who seemed to be sickening. He had resisted all ideas ofmass emigration and enforced complete isolation on the warren, therebyalmost certainly saving it from extinction. lt was he, too, who had oncedealt with a particularly troublesome stoat by leading it down among thepheasant coops and so (at the risk of his own life) on to a keeper's gun.He was now, as Bigwig said, getting old, but his wits were stil l clearenough. When Hazel and Fiver were brought in, he greeted them politely.Owsla like Toadflax might threaten and bully. The Threarah had no need.

'Ah, Walnut. lt is Walnut, isn't it?''Hazel, 'said Hazel.'Hazel, of course. How very nice of you to come and see me. I knew

your mother well. And your friend -''My brother.'

bcdef

1 0

1 5

20

za

30

35

Unit3 55

'Your brother,' said the Threarah, with the faintest suggestion of 'Don't

correct me any more, wi l lyou?' in his voice. 'Do make yourselvescomfortable. Have some lettuce?' 40

The Chief Rabbit's lettuce was stolen by the Owsla from a garden half amile away across the fields. 0utskirters seldom or never saw lettuce.Hazel took a small leaf and nibbled politely. Fiver refused, and sat blinkingand twitching miserably

'Now, how are things with you?' said the Chief Rabbit. 'Do tell me how | 45can help you. '

'Well, sir,' said Hazel rather hesitantly, ' it 's because of my brother -

Fiver here. He can often tell when there's anything bad about, and I'vefound him right again and again. He knew the flood was coming lasiautumn and sometimes he can tell where a wire's been set. And now he 50says he can sense a bad danger coming up the warren.'

'A bad danger. Yes, I see. How very upsetttng,' said the Chief Rabbit,looking anything but upset. 'Now what sort of danger, I wonder?' Helooked at Fiver.

'l don't know,' said Fiver. 'B-but it 's bad. lt 's so b-bad that - it 's very 55bad, ' he concluded miserably.

The Threarah waited politely for a few moments and then he said, 'Well,

now, and what ought we to do about it, I wonder?''Go away,' said Fiver instantly. 'Go away. All of us. Now. Threarah, sir,

we must al lgo away. ' 60The Threarah waited again. Then, in an extremely understanding voice,

he said, 'Wel l , I never didlThat 's rather a tal l order, isn' t i t? What do youthink yourself?'

'Well, sir,' said Hazel, 'my brother doesn't really think about thesefeelings he gets. He just has the feelings, if you see what I mean. I'm sure 65you're the right person to decide what we ought to do.'

'Well, that's very nice of you, to say that. I hope I am. But now, my dearfellows, let's just think about this a moment, shall we? lt's May, isn't it?Everyone's busy and most of the rabbits are enjoying themselves. No evilfor miles, or so they tell me. No illness, good weather. And you want me to 70tell the warren that young - er - young - er - your brother here has got ahunch and we must all go trapesing across country to goodness knowswhere and risk the consequences, eh? What do you think they'll say? Alldel ighted, eh?'

'They'd take it from you,' said Fiver suddenly. 75'That's very nice of you,' said the Threarah again. 'Well, perhaps they

would, perhaps they would. But I should have to consider it very carefullyindeed. A most serious step, of course. And then -'

'But there's no t ime, Threarah, sir , ' b lurted out Fiver. ' l can feel thedanger l ike a wire round my neck - l ike a wire - Hazel, help! ' He squealed 80and rol led over in the sand, kickingfrant ical ly, as a rabbit does in a snare.Hazel held him down with both forepaws and he grew quieter.

' l 'm aMul ly sorry, Chief Rabbit , 'said Hazel. 'He gets l ike thissometimes. He' l l be al l r ight in a minute. '

56 Unit3

n!Dn

85

90

'What a shame! What a shame! Poor fellow, perhaps he ought to gohome and rest. Yes, you'd better take him along now. Well, it's really beenextremely good of you to come and see me, Walnut. I appreciate it verymuch indeed. And I shall think over all you've said most carefully, you canbe quite sure of that. Bigwig, just wait a moment, will you?'

As Hazel and Fiver made their way dejectedly down the run outside theThrearah's burrow, they could just hear, from inside, the Chief Rabbit'svoice assuming a rather sharper note, interspersed with an occasional'Yes, sir,' 'No, sir.'

Bigwig, as he had predicted, was getting his head bitten off.

2 What type of political organization seems to prevail in the warren?

a a tyrannical dictatorshipb a people's democracyc a benevolent monarchyd a one-party state

Intensive reading

Task 1

This activity is designed to help you explore thecharacters in the extract and the techniques of

characterization used by the author.

1 Use the list of adjectives below to describe the characters in thefollowing table.

Bigwig Hazel Fiuer Chief Rabbit

dutiful confidentsensible clairaoyant

2 Find evidence from the passage to support each of the followingstatements.

a Fiver is not respected much by the other rabbits.b Hazelis respected by the other rabbits.c The Chief Rabbit is getting out of touch with the affairs of the

warTen.d The Chief Rabbit doesn't like being disturbed.

neurotic trusttngsuperior forgetful

Ltnit3 57

Bigwig is a little frightened of the Chief Rabbit.Hazel has complete confidence in his brother.

3 Richard Adams uses dialogue very cleverly in this extract. Theway each character speaks provides clues as to the kind of personhe is.

Here are some quotations from the extract. On the table belowstate which quotation comes from which character, and commenton what you think it shows about that character.

Quotation Comment

' l ' l l te l l h im I know you're a sensiblefellow. He ought to know youhimself, of course, but he's gettingold. Wait here, wi l l you?''B-but it 's bad. lt 's so b-bad that -it 's very bad.''And you want me to tell the warrenthat young - er - young - er - yourbrother here has got a hunch andwe must all go trapesing acrosscountry to goodness knows whereand risk the consequences, eh?''l 'm awfully sorry, Chief Rabbit . . .He gets like this sometimes. He'llbe all right in a minute.'

4 When you read the extract did you forget that you were reading astory about rabbits?

How does Richard Adams try to make the reader remember thatthe characters are rabbits?

Task 2

This activity will help you to consider thetheme of the extract.

f Skim through the passage to find any referencesto Onsla.

Who do you think the Owsla are?What is their role in the warren?What evidence is there that they misuse their power?

2 What sociaVpolitical position does each of these characters hold?. Haze|. Bigwig. The Chief Rabbit

ef

abc

58 UnitS

3 Give a brief description of the way the rabbits have organizedtheir society.

4 Which of the following best describes the attitude you haveformed about the sociaVpoliticalorgatnzation of the warren?

! a The social system is extremely hierarchical and theleaders are becoming rather complacent and corrupt.

! b The social system is totally corrupt, leading to major socialinequalities and misuse of power.

! c The social system is hierarchical but works satisfactorilybecause its leader is a just and fair person and its membersaccept the minor inequalities.

! d The social system is extremely unstable, as a result of therabbits'dissatisfaction with it: it is likely to collapse at anymoment.

Extension

Task 1

The purpose of this activity is to encourage you toexplore the content and theme of the extract further.

I Can you predict what happens next in the novel?What do you think happens to the warren?What happens to each of the four characters in the extract?

2 Which of the four characters is the 'hero'in the novei?What reasons do you have for your choice?

3 Can you imagine a worse sociaVpolitical set-up than that describedin the extract?

4 Watership Downv,las turned into a cartoon film. Try to write a filmscript for the scene in the extract.

3 Review activities

Task 1

In this activity you will explore how theinformational content of the two passages

is organized, and prepare general summariesof the passages.

The report of the experiment carried out by Dr Pepperberg and theextract from the novelWatership Down can be seen to contain similartypes of information.

59

I Orientation: information about the context (who, when, where,whY)

2 Action: the events that took Place3 Results: what happened as a result of those events4 Evaluation: a positive or negative response to the results

Summarize the general content of the two passages you have read byflling in the table below.

Content Watership Down

(hientation

Action

Results

Evaluation

Task2

Do you think parrots are well-suited to experiments designed toteach animals language? Why?

Do you think rabbits are a good choice of animal nWatershipDown? Why?

Eithera Write an outline for a story based on parrots. You can use the

headings above (Orientation, etc.) to write your outline'

orb Write an outline of an experiment you would like to carry out to

investigate whether animals can learn language. Choose whichanimal to use in your experiment.

The aim of this activity is to stimulate a creativeresponse to the theme of 'animal language'.

Ru les

I Analysis

Preparation

Task I

In this task you will be asked to analyze the conceptof 'rules' and the expression of 'rules' in English as a

preparation for reading the texts in this unit.

1 In groups, evaluate each of the following definitions of 'rules'.

Comment on the clarity, precision and validity of each definition.'Rules' ate. . .

o wzys of telling people what they can and cannot do.. written formulations of permissible behaviour.. explanations of how to do something.o attempts to control individual behaviour so as to achieve a

societal goal.o restrictions on individual liberty.. principles or orders which guide behaviour and tell you how

things are to be done.. guidelines designed to achieve desirable conduct.

2 Use the exercises below to help your group to discuss thedistinctions between:

rules codes proceduresregulations prohibitions commandslaws generalizations instructionsguides specifications

@

P R o H l g r r l o . l g

NO

R€qure7, orvsDo --- -

Doi l?

ar

P R o C E D U R E S -

ec o D E S

t g l

- :

Unit4 61

Put a tick (/) in the table below where the word from the verticalcolumn can be used with the word along the horizontal. Put across (X) where the two words cannot be used together. Leave ablank when you are not sure.

For examfiIe:

Note: The main goal of the activity is discussion of similarities anddifferences. Don't worry if your group carmot agree on the answers.

Do you find any of the following sentences unacceptable? Givereasons.

! a The laws of English state that you must use 'some' in positivestatements and 'any' in negative statements.

n b The rules of the game state that if the player answersincorrectly the turn passes to the left.

n c You'll go to prison if you are caught, Paying bribes is againstthe regulations.

hws

crime etcarns trafftc grarnrnar

X X

socialbehaainur

crtlne sfort exalns traffic army gralnrnar

rules

laws

instructions

regulations

guides

codes

prohibitions

generalizations

commands

specifications

procedures

62 Unit4

tr d You must follow the instructions if you buy that machine.tr e He lost his job because he broke the procedures for applying

for leave.D f Cars are prohibited from entering that street between 08.00

and 18.00.n g You cannot make rules about the use of modal verbs; you can

only make generalizations.

3 Complete the following lists.

Things that haue rules:games

clubssportsschools

The most common linguistic features of des are:a The imperative: for example, 'Put i before e except after c.'b Conditionals: for example, 'If the first serve is out the player is

given a second serve.'

Task 2

In this task you will be asked to discuss the rules ofpolite conversation in your society in preparation for

reading a passage about the rules of politeconversation in English.

1 In a conversation between people who are not close friends inyour society which of the following would be considered

r norrnzl and polite?. unusual but polite?. impolite?. unacceptable?

a interrupting the speakerb using colloquial languagec expressing strong disagreementd dominating the discussione not saying anythingf imposing views on othersg referring to parts of the bodyh asking questions about people's private affairsi assuming agreement

Ltnit4 63

j returning to your original topic after the topic of conversationhas been changed by somebody else

k using the first names of everybody in the groupI telling sexual jokesm discussing controversial aspects of religion or politicsn exchangingplatitudeso not listening to what the speaker is saying

What other conversational behaviour would not be consideredpolite?

2 You are going to read a passage which proposes three basic'Rules of Politeness'. What do you think they are?

Extensive reading

Task 1

In this task you will read the passage to find outhow similar your Rules of Politeness are to

those proposed by Lakoff, and you will think aboutthe differences between how politeness is

expressed in English and how it is expressed inyour first language.

Locate Lakoffs Rules of Politeness in the passage below anddiscuss how they are different from those you proposed inPreparation Task 2.

Lakoff (1973) reduces Grice's maxims to two: Be clear and Be polite. Forher these two rules are sufficient to guarantee 'Pragmatic Competence'.The clarity requirement is accounted for by Grices's four maxims and soLakoff concentrates on the Rules of Politeness, of which there are three:

I Don't impose on your H,2 Give H ootions.3 Make H feel good; be friendly.

The first rule has to do with minding one's own business, that ts, notintruding on H's privacy or embarrassing H with the citation of'unmentionables': for private affairs and unmentionables are'non-freegoods'. lf one must intrude, one seeks permission while so doing:

May I askwhat this car cost you?What did you pay for it, if I may ask?

Asking permission is unnecessary and downright odd in the context ofpublic knowledge, or' free' goods:

May I ask how much 12 + 7 4 makes?

English has two ways of referring to unmentionables without givingoffence: either the technical term or a euphemism is used:

1 0

1 5

64 Unit4

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35

40

45

20

25

50

55

60

Prisoners defecated on the floor of the cell.Prisoners did their toilet on the floor of the cell.

while 'Prisoners shlf on the floor of the cell' is taboo.

There is obvious contrastive analytical scope in this area. We need toknow what different cultures consider unmentionables, since this is arelativistic notion. Then it would be useful to know whether other cultureshave available means for referring to unmentionables other thantechnical terms and euohemisms: and in what circumstances theseavoidance lexemes are used. Sex and defecation are the most obvioustaboo areas that spring to mind. Money matters are another area. I havethe impression that in middle strata of American and West Germansociety enquiry about the cost of some item, or enquiry about the state ofH's finances is not considered as impolite as it is in the correspondingstratum of British society. lt seems also that to mention in complimentaryterms some possession of H will be interpreted by Arabs as a request forthat object: and since nobody likes to give his trousers away, suchmention must be construed as impolite.

The second rule, calling for the giving of options to H, is related to the ruleof non-imposition, since if you let the other person make his owndecisions he can't complain that you are imposing your wil l on him.Although Lakoff sees the essence of this rule as 'let the addressee makehis own decisions' I feel it is often applied more subtly: S leads H Io thinkhe is making his own decisions, if he is consoled by that thought. We havealready seen this rule in operation when commands are issued. lf amaster says to his servant 'lt's chilly in this room', the latter will act toremedy his employer's discomfort by closing a window or providing someform of heating. Yet, even though he is a servant, he is not made to feelservile: after all, the master has not directly or conventionally issued anorder: he has, on the face of it, merely made a rather prosaic observation.The servant, for his part, has drawn conclusions which have theattractiveness, to him, of being hls conclusions: and it is a fortunate bonusthat these conclusions benefit the master. Here's one wav to beat the'them'v 'us' syndrome of British society.

The contrastive dimension of this rule for leaving the addressee's optionsopen involves initially statement of which kinds of implicature differentlanguages exploit. Some languages, like some individuals, will doubtlesstend to be more direct than others. The reader might care to consider atthis point whether in his L1 (if it is not English) commands can be issuedby means of the indirect interrogatives which we described on p. 125.

The third rule of politeness involves establishing rapport, cameraderie, asense of equality orrespect, distance and a recognition of inequalitybetween S and H. This rule has converse realisations according to the realrelative statuses of S and H. lf S is of higher or equal status to hisaddressee, the use of 'familiar' or'solidary'forms of address on his partwill put the addressee at ease. But if the speaker's status is lower thanthat of his addressee he must not use these familiar forms, lest he beseen as 'taking liberties': he will have to use forms which are deferentialor ooli te.

65

65L'nit4

The contrastive dimension of this rule will involve initially somedocumentation of what the linguistic markers of 'power and solidarity'(Brown and Gi lman, 1960) are in Li and 12. Some languages, l ike Thaiand Japanese, reflect a very status-conscious social order, it seems, andoffer several grades of deference marking. Most European languagesexcept English have at least a two-term 2nd person pronoun systemdifferentiating'polite' and 'familiar' address. But of course, the fact thatEnglish lacks this dualism in the pronouns does not mean that it nevermakes such distincttons: it does, by other means. After all, English hasforms of address like Your Grace, Your Honour, Your Excellencywhichare clearly status-marking. At the other end of the scale English freelygenerates familiar forms of address such as Billy, Teddy, mate, my friend,

old boy, etc. What would be informative would be a CA of the process offamiliarisation in two languages. When two people first meet, Ihey are Mr

X, Herr Xandthe pronouns polite. The Mrgiues way to plain Roberfs, andperhaps eventually there is a move to first-naming(duzen/tutoyerl, andfinally even nicknaming. This CA would study the stages involved, theirlinguistic marking, and the speed of familiarisation.

Do you agree with Lakoffs rules? Do you think they are universal?

What different ways do the languages you know have of manifesting

these rules?

Read through the passage again and as you read compare theexamples given of polite conversational behaviour with ways ofachieving conversational politeness in your first language.

Intensive reading

Task 1

In this task you will be asked to focus on specificpoints made in the,passage and on the ways these

points are made.

The first paragraph refers to Grice's maxims. From theevidence in the passage what do you think they are?

A number of abbreviations are used in the passage. What do you

think the following mean:a H b S c L 1 d L z e C A

Which of the following audiences do you think the author, Carl

James, is writing for?n a experienced linguists! b teachersofEFln c university students of linguisticsn d secondary school studentstr e the general publictr f readers of a particular newspaper

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BO

66 Unit4

Give evidence from the passage to support your views. Look atthe content of the passage, the language used to express it and theassumptions made of the reader byJames.

4 Analyze and evalirate Lakoffs three Rules of Politeness.Are they valid?fue theywellwritten?Are they well presented?Can you see any ways of improving them?

5 Give some more examples to make clear the distinctionbetween 'non-free' and 'free' goods.

Write a short dialogue in which one of the speakers breaks therule of not imposing.

6 In the fourth paragraph, what do the following mean?a relatiuistic notioneuphemismsauoidance lexemestaboo areas

Give an example of each of the following:a any other relativistic notion you can thinl ofb a euphemism in Englishc a taboo area in your culture

7 Think of other examples where S gets H to do somethingwithout breaking the rules of non-imposition and of givingoptions.

Write a short dialogue in which H politely declines to do what Shas subtly commanded him or her to do through offeringoptions.

8 What is an 'indirect interrogative'? Give an example of acommand in English which is issued by means of an indirectinterrogative.

Say how in your own language you are able to influence theaddressee's behaviour by leaving hisftrer options open.

I Give examples of the effective establishment of rapport inEng l ishwhen. . .

a S is equal to Hb S is'superior'to Hc S is 'inferior'to H

In what ways is your language different from English whenfollowing the third rule of politeness?

10 'This fassage is characterized by a semi-formal, objectiae,

expository slyle.' Give examples from the text to support orrefute this statement.

Unit4 67

1l The extract below from an earlier page in the book specifiesGrice's maxims referred to in the first paragraph of the passage.

Grice (1975) proposed that conversations conform to four maxims.These are the maxims of:

I Quantity: Be as informative as is required but no more thanthat - avoid redundancy.

2 Quality: Say only what you believe to be true or what youhave evidence for.

3 Relevance; Be to the point.4 Manner: Be clear and succinct: avoid obscurity.

Compare Grice's maxims and Lakoff's rules as regards:. topic (i. e. , what they are about). content (i. e., what they say). style (i.e., how they are expressed)o purpose (i. e., who they are written for and why they are

written)

Is there any difference between a rule and a maxim? If so, whatis it?

Extension

Task 1

This task will ask you to combine what you havelearned from the passage about the expression of

rules with what you know about Englishconversations in order to write your own

conversational rules.

The next section of the chapter that the passage is extracted fromanalyzes the components of conversation under the headings ofOpenings and Closings.

Write your own maxims or rules for opening and closingconversations in English.

2 Using rules

Preparation

Task 1

This task will help you to understand a list of rulesdrawn up to regulate the behaviour of people

working in a cider house in America.

68 Unit4

1

2

3

What is cider?

What do you think a cider house is?

The work in a cider house is seasonal. What does this mean?What sort of people do you think it attracts?

The cider house workers live, work and sleep in the cider house.They work very hard during the day. What do you think they doafter work?

If you were the owner of the cider house what sort of behaviourwould you try to prevent in and around your cider house? Whatrules would you draw up to try to regulate the behaviour of yourworkers? Write your rules out as a list to pin on the wall of thecider house.

5 In the novel Cidpr House Rules by loLn Irving, Homer Wells is anewcomer to the Ocean View Orchards in Heart's Rock. He isliving with the owners of the orchard, but he is working in thebedroom wing of the cider house helping to get it ready for thearrival of the seasonal workers. As he is working he comes acrossa very feint list of cider house rules pinned on the wall.

Why do you think the list is very feint?Who do you think the rules are addressed to?Who do you think wrote the rules?Which of the following do you think is the first rule on the list?

! a Never operate the grinder or the press when you aredrunk.

tr b Don't on any account operate the grinder or the press ifyou have been drinking.

I c Please don't operate the grinder or the press if you'vebeen drinking.

I d Never drink and then operate the grinder or the press.

Which one do you think is the least likely? Why?

Extensive reading

Task I

In this task you will be asked to respond to readingthe cider house rules as if vou were Homer.

1 Imagine you are Homer and read the cider house rules on thenext page.

L-nit4 69

CIDER HOUSE RULES

the top line said.What rules? he wondered, reading down the page. The ruleswere numbered.

If there were a few more rules, Homer couldn't read thembecause the page had been ripped off. Homer handed the tompaper to Big Dot Taft.

'What's all this about the roof?' he asked Debra Pettisrew.

2 What is your reaction to the rules?3 Who do you think wrote them?-1 Why do you think they were written?5 Do you think they are likely to be effective? Give reasons.6 What advice would you give to the writer of the rules?

Intensive reading

Task 1

23

Please don ' t opera te the gr inder o r theh r 6 e q i f r r n r r l r z a h o o n d r i n k i n c} , ! 9 9 9

Please don ' t smoke in bed or use cand les .

P l e a s e d o n ' t g o o n t h e r o o f i f y o u ' v e

been drinking - especial ly at night.

Pl-ease wash out the press cloths the

same day or night they are used.

Please remove the rotary screen

immediately after you've f inished

pressj-ng and hose i t clean WHEN THE

POMACE IS STILL WET ON ]T !

P1ease don ' t take bo t t les w i th you when

you go up on the roof.

Please - even i f you are very hot (or i fr rn r r I rzc hacn d r i nk i nn \ - r lan I f no j -n tO) ' v u v s ^ 4 r r Y /

the cold storag:e room to sleep.

Please give your shopping l- ist to the

crew boss by seven o 'c lock in them n f n 1 n d

9 There JnoufO be no more than half adozen people on the roof at any one t ime.

4

5

will require you to analyzeevaluate the rules.

70 Unit4

6

I

What are the unusual features of these rules?What do they tell you about the writer of the rules and about thepeople they are addressed to?

Give a rationale for each rule (i.e., explain the reason for therule).

Why do you think the adverbial clause in Rule 5 is in capitalletters?

Why do you think Rule 9 is the only rule not introduced by'Please'?

Write a criticism of the content, organizatson and expression ofthe rules.

Why do you think 'the page had been ripPed off'?

Try to explain the meaning of the following:

a the grinderb the pressc the press clothd the rotary screene the pomacef the cold storage roomg the crew boss

Extension

Task I

In this task you will be asked to use what you haveunderstood of the text as a basis for creative writing.

I Imagine you are Debra Pettigrew and answer Homer's question,'What's all this about the roof?'

2 Write a short story which explains why either Rule 3 or Rule 7came to be written.

3 Imagine you are Homer and you have been asked by the owner ofOcean View Orchards to rewrite the rules. Think about whichrules to discard or combine, how to group the rules, how tosequence them and how to express them. Then write your rules.

Preparation

Task I

In this task you will be asked to use yourunderstanding of the situation at Ocean ViewOrchards to predict what happens when the

seasonal workers arrive.

Unit4 71

Mr Rose is in charge of the seasonal workers. Every year he brings a'crew' of fellow negroes from the South to pick and press the apples atOcean View Orchards. In the next extract you are going to read MrRose has just arrived with his crew. Mrs Worthington, the wife of theowner, has put flowers in the cider house to greet the workers andhas put a fresh copy of the cider house rules by the kitchen light.

How do you think Mr Rose feels about the flowers and the rules?What do you think he says to Mrs Worthington about them?

Extensive reading

Task 1

In this task you will be asked to read the extract tocheck your predictions and to discover as much as

you can about Mr Rose.

1 Read the passage below to find out:a how accurate your predictions were about Mr Rose's

responses to the flowers and the rules.b as much as you can about Mr Rose.

It was a hot, Indian-summer day, and the apple mart was inland enoughto miss what little sea breeze there was. Mr Rose and Mrs Worthingtonstood talking among the parked and moving farm vehicles in the applemart lot; the rest of the picking crew waited in their cars - the windowsrolled down, an orchestra of black fingers strumming the sides of the cars.There were seventeen pickers and a cook - no women or children thisyear, to 0live's relief.

'Very nice,' Mr Rose said, about the flowers in the cider house.Mrs Worthin$on touched the rules she'd tacked to the wall by the

kitchen light switch as she was leaving. 'And you'll point out these toeveryone, won't you, please?' 0live asked.

'Oh yes, I'm good at rules,' said Mr Rose, smiling. 'You all come backand watch the first press, Homer,' Mr Rose said, as Homer held open thevan door for Olive. 'l 'm sure you got better things to watch - movies andstuff - but if you ever got some time on your hands, you come and watchus make a little cider. About a thousand gallons,' he added shyly; hescuffed his feet, as if he were ashamed that he might be bragging. 'All weneed is eight hours, and about three hundred bushels of apples,' said MrRose. 'A thousand gallons,' he repeated proudly.

On the way back to the apple mart, Olive Worthington said to Homer,'Mister Rose is a real worker. lf the rest of them were like him, they couldimprove themselves.' Homer didn't understand her tone. Certainly he hadheard in her voice admiration, sympathy - and even affection - but therewas also in her voice the ice that encases a long-ago and immovablepoint of view.

2 What do you think Mr Rose felt about the flowers?3 What do you think he felt about the rules?

72 Unit4

4 What do you think he really thinks about Mrs Worthington?5 What do you think Mrs Worthington really thinks about Mr Rose?

Intensive reading

Task 1

In this task you will be asked to'read between thelines' to work out the implicit meanings of the text.

1 Find evidence to support or refute the following statements.

a The scene takes place in autumn.b Mr Worthington is dead.c Olive is Mrs Worthington's daughter.d All nineteen of the seasonal workers are black.e All the pickers acknowledge Mr Rose as their representative

and their boss.f Most of the pickers are illiterate.g The conversation between Mr Rose and Mrs Worthington

about the rules takes place outside.h Mr Rose and Homer know each other well.i Mr Rose makes the pickers work very hard.j Mr Rose has his own rules which he makes the pickers follow.k Olive respects but disapproves of Mr Rose.

2 Why are the pickers strumming on the sides of the cars?3 Why does Mrs Worthington put flowers in the cider house?4 Why is Olive relieved that there are no women and children?5 Why does Mrs Worthington put the rules by the kitchen light

switch?6 Why does Mr Rose smile when he says, 'Oh yes, I'm good at

rules'?7 Why does Mr Rose invite Homer to watch them make cider?8 Why do you think Mr Rose is never referred to by his first name?

Extension

Task I

In this task you will be asked to imagine what bothHomer and Mrs Worthington thought about Mr Rose

and to write a dialogue between them.

1 In pairs, write a dialogue between Homer and Mrs Worthington rnwhich Homer argues politely against Mrs Worthington's view ofMr Rose.

2 Practise acting out your dialogue, and then make revisions to yourscript.

Unit4 72

3 Find another pair and act out your dialogue to them. Watch theirperformance of their dialogue and then talk about the differencesbetween the two dialogues.

4 Make any nece-ssary final revisions to your dialogue.

Preparation

Task I

The final extract from Cidzr House Rules takes place sixteen yearslater. Each of those years Mr Rose has returned with a crew ofpickers and for the last flfteen of those years Homer has been giventhe responsibility for writing the cider house rules.

What changes do you think Homer has made to the rr.rles?What effect do you think those changes have had?

Extensive reading

Task I

Read the following extract and as you read work outa what Homer hopes to achieve by putting up rules every year.b why the rules were not obeyed.

For fifteen years, Homer Wells had taken responsibility for the writing andthe posting of the cider house rules. Every year, it was the last thing heattached to the wall after the fresh coat of paint had dried. Some years hetr ied being jol ly with the rules; other years he tr ied sounding nonchalant;perhaps it had been 0live's tone and not the rules themselves that hadcaused some offense, and thereby made it a matter of pride with themigrants that the rules should never be obeyed.

The rules themselves did not change much. The rotary screen had tobe cleaned out. A word of warning about the dr inking and the fal l ingasleep in the cold-storage room was mandatory. And long after the Ferriswheel at Cape Kenneth was torn down and there were so many lights onthe coast that the view from the cider house roof resembled a.glimpse ofsome distant city, the migrants stil l sat on the roof and drank too muchand fel l of f , and Homer Wel ls would ask (or tel l ) them not to. Rules, heguessed, neuer asked, rules fold

But he tried to make the cider house rules seem friendly. He phrasedthe rules in a conf idingvoice. 'There have been some accidents on theroof, over the years - especial ly at night, and especial ly in combinat ion

In this task you will use your knowledge of the novelso far to predict a scene sixteen years later.

ln this task you will be asked to work out the motivesof the various people affected by the rules.

74 Unit4

with having a great deal to drink while sitting on the roof. We recommendthat you do your drinking with both feet on the ground,' Homer wouldwrite.

But every year, the piece of paper itself would become worn andtattered and used for other things - a kind of desperation grocery list, forexample, always by someone who couldn't spel,.

CORN MEELREGULAR FLOWER

was written across Homer's rules one year.At times, the solitary sheet of paper gathered little insults and

mockeries of a semi-literate nature.'No fucking on the roofl' or 'Beat off only in cold storage!'Wally told Homer that only Mr Rose knew how to write:that the pranks,

and insults, and shopping lists were all composed by Mr Rose, but Homercould never be sure.

Extension

Task 1

In this task you will be asked to use your awarenessof the situation at Ocean View Orchards to help you

to write a letter from Homer to Mr Rose.

Do one of the following:

I Imagine that you are Homer and that you have decided to try todo something to solve the problem of the cider house rules. Writea letter to Mr Rose in which youo explain the reasons for the rules. speculate on the reasons for them being disobeyedo ask for his advice. appeal to him for help

2 Write and perform a scene from a play in which one of Homer'srules has been broken and Homer, in his anger, confronts MrRose.

Preparation

Task 1

In this task you will be asked to use your knowledgeof the world and your imagination to create the rules

of a race involving men and horses.

L'nit4 7q

In 1878 a race took place in Yuta City in America to settle a disputeover the ownership and watering rights of an area known as the BigWet. The race was between three runners and a horse representingPeter Boyle and three runners and a horse representing WilliamBrennan. The runners included the fastest sprinters, quarter-milersand distance runners in the world. The horses were allocated to theieams on the day of the race. The total distance of the race wasffieen miles. The area around Yuta City is mountainous, and alargecrowd of spectators were in Yuta City for the race.

Devise and write down the rules which governed the race.

Extensive reading

Task 1

In this task you will use a number of short extractsfrom a novel which describes the Yuta Country Foot

Race to try to work out the details of that race.

1 Read the following extracts fromThe Fast Men by Tom McNab,and as you read try to work out the rules of the race.

Extract 1'Now,' he said. 'So that the rules are the same for both teams, each teamis allowed to carry a set of glasses with its horse so that they can see howthe runner behind is faring. And each group of contestants can carry asmuch water as they want and pick up extra water-bottles from my officialsat the base of El Diablo. '

Judge Haynes paused again.'Gent lemen, i t is a minute to midday on 20 October,7878. Are you

ready?'Below him Moriarty, Tul loch, Bi l ly Joe and the Indian nodded.'Three laps of five miles, horse and man, two men from each team in

the first two laps, only one in the final lap. The final furlong of the first lapmustbe run by the sprinters, as must the final quarter of the second bythe quarter-milers, and the last mile of the third lap by the last tworunners. '

He picked up a pistol f rom a smal l table at his side, cocked the gun andraised i t above his head.

'Gent lemen, take your marks. 'Moriarty looked at Tulloch for the first time: lean and brown, with

mutton-chop whiskers - the fastest miler on earth. Billy Joe and theIndian, poised on their mounts, looked sideways at each other withoutsmil ing.

' G e t s e t . . . '

Again, only the f lapping of f lags could be heard.The gun and the roar of the crowd were simultaneous. Standing

alongside the Indian and Bi l lyJoe, Headley and Buck slapped the rumps

76 Unit4

of their colleagues' mounts. The race was on.Bi l ly Joe went into an immediate lead, pushing his black mount through

the corridor of noise along the street out towards Brennanville on theedge of town. Behind them, Moriarty and Tulloch ran easily side by side asif in another world. There was a long way to go. By the edge of the tentcamp of Brennanville Billy Joe was all of fifty yards ahead, cutting throughyel l ing supporters, whi le a fur long behind them Moriarty and Tul loch st i l lp lodded side by side.

Extract 2

The Indian was just entering the water, over a hundred yards behind.When Bi l ly Joe made the bank on the other side and gal loped up acrossthe shingle the Apache on duty was able to signal that the Texan was aclear one hundred and fifty yards up.

Half a mile back, Moriarty and Tulloch were hardly breathtng, padding,flat-footed, side by side at six-minute mile pace along the grass centre ofthe carttrack. Their time had not vet come.

Extract 3

He hardly dared venture to look back, but at the peak he did. TheIndian was only a couple of hundred yards behind, perhaps less,advancing remorselessly towards him. Billy Joe remounted, took a swigfrom his water-bottle, unwound his binoculars from the pommel andlooked down the mountain on to the plain. Moriarty and Tul loch were nowacross the Big Wet. And Tulloch was leading - by about a hundred yards.So Billy Joe knew that he might have to leave the horse early, forty or fiftyyards before the furlong marker, to give Moriarty an opportunity to catchup. He took another swig from the water-bottle on his saddle, took thereins and re-mounted, before zig-zagging down the mountain.

Extract 4

As they hit the tape together, Billy Joe was certain he had got it. Butbeside him the Indian, too, thought that he had taken his man.

Moriarty, eighty yards behind Tulloch, found the horse where he hadhoped it would be, tethered between the quarter-mile and furlongmarkers. The black was sweating heavily. Moriarty patted its muzzle,withdrew a cube of sugar from a pocket in the saddle and pressed it intothe black's mouth. He mounted quickly and had r idden past Tul loch bythe furlong marker, just as the Scot was about to mount. By the time hehad reached the chaotic start at the Buena Vista, where Buck andHeadley stood poised, Moriady was into a sixty-yard lead.

Extract 5'No one knows,' he shouted. 'The judge is sorting it out now.' He

pointed above him to the dais where Bi l ly Joe and the Indian stood withHaynes and his officials.

Moriarty looked up at Buck and nodded, then slapped the black's

Unit4 77

withers and Buck galloped off. As he did so Tulloch rode in behind him toa waiting Josiah Headley, through crowds that were threatening to engulfthe central corridor. Buck rode out towards the tents of Brennanville,sixty yards in the lead, as above them sudden, dark storm clouds blottedout the sun, casting Main Street into shadow.

Extract 6

Buck was approaching to the base of El Diablo, taking it easy on the horseand over a quarter of a mile up. He dismounted and started to run gentlyfrom the base of the mountain up its rapidly-drying clay and grit surfaceHe took the mountain as if it had been made for him, his stride and hisbreathing in perfect unison. lt was hurting, true enough, but somehow hepreserved that fine balance that enabled him to tolerate the pain, andsomehow too this feeling transferred itself to the black, which trottedeasi ly behind him up the mi le of winding rocky incl ine.

As soon as he had reached the top Buck turned back and again tookthe glasses from the pommel. He looked down towards the Big Wet, andwas immediately able to pick out Moriarty and Tul loch making their wayacross the river. But what he saw amazed him - for Moriarty appeared tobe pullingTulloch through the water. Buck shook his head and refocusedthe glasses. No, it was true: Moriarty was dragging Tulloch out of the riverand uo the bank.

Extract 7

Josiah Headley made his hi t with a fur long to go, taking an immediatetwo-yard lead. But Buck let him get away, keeping his steady, relaxedrhythm, holding his flow. Then, with a hundred yards to run, came thatstrange sound in his head telling him that it was now time. The only time.

'Boomp,' i t said in his head, and Buck smiled.'Boomp,' he said aloud, to Headley's back.Buck went past Josiah Headley in a rush of legs, wiping out his lead and

going into a five-yard advantage with fifty yards stil l to cover. But Headleyhad nothing in him left to offer. Buck did not simply take the tape, hesmashed through i t , and above him Bi l l Brennan danced a j ig of joy, whi leHettie Carr wept and wept again. She ran in to Eleanor with the news.

Extract 8

He looked towards the finish, only a hundred yards away. Surprisingly,all was now clear, the tape thick and white, the way it had always been.Somehow, burrowing into a memory of running, the reflexes of a quarterof a century of competition, Moriarty started to sprint, talking to himselfall the while. True, it was not the sprint of a Fast Man, but somehow it wasrunning, class running, the running of a master of his craft.

Moriarty pushed on through and beyond his pain, ignoring i t as i f i twere happening to someone else. He ran with legs that he had no right toexpect to run, against the dictates of a body chemistry which no longermade sense, against everything in him which told him to stop. Moriartyran the f inal hundred yards of his athlet ic career up the narrow corr idor of

78 Unit4

Yuta City, above and beyond himself. As he hit the tape, Buck and BillyJoe were there to catch him as he fell.

'The Theatre of the West, boys,' he mumbled through split l ips. 'You justsaw it.'

2 Who won. . .. the first lap?. the second lap?. the third lap?. the race?

3 Write a 200 word newspaper report of the race for The Times nEngland.

Intensive reading

Task 1

In this task you will use your knowledge of the raceto help you to write the rules of the race.

A faded copy of the articles of the Yuta Country Foot Race wasrecently found in the cellar of the Buena Vista Hotel during renovationwork.

Use your knowledge of the race to complete the following typescriptof what could be deciphered from the original copy.

Thusitwasthat, on 2OApril 1878, the aniclesoftheYutaCounty signed.

Articles of AgreementI The competition to take place five-mile laps starting at noon on 20

October 1878, a circular coune encompassing the El Diablo Mountainand the town of iself, the start to beEach team will consist ofThe a relay over three separate laps, men fromeach team and a horse competing over each lap, with only thecompleting the full fifteen-mile course, the other runners completing

Thus, the sprinter and distance-runner from each team

J

3

the quarter-milers andlap

4 The two-man teams willlap, the only proviso being that on thefirlong to the finish, on the second lap themile and on the last lap the

other tworunners5 The vyinner of the competition is

i.e.2-O - 2-1, the final arbiterHaynes. Should the fint

the second, with the final

or ride at their discretion on eachzrutrun the final

run the frnal quarter-these distances beins

only on one lap.

on all competitions being Judgefor any one team,

marked by Union flags and being scrutinised by officials appointed byThe distance-runners are required o

then the final lap by the distance-runners will not be run.6 The are to be selected by Judge Haynes, and the parties in dispute

(Peter Boyle and William Brennan) will throw dice for7 The ownership and watering rights of the area known as The Big Wet will be

assigned to the sponsor of the

Unit4 79

Extension

Task 1

In this task you will be asked to invent a modernrelay race testing speed, stamina, skill and courage

and to draw up the rules for it.

Devise a modern race for two three-men relay teams which willattract alarge crowd and television coverage. Make sure your racewill test speed, stamina, skill and courage, that it will challenge thegreatest athletes in the world and that it will provide a thrillingspectacle for the spectators.

Draw up the rules for the race. Make sure they cover all possiblecontingencies, that they are concise but clear and that there is onlyone possible interpretation of each rule.

3 Review activities

For each of the following rules decide:a who it was written forb where you are likely to find itc why it was writtend why it was written in such a style

1 Guests are not allowed to buy drinks in the bar or pay for meals inthe restaurant.

2 lf you land in a red square you may either move the counter threespaces in either direction or you may take another throw of thedice.

3 In a Japanese conversation it is perfectly acceptable to remainsilent if you have no interest in the topic of conversation.

4 At a roundabout always give way to traffic approaching from yourright.

5 No Smoking.

6 Children should be collected before 16.30. After this time we donot accept responsibility for any children who are stil l on theDremlses.

7 Do not wash your hair in the shower.

Compare the sets of rules you have been studying in this unit. Sayin what ways they are similar or different in style and purpose.

In this task you will be asked to relate what you havelearned from the different activities in this unit.

80 Unit4

3 Write the beginning of a science fiction story in which a marriedcouple wake up one morning in a hotel to find that all the ruleswhich govern the routine behaviour of people in their society havechanged drastically overnight.

The impact of rules on society has been a common theme inmodern literature in English. You might enjoy reading some of thefollowing books which include'rules' amongst their themes.

HardTimes by Charles DickensAnimal Farm by George Orwell1984by George OrwellCatch 22 byJoseph HellerOne Flew Ouer the Cuckoo's Nesf by Ken KeseyPortnoy's Complaintby Philip RothThe Graduafe by Charles WebbSmiley's P eople by I oln le Carre

Classification

Preparation

Task 1

In this activity you will answer some questions aboutaccents to help you anticipate the ideas introduced in

the passage.

Think about accents in your own language'

1 What accent of your language do you speak?2 Is there one accent of your language which is generally

considered'better' than other accents?3 Are there any accents ofyour langgage that you dislike? If so,

what is it that you dislike about them?4 Are there any accents that you consider'funny'in some way? If

so, what is funny about them?5 Do you sometimes change your accent according to who you are

speaking to? If so, what kind of changes do you make? Why doyou make them?

6 What do you think about foreign accents?

Compare your answers with other students.

Task 21 Why is the language used by the schoolboy inappropriate?2 How could he ask the question in an appropriate way?3 To whom might he say'Wassa time, then?'

Task 3

English accentswAssnTtnE.4IEN.

In this activity you will make predictions about thepurpose and function of the passage.

Here is the heading and brief abstract of the passage.

New Society

Our reactions to accentHoward Giles

Why do people change the way they speak dependlng on the person listening?Research shows accent is one part of interpersonal response.

82 UnitS

1 What kind of publication do you think New Sociely is?n a apopularmagaztne! b an academic journaltr c atextbook! d aseriousmagazine

2 What do you think is the writer's main purpose?! a to describe how accents are used! b toexplainhowaccentsareused! c to report the results of a number of studies investigating

how accents are usedn d to instruct people how to make the best use of their

accents

3 Who do you think Howard Giles is?! a ajournalistn b auniversityacademic! c ateacher

The passage you are going to study in this unit is rather long and forthis reason we have broken the article up into two parts. We want youto study each part separately before reading the whole article.

Part One

Extensive reading

Task I

This activity is designed to help you skim the text inorder to find the main ideas.

Part One serves as an introduction to the main ideas of the article.When you glance at the text, you will notice that some sentenceshave been highlighted.

Look at the position of these sentences. Where do they come inthe paragraphs?

Read through the sentences that have been higtrlighted. (Don'tread the rest of the text yet.) What would you say the mainfunction of these sentences is?! a to give examplesn b to make generalizationsn c to give definitions

The sentences on page 83 are paraphrases of the highlightedsentences in the text. Match each of the paraphrases with ahighlighted sentence.

One of the highlighted sentences has not been paraphrased.Which one?

UnitS 83

a Instead of talking about 'responsible matching', w€ could refer tospeech convergence.

b This is known as response matching.c Also people adopt a way of speaking that echoes the person

they are talking to.d Response matching may be motivated by our desire to be

sociable.e Another kind of speech change is speech divergence.f People change their way of speaking according to the situation

they are in and the person they are talking to.

What would be an appropriate heading for Part One?

' Part One:i An English schoolboy would onlYj ask his friend: 'Wassa time. then?'I To his teacher he would be much

I ness. The correspondence betweenI the length of reporters' questions

when interviewing President Ken-nedy, and the length of his replies,has been shown to have increasedover the duration of his 1961-63news conferences. Argyle says thisprocess may be one of imitation'.Two American researchers, Jaffeand Feldstein, prefer to think of itas the speaker's need for equilib-rium. Neither of these explanationsseems particularly convincing. Itmay be that response matching canbe more profitably considered as anunconscious reflection of speakers'needs for social integration with oneanother.

This process of modelling the otherperson's speech in a conversationcould also be termed speech con-vergence. It may only be one aspectof a much wider speech change. Inother situations, speech divergencemay occur when certain factors en-courage a person to modify hisspeech away from the individual heis dealing with. For example, aretired brigadier's wife, renownedfor her incessant snobbishness,may return her vehicle to the localgarage because of inadequate ser-vicing, voicing her complaint inelaborately phrased, yet mechani-cally unsophisticated language,with a high soft-pitched voice.These superior airs and graces maysimply make the mechanic replywith a flourish of almost incom-prehensible technicalities, and in alouder, more deeply-pitched voicethan he would have used with a lessirritating customer.

84 Unit 5

Intensive reading

Task 1

In this activity you will examine how the informationin the text is organized.

1 Read through the complete text carefully.

2 Where would you position these sub-headings?a Language variationb Response matchingc Speechdivergence

3 Fill in this table in note form using the information in the text.

Topic Examfile

Language variation

Response matching

Speech divergence

4 Complete this diagram:

r speechconvergence

r . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . t 2 . . . . . . . . . . . .5 What would you expect to read about in the next part of the text?

Extension

Task 1

In this activity you will consider your own responseto the ideas in the text.

To what extent do you agree that we often model the other person'sspeech in a conversation?

Can you think of your own examples of speech convergence andspeech divergence?

Part Two

Extensive reading

Task I

The purpose of this activity is to encourage you tomake use of diagrams to get a general idea of the

content of the text.

UnitS 85

1 Don't read any of the text in Part Two yet, but study the diagramscarefully.

2 Which of the following would you use to label each diagram?

. Types of speech change

. A speaker's accent repertoire

3 Use the information in the first diagram to complete this passage:

Each individual possesses an (1) . . . . . . , which is his/herparticular way of speaking. ln addition, however, most individuals possess

an accent repertoire. There is a continuum of accents goingfrom(2) ... .. . or what is often referred to as the accent of theBBC to a (3) . . . . . accent. Sometimes an individual lives inan area like Cardiff which has two (4) . . . . . . accents. Alsothere is the possibility of another branch in the opposite directiontowards (5) . . . . ., popularly thought of as the accent ofthe upper classes.

Now use the information in the second diagram to complete thispassage:

Accent change during a conversation can be of two types: accent (1). . . . . . a n d a c c e n t ( 2 1 . . . . . . A c c e n t s c a n

converge in two ways. (3).. . accent convergenceoccurs when a speaker who speaks a regional accent modifies the wayhe/she speaks to make it closer to the (4) . . . . . . accent ofthe person he/she is talking to. In (5) . . . . . . accentconvergence the opposite takes place. That is, a speaker with a receivedpronunciation accent modifies it to make it sound closer to the (6)

. . . . . . accent of the listener. Accents can also diverge intwo ways. In (7) . . . . . . accent divergence the differencebetween two speakers is increased by one of the speakers making his/heraccent more refined than usual. In (8) . . . . . . accentdivergence a speaker of a regional accent makes his/her accent evenmore regional in order to emphasize the difference between him/herselfand the person being spoken to.

Intensive reading

Task 1

The aim of this activity is to enable you to identifythe structure of Part Two of the text.

I Part Two deals with two topics:

Accent repertoireTypes of accent change

ab

Read the text and indicate where each topic begins.

86 UnitS

Part Two

We don't know enough yet aboutall aspects of speech, but I havebeen experimenting with responsematching in the use of accents, andhave attempted to apply the ideasof speech convergence-divergenceto cope with the phenomenon ofaccent change.

To begin with, it is necessary toabstract a speaker's accent reper-toire. This is schematically rep-resented in figure L. Obviously,accent response matching is not ofsuch a power as to occur betweenpeople regardless of their regionalcolourings. We do not order curry(or sausage and chips, for thatmatter) in an Indian restaurantwith a Peter Sellers brogue. Re-sponse matching at this level oper-ates with pronunciation patterns inwhich the speaker has had someextended experience. In its fullrange, the repertoire comprises acontinuum of accent usage-stan-dard variant. to the broadest localregional variant (whatever it maybe). This standard accent in Britainhas been cal led 'received pronunci-a t ion ' (Rp) by I ingu is ts . I t i s conven-tionally envisaged as the accent of aBBC newscaster.

Now, the way most people's ac-cents change are along this singlecontinuum, from BBC to re-gional-but there are exceptions.It is l ikely that, i f an individual l ivesin an area with two dialects (such asCardiff, which has its own accentbesides the more common southWales l i l t ) , then there would be atleast one other regional 'branch'

(as i s shown in f igure l ) .

There is also the possibility ofanother 'branch' in the opposingdirection, that is towards affectedRP, more popularly thought of asthe accent of the upper classes.Though most people can both stan-dardise and broaden their mostusual way of speaking (ie, theiridiolect) at least slightly, it is alsotrue that some people are practical-ly immobile in this respect due tothe limitation of their early vocalenvironments (for example, ghettochildren: but, perhaps even moreso, public school children).

Accent change in conversationmay take either one of two direc-tions, depending on whether thespeaker wishes to be accepted byhis listener-when his accent willconverge-or whether he wishes toemphasise differences-in whichcase his accent may grow moredissimilar.

Accents can converge in twoways. To appreciate the distinctionbetween the two, it is necessary toassume that the way that pronunci-ation varies in a speaker's reper-toire also reflects prestige. Thisbeing the case, 'standard' patternsof pronunciation will have the high-est status while the broadest re-gional varieties will have thelowest. So if a speaker thinks thathis listener's way of speaking ishigher than his is in terms of accentprestige ( ie, i t is more 'standard'),

then, provided he wants to be ac-cepted by the listener, he willmodify his accent and upwardaccent convergence will occur. Theonly other direction of accent con-vergence is 'down' and implies thata speaker thinks his listener's pro-nunciation puts him in a lowerprestige bracket-in other words,i t 's brolrder.

Since accent prestige oftenreflects social status. a move likethis on the part of the speaker maybe adopted so as to reduce embar-rassment, due to social dif ferences,and to prepare a common basis forthe communication of ideas andfeel ings. This assumes, of course,that 'downward' convergence ismore conscious than 'uoward. '

Naturally enough, accent diver-gence can take on two directionsalso (see figure 2). Think of awoman who has bought some ex-pensive clothing in an exclusivestore which neither changes arti-cles, nor refunds the cash after theyhave been bought. When thewoman returns home she discoversa glaring flaw in the dress andreturns it to the shop assistant de-manding a replacement. The assis-tant has her instructions and soonfinds a rather persistent customeron her hands. Of course, the floormanager is summoned to a situa-tion he is all too familiar with andhe assumes his usual authoritativeand unrelenting approach, polish-ing his accent to a fine gilt edge(upward divergence). His aloofmanner and his immediate dismiss-al of the whole affair arouses thewoman's indignation and shestorms off, voicing disgust in anunrefined manner (downward di-vergence).

accent divergence

received pronunciation

1^l sender s| | accent| | receiver's

<> accentbroad regional

,,---Nra\\ - a /\_J-l

upwardaccent 0rvergence

/-a\( 4 1\ l ) /\d_/

received pronunciation

<^} receNefsI I accent

I I sender's<> accent

broad regional

)

o ;?3:',1i.1*..

reg iona l 'B '(eg South Welsh)

accent convergence

/,o\( H )"<L-/

/-A1 . 4 1\ t ) /Y_l'_/

recelved pronunciation

f^l recerver'sL accent

1 sender'su accenl

broad regional

/A\r\;{ )\---yupward

accenl c0nvergence

received pronunciation

T'l senoer s9accenl

| , E r e , v o , )

9accenrbroad regional

a .L-

L-nit5 B7

2 Study the diagram below which shows the way the informationabout accent repertoire is structured. Relate the information inthe text to the parts of the diagram.

repertoire

3 Complete this diagram showing the different tlpes of accentchange discussed in the text.

_ upwaro1 . . . . . . _ l

a 2 . . . . . .

. 4 . . . . . .3 . . . . . . _ lL downward

Task 2

This activity practises your ability to distinguishgeneralizations and examPles.

State whether each of these sentences functions as ageneralization or an example in the text.

a We do not order curry (or sausage and chips, for that matter) in anIndian restaurant with a Peter Sellers brogue.

b lt is likely that, if an individual lives in an area with two dialects . . ',then there would be at least one other regional 'branch'.

c . . . i t is also true that some people are pract ical ly immobi le in thisrespect due to the limitation of their early vocal environments.

d Naturally enough, accent divergence can take on two directions.

Now find a generalization or example in the text that matcheseach of the sentences above.

88 UnitS

Extension

Task I

In this activity you will consider the writer's attitudetowards the subject of the text.

I What evidence can you find from the text to support each of thesestatements?

a Giles believes that a speaker who does not possess an accentrepertoire is at a disadvantage.

b Giles believes that downward accent convergence is sociallyheloful .

2 Write statements that summarize Giles's view abouto upward convergence. upward divergence. downward divergence

Compare your statements with those of a partner. Find evidencefrom the text to justify your statements.

Task 2

In this activity you will practise applying theinformation in the text to new situations.

Four kinds of accent change are described in the text:

r upwardconvergence. downwardconvergenceo upward divergence. downward divergence

What kind of accent change would you expect for each of the people initalics in these situations?

1 John has an RP accent. Mike has a broad regional accent. JohnlikesMike a lot and wants to make him feel at ease when he talks to him.

2 Francis is Jim's boss. Francis speaks RP. Jim speaks a broad regionalaccent. Jim is constantly asking for days off work. When Jim asks thenext time, Franciswanls to tell him he can't, and to emphasize hisauthority.

3 Sally comes from Birmingham and has a strong regional accent. Shehas been invited for an interview for a job at the BBC. Sa//ywants tomake a good impression with the interview panel, whose membersspeak RP.

4 Anne comes from Yorkshire and speaks with a local accent, but not avery strong one. She is involved in a minor accident with Graham'scar in London. Graham speaks RP. Graham accuses her of dr iv ing

UnitS 89

carelessly - like a typical northerner in London! This infuriates Anne;she doesn't think she was in the prong and resents Graham'srudeness.

Task3

This activity is designed to encourage you toconsider the stvle of the article.

Write a short article for a popular newspaper based on the informationin the text. Use this heading for your article:

POSH ACCENT WORKS WONDERS

Work with a partner and read each other's article. Make a list ofdifferences between the stvle of vour article and that of the actualtext.

2 DramaPreparation

Task 1

This activity is designed to activate your knowledgeabout the theme of the play you are going to read.

Can you tell what'social class'people in your country belong tofrom the way they speak? If so how?

In Britain it is possible to tell a person's 'social class'from theiraccent - to a certain extent at least.

Use the knowledge of English accents you have gained fromSection 1 to complete this table.

3 Do'educated' and'less-educated' people speak differently? Whatare the main differences vou have noted? Fill in the table on thenext page.

90 UnitS

Task 2

This activity is designed to encourage you to makepredictions about the play you are going to read.

1 You are going to read a play called Educating Rita.

a Who do you think Rita might be?b In what way do you think she becomes 'educated'?

c What changes do you think might take place in Rita as a resultof becoming educated?

d Why do you think she might want to be educated?e Who do you think helps to educate her?

2 What kind of play do you think Educating Rita is likely to be?

a atragedyb a tragi-comedyc a comedy

Extensive reading

Task I

This activity is designed to encourage you to formand test out a general impression.

Educating Ritais a play about a twenty-five-year-old working-classwoman called Rita who decides to become educated. She enrolls onan Open University literature course and attends weekly tutorialswith a university lecturer called Frank, who is disillusioned and analcoholic. The course has a dramatic effect on both their lives.

There are two extracts from the play for you to read. Extract Onecomes from the beginning of the play and Extract Two from near theend.

Read through the extracts from Educating Rita quick|y in order togive general answers to the questions below. Write down youranswers after you have finished reading.

1 In what ways does Rita change?

2 How does Frank view these changes?

D!!

UnitS 91

Extract One

Rita I read this poem about fightin' death . . .Frank Ah - Dylan Thomas . . .Rita No. Roger McGough. lt was about this old man who runs away from

hospital an'goes out on the ale. He gets pissed an'stands in the streetshoutin' an' challengin' death to come out an'fight. lt's dead good. 5

Frank Yes. I don't think I know the actual piece you mean . . .Rita l'll bring y' the book - it's great.Frank Thank you.Rita You probably won't think it's any good.Frank Why? 10Rita lt's the sort of poetry you can understand.Frank Ah. I see.

Rita begins looking idly round the room.Frank Can I offeryou a drink?Rita What of? 15Frank Scotch?Rita (going to the bookcase) Y'wanna be careful with that stuff, it kills

y'brain cel ls.Frank But you'll have one? (He gets up and goes to the smalltable.lRita All right. lt'll probably have a job findin' my brain. 20F rank (p o u ri n g th e d ri n ks) Water?Ri|a (looking at the bookcase) Yeh, all right. (She takes a copy of Howards

End from the shelf.l What's this like?Frank goes over to Rita, /ooks at the title of the book and then goesbackto the drinks. 25

Frank Howards EndlRita Yeh. lt sounds filthy, doesn't it? E.M. Foster.Frank Forster.Rita 0h yeh. What's it like?Frank Borrow it. Read it. 30Rita Ta. l'll look after it. (She moves backtowardsthe desk.l lf I packthe

course in l'll post it to y'.Frank comes back to the desk with drinks.

Frank(handing her the mugl Pack it in? Why should you do that?Rita pufs her drink down on the desk and puts the copy of H owards 35End in her bag.

Rita I just might. I might decide it was a soft idea.Frank (looking at her) Mm. Cheers. lf - erm - if you're already

contemplating'packing it in', why did you enrol in the first place?Rita Because lwanna rnow. 40Frank What do you want to know?Rita Everything.Frank Everything? That's rather a lot, isn't it? Where would you like to

start?Rita Well, I'm a student now, aren't l? l'll have to do exams, won't l? 45Frank Yes, eventually.

92 Unit 5

50

55

60

65

70

1 0

1 5

Rita l ' l l have to learn about i t a l l , won' l? Yeh. l t 's l ike y ' s i t there, don' t y ' ,watchin' the bal let or the opera on the tel ly an'- an' y ' cal l i t rubbishcos that's what it looks like? Cos y' don't understand. So y' switch it offan' say, that 's fuckin' rubbish.

Frank Do you?Rita I do. But I don' t want to. I wanna see. Y' don' t mind me swearin ' ,

do y '?Frank Not at al l .Rita Do you swear?Frank Never stoo.Rita See, the educated classes know it's only words, don't they? lt's only

the masses who don't understand. I do it to shock them sometimes.Y' know when I 'm in the hairdresser 's - that 's where I work - l ' l l saysometh in ' l i ke , '0h , I 'm rea l l y fucked ' , y ' know, dead loud. l t doesn ' t ha l fcause a fuss.

Frank Yes - I 'm sure . . .Rita But it doesn't cause any sort of fuss with educated people, does it?

Cos they know it's only words and they don't worry. But these stuck-upidiots I meet, they think they're royalty just cos they don't swear; an' Iwouldn' t mind but i t 's the ar istocracy that swears more than anyone,isn' t i t? They're eff in ' and bl indin' al l day long. l t 's al l 'Pass me the fackin'grouse' with them, isn' t i t? But y ' can' t tel l them that round our way. l t 'snot their fault; they can't help it. (She goes to the window and looksouf) But sometimes I hate them. God, what's it l ike to be free?

Frank Ah. Now there's a ouestion.

Extract Two

Frank ls sitting at his desk marking an essay. )ccasionally he makes atutting sound and scribbles something. There is a knock at the door.

Frank Come in.Rita enfers, closes the door, goes to the desk and dumps her bag on it.She takes her chair and places it next to Frank and sits down.

Rita (talking in a peculiar rzoice) Hello, Frank.Frank(without looking ufl Hello. Rita, you're late.Rita I know, Frank. I'm terribly sorry. lt was unavoidable.Frank(looking up) Was it really? What's wrong with your voice?Rita Nothing is wrongwith i t , Frank. I have merely decided to talk

properly. As Trish says there is not a lot of point in discussing beautifull i terature in an ugly voice.

Frank You haven't got an ugly voice; at least you didn' thave.f akpropeny.

Rita I am talking properly. I have to practise constantly, in everydaysituations.

Frank You mean you're going to talk l ike that for the rest of this tutor ial?Rita Trish says that no matter how difficult I may find it I must persevere.Frank Wel l wi l l you kindly tel l Tr ish that I am not giv ing a tutor ial to a

Dalek?Rita I am not a Dalek.

20

UnitS 93

25

5U

35

40

45

50

55

60

Frank(appealingly) RiIa, stoP it!Rita But Frank, I have to persevere in order that I shall.Frank Rita! Just be yourself.Rita (reverting to her normal voice) | am being myself. (She gets up and

moves the chair back to its usual place.\Frank What's that?Rita What?Frank 0n your back.Rita (reaching up) 0h - tt's grass.Frank Grass?Rita Yeh, I got here early today. I started talking to some students down

on the lawn. (She slfs in her usual chair.lFrank You were talking to students - down there?R)ta (taughing) Don't sound so surprised. I can talk now y' know, Frank.Frank I 'm not surprised. Well l You used to be quite wary of them didn't

you?Rita God knows why. For students they don't half come out with some

rubbish y' know.Frank You're tel l ing me?Rita I only got talking to them in the first place because as I was walking

past I heard one of them sayin' as a novel he preferred Lady Chatteileyto Sons and Lovers.l thought, lcan keep walkin'and ignore i t , or I canput him straight. So I put him straight. I walked over an' said, 'Excuse

me but I couldn't help overhearin'the rubbish you were spoutin' aboutLawrence'. Shoulda seen the faces on them, Frank. I said tryin'tocompare Chatterleywith Sons and Lovers is like tryin'to comparesparkl ing wine with champagne. The next thing is there's this heateddiscussion, with me right in the middle of i t .

Frank I thought you said the student claimed to 'prefer' Chatterley, as anovel.

Rita He did.Frank So he wasn't actually suggestingthat it was superior.Rita Not at first - but then he did. He walked right into it . . .Frank And so you finished him off, did you Rita?Rita Frank, he was asking for it. He was an idiot. His argument just

crumbled. lt wasn't just me - everyone else agreed with me.Frank returns to reading the essaY.

Rita There was this really mad one with them; I've only been talkin' tothem for five minutes and he's inviting me to go abroad with them allThey're al l goin'to the South of France in the Christmas holidays,s lummin ' i t .

Frank You can't go.Rita What?Frank You can't go - you've got your exams.Rita My exams are before Christmas.Frank Well - you've got your results to wait for . . .Rita Tch. I couldn't go anyway.Frank Why? (He looks at her.)

65

94 UnitS

70

75

80

85

90

Rita lt 's all right for them. They can just jump into a bleedin' van an' goaway. But I can't.He returns to the essay.Tiger they call him, he's the mad one. His real name's Tyson but theycal l him Tiger.

Frank (looking up) ls there any point me going on with this? (He points tothe essay).

Rita What?Frank ls there much point in working towards an examination if you're

going to fall in love and set off for the South of . . .Rita (shocked) What! Fall in Love? With who? My God, Frank, I've just

been talkin' to some students. I've heard of matchmaking but this isr idiculous.

Frank All right, but please stop burbling on about Mr Tyson.Rita I haven't been burbling on.

He returns to the essay.What's it l ike?

Frank 0h - it - erm - wouldn't look out of place with these.(He places it on top of a pile of other essays on his desk.l

Rita Honest?Frank Dead honest.

Blackout.

Frank exlfs.

Now read through the extracts a little more slowly. Try to findevidence from the extracts for your answers. You may feel you wantto change your initial answers.

Hold a class discussion based on your answers to the two questions.

Intensive reading

Task 1

This activity encourages you to interpret theevidence in the extracts relating to

Rita's development.

1 Various authors and books are mentioned in the two extracts.Complete this table about them.

Extract One

Rita's opinion

UnitS 95

a How do Rita's views about writers change?S/hat does this reveal about her development?

b What evidence is there that Rita feels very insecure in ExtractOne?What evidence is there to suggest that she feels much moreconfident in Extract Two?What explanation can you suggest for this change?

In Extract One Rita says 7 wanna see' (L.52). What exactly is itthat she wants to see?In Extract Two she says 7 can talk nou)'y know' (L.35). Whatdoes she mean by this?What do these two quotations show about the change that hastaken place in Rita?

Task 2

The aim of this activity is to enable you to interpretthe text by analyzing the way the characters speak.

I Compare the way Rita speaks in Extract One with the way shespeaks at the beginning of Extract Two (L. I to 23), and completethis table.

Feature of Rita's speech ExtractTwo

dialect used

accent used

level of formality

a Why does Rita change the way she speaks?b What is this change meant to show us about Rita?c Why doesn't Frank like the change?d Why do you think Rita abandons her new way of speaking?

2 Make a list of all the colloquial expressions that Rita uses inExtract One, such as,'goes out on the ale'. Give the formal,standard English equivalent of each expression.

Now do the same for Extract Two.

96 UnitS

Which extract has more colloquial expressions? What does thisindicate about Rita?

3 Now study the way Frank speaks. Fill in the table below.

Feature of Frank's speech Extract Two

dialect used

accent used

Ievel of formality

How does Frank's way of speaking differ from Rita's?What is this meant to tell us about the two characters?To what extent do you think Frank changes the way he speaks?Extract Two ends with Frank saylng 'Dead honesf . Which wayof speaking is this an example of2What does this indicate about Frank's attitude towards Rita?

Extension

Task 1

This activity encourages you to think about thetheme of Educating Rita and, how you respond

to the two characters.

I Eithera Imagine that you are Frank. Write a brief character sketch of

Rita.orb Imagine that you are Rita and write a brief character sketch of

Frank.

Find a student who chose to write about the other character.Read your description to your partner and then discuss it.Make suggestions about how your partner could improve his/her character sketch.

Do you think that Frank completely approves of Rita's'education'? Give reasons for your answer.

To what extent do you think Rita has become 'truly educated'?

What do you think the author, Willy Russell, thinks a'trueeducation' consists of?

How do you think the play ends?

abcd

97UnitS

3 Review activitiesTask 1

In this activity you will review the points thatHoward Giles makes about the way we change howwe speak and relate them to the use of language by

the two characters in Educating Rita.

1 Read through the article Our reactions to accent onpages 83 and

86 again and check that you know what the following refer to:o zcc€flt rePertoireo f€Spolls€ matching. upward and downward convergence. upward and downward divergence

2 What'accent repertoire'do Rita and Frank each have?

3 Read Extract One of. Educating Rita again. What evidence is

there of any convergence or divergence on Rita's part? Whatmotivates this? To what extent does Frank converge or diverge?

4 Now reread Extract Two of Educating Rita. Does Rita convergeor diverge? Does Frank converge or diverge? What explanationcan you give for the way they use language?

5 To what extent does 'response matching'increase from ExtractOne to Extract Two? What do you think this is meant to showabout the relationship between the two characters?

Task 2

In this activity you will discuss some of the issuesraised by the reading passages in this unit.

Why do you think that most countries have different accents anddialects within their language?

Do you think that some accents and dialects are better thanothers? Why?

What do you think is meant by the term'linguistic snobbery'?

Imagine that you are a teacher in a British school where most ofthe children speak a regional dialect with a regional accent, likeRita. Work with a partner and discuss whether you would:a simply accept the way the children speak (i'e. let them calry on

speaking as they do)?b try to change the way they speak. If so, what would you want

to change and how would you try to do it?

Or perhaps you have some other idea.

3

4

Arguing

1 Advice

Preparation

Task 1

In this task you will be asked to thinkabout the different ways of expressing

disagreement in English?

Think of different ways of disagreeing with the following state-ments, marked A. For each of your expressions of disagreementsay what situational factors would make it appropriate.

For exantple: A 'l don't think l' l l bother to go to that meeting. She'snot going to turn up, is she?'

B 'Oh. I 'm fair ly conf ident she wi l l , Mrs Hunt. '

Appropriate in a semi-formal situation in which A is in a position ofauthority over B (A might be the manager and B her assistant).

'This car is a good bargain.'

'Futre's going to be a better player than Maradonna.'

. AB

. AB

Unit6 99

. A 'The poll suggests that the Tories will score anoverwhelming victory at the next general election.'

8 . " . . . .. A 'Green King Abbot is the best strong beer in England.'

8 . . . . . .. A 'I think we'll stay at home. It's going to rain.'

B . . . . . .

2 Complete the following table exemplifying different ways ofarguing.

Statement

'You could've askedme to help.'

'All the signs indicatean imminent increasein the oil price.''I think we'll go toMajorca again thisyear.''This is a nice dress,dear.'

Formal meetingbetween two newbusiness partners.

Married couple.

Mother buyrngteenage daughter adress for a party.

Acquaintances talkingin a pub.

3 The following table is taken from a book intended to helpadvanced students of English as a foreign language.

a Evaluate the table as a learning aid.

Is it clearly organized and presented?fue the examples useful?Does it provide enough information?Is the information valid?Is there anything important missing?

'Sure. Like when Ineeded money forthe rent.'

'No way; I used tolive there.''I'm not entirelysure I agree.''You could be right.B u t . . . ''Great idea!Who the hell's goingto pay for it?'

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Expressing disagreement

Stronger

I disagree entirely.I wouldn't go along with you

You can't be serious.

You must be joking.

How on earth can you say such a thing?

I'm not really sure if I'd go along with you - on that.- there.

I'm inclined to disagree with that.

I'm not sure you're right there.

That's a little far-fetched, isn't it?

- on that- there.

b How would you make use of this table (or an adaptation of it) ina textbook for advanced students of English as a foreignlanguage?

c Adapt the same basic framework to provide a more detaileddescription of ways of expressing disagreement in English.

4 How does your own language differ from English in the way itexpresses degrees and types ofdisagreement? Does it. . .

o make use of sarcasm: e. g.' Great idea! Who's going to pay for it?'. have short utterances for strong disagreement: e.g.,

'Nonsense!'

. have longer utterances for more tentative disagreement: e. g. ,'I'm not entirely sure that I completely agree with you.'

. often not signal the disagreement overtly at all: e.g., 'If ll be teno'cloch when we get there."Eleaen.'

Extensive reading

Task I

In this task you will be asked to interact with thewriter of a passage about ways of arguing.

1 Read the passage on the next page and as you read it'talk'to thewriter. Express any doubts or disagreements you have and askquestions about points which are not clear.

Weaker

JInf

Jlnf

101Unit6

Your Way

Successful disagreement requires cunning. Nobody who blurts out animmediate and honest retort ever wins an argument. Such candid naivetyonly succeeds in antagonising the speaker and alienating potentialsupporters amongst any other participants in the conversation. What isreouired above all is stealth and deception. A successful arguer has to bea convincing actor.

But first let us consider what it means to win an argument. what is it weare trying to achieve when we argue? Are we trying to belittle and defeatour opponent? Are we trying to impress an audience with our courage andintegrity? Are we trying to achieve some sort of emotive catharsis byventing our spleen? 0r are we trying to win people over to our side, toconvert the others to our views and to enlist their support? | wouldsuggest that anyone who communicates the message, 'Listen to me' I'mcleverer than you. This is what I really think and I feel a lot better forsaying so' can only hope to achieve at best a very cheap and shallowvictory. He might appear to win the argument but he will lose support'

And it is support that he is surely trying to win. Support for his views,for his proposed actions, for his reputation. lt is not the argument thatcounts but what comes after. lt is what the other participants in theargument feel, think and do afterwards that really matters. lt is thecontribution of each victorious argument to your image that is whatarguing is all about. To really win arguments you need to obey thefollowing rules.

Rule I Don't Snap. Think lnstead.Never give an immediate, unthinking response.Always buy time to think out your first and therefore mostimportant resPonse.Use the following PloYs:a Pretend to seek clarification.

e.g. , 'Do You mean that ' ' . . . .? '

'You are saYing that . . . . . .? '

b Encourage the speaker to continue.e.g., 'That's interesting. Go on"

c Respond with a respectful, thoughtful silence intended toencourage the speaker to continue.

NB Getting the speaker to continue not only buys you thinking time butoften traps him/her into over-emphastzing, over-repeating the point.

Ruf e 2 Don't Shout. Talk QuietlY.Never shout at your opponent, especially when provoked.Always talk quietly to give the impression of being respectfuland rational.

Rufe 3 Don't DestroY. Review.Never destroy your opponents totally.

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Always leave them with something positive.e.g., 'l like your idea for the curtains but I'm not so sure aboutthe furniture.'Review your opponents' arguments before proposing yourown.

Rule 4 Don't Negate. Be Positive.Never just attack your opponents' arguments.Always suggest positive alternatives and preferablyalternatives of potential benefit to all those concerned.

e.g., x 'That's a silly idea.'uz

'That would give you a small profit but I'm sure youwould make more by investing the money in a buildingsociety.'

Rule 5 Don't Get Upset. Be'0bjective'.Never risk losing control by becoming emotionally involved inan argument.Always try to appear objective and balanced - especially ifyour opponent loses control.

Rule 6 Don't Dominate. Be'Fai/.Never risk annoying your opponents and any observers by notletting other people have an equal share of the argument.Always appear to be willing to listen. This gains you supportand often traps your opponents into weakening their ownarguments with exaggeration and over-repetition.

Rule 7 Don't Be Abstract. Be Specific.Never just offer abstract ideas.Always give concrete examples of the actual or potentialresults of your ideas.

Rufe 8 Don't Be Arrogant. Be Modest.Never give the impression that you are convinced of your ownsuperiority (especially when you are).Always give the impression that you are right but not superior.

Rule 9 Don't Be Tentative. Be Definite.Never give the impression that you are not sure what youthink.Always appear confident in your considered views.

Rule 10 Never Start An Argument. Always Respond.Never provoke your potential opponents and any observers bystarting the attack.Always trap them into making the first move and riskingmaking the first mistake.

e.9., x 'l suppose you will insist on that awful loud musicagain for the party.'

/ 'Any ideas about music for the party?'

Unit6 103

Ruf e 11 Don't Withdraw. Have the Last Word.Never let your opponents end the argument. They might thinkyou have given in.Always end the argument and end it in a positive way.

Ruf e 12 Don't Be Wrong. Be Right.Never take part in an argument when you are not sure of yourvrews.Always wait until you are sure you are right before you enter anargument.

Ruf e 13 Don't Be Absolute. Make Small Concessions.Never insist on you being totally right and your opponent.totally wrong.Always concede a few minor points to your opponent.

Rule 14 Don't Lose. Win.Never enter an argument if you are not confident of winning it.Always delay your contribution in an argument until you areconfident of success. Always stick to your main views duringthe argument (even if you then change them privately).

Remember it is not the message that counts; it is the way you express it.Truth and wisdom might help but they are not enough. Tactics winarguments and they require constant and calculated thought. So obeymost of all the final rule:

Rufe 15 Don't FeeL Think.

2 Work in pairs with one student being A and the other B. A shouldread the passage again carefully and prepare to represent theviews of the writer. B should read the passage again and prepareto argue against the points made by the writer.

A should then present the points made in the passage and defendthem against the disagreements of B.

Intensive reading

Task I

In this task you will be asked to analyze howthe writer of Your Way l:.as constructed the passage

to try to persuade the reader to agree withthe points presented.

1 Read the passage again and find examples of the following:a rhetorical questionsb symmetryc statement plus reinforcement of the statementd absolute statement

104 Unit6

efeh

4

tentative statementhighlightingstatement plus explanation of statementstatement not followed by exemplification, explanation orreinforcement

For each example say what the writer is trying to achieve.

2 Complete this analysis of the first and second paragraphs.

Why does the writer:a express his ideas in the form of rules?b follow the same 'NeuerlAlways'approach in expressing each

rule?c end with Rule 15?

What does the writer mean by:a 'cunning'?

b 's tea l th '?

Utterance Speech act Purpose

Statement ofview

. Command attention

. Surprise

. Make impact

2 Reinforcement

Explanation

. Concise sunmaryof main point

6 a Get reader to thinl<Prepare reader toreceive an answer

a

I Rhetoricalquestion

8

I

Unit6 105

c 'uenting our sPleen'?d 'a cheap and shallow uictory'?e 'reputation'?

f 'to seek clarification'?g'reuiew'.?h'concede'?

5 Write a criticism of the passage under the following headings:

ContentSay what you agree with and what you disagree with'

ExpressionSay what you Iike and what you do not like about the way thewriter expresses his views.

Extension

Task 1

In this task you will be asked to rewrite the passagein two different ways.

I Rewrite the passage so that it becomes a concise, one paragraphsummary of advice to intermediate level students on how todisagree in English. You can change, add and omit points andchange the style in any way you feel is appropriate'

2 Rewrite the passage so that it reflects your own views on theobjectives and tactics of disagreement.

2 People arguing

Preparation

In this task you will be asked to review your opinionsabout why and how arguments take place.

I Think about the situations in which people argue and then add tothe following lists so that they serve as a summary of the featuresof typical arguments.

Arguments

Typical participants Typical reasons Tgical objectiues

Sister and brother Anger To change viewsHusbandandwife Misunderstanding Toinfluenceaction

106 Unit6

2 Think of the different tactics people use to try to win argumentsand then complete the list below.

Tactics Examples'The label says it's purple.''The guide said it was built:'1.1'Nobody would ever vote for youagain.''I'm telling you; I wasn't eventhere.'

ab

cdef

Quoting'facts'Quoting experts

SarcasmIronyAbuse

\\\\i!I

s . . . . . .

Extensive reading

Task I

In this task you will be asked to respond to thecontent and tactics of an argument between a woman

and her brother.

Read the following argument between a woman and her brother, fromFools and Other Stories by Njabulo Ndebele. As you read it, try toidentify the critical points in the argument. Work out the reasons andobjectives of their argument and think about the tactics they use totry to win the argument.

'Fancy! ' Mother shouts. 'Just fancy a big man l ike you. A whole grown-up fighting in the streets. Where is your self-respect?'Uncle does not answer. He eats his supper quiet ly.

'Just fancy! What a disgrace! Today I asked for a special day's leavefrom the cl in ic so that I can spend this Fr iday, the whole of i t , wi th mybrother. And what does he do? He gets up as if he was in a hotel anddisappears. Look! ' Mother gets up from the table and opens the canopyof the stove. 'Look! Here is your lunch. Here is my day's good cooking. Ithought I would si t the whole day with my chi ld 's uncle and talk and behappy.And what 's my reward? Disgrace. What wi l l the people say? l t 's thebrother of the nurse, they must be saying. And what example were youbeing to this mshana of yours?'

'Sisl 'says Uncle. 'What was done had to be done. ''You mean I had to be disgraced? Fancyl '

I am thinking that i t was not r ight what Uncle did to Nzule. And I amwondering where he is now. I am wondering what he wi l l do to us whenUncle is gone. lt was not right. But I don't say anything.

'Wel l . ' says Uncle. 'Just come to think of i t , a l i t t le disgrace once in awhi le is in order. 0r else you' l l forget what disgrace is l ike. That 's how youlearn to keep your name respected. By being disgraced somewhat. You

1 0

l 5

20

Unit6 107

must be tested all the time.' Uncle puts food into his mouth and licks hisfingers.

'Listen to him,' says Mother. 'What does he know about respect? Thischild of yesterday. I changed his nappies, and he is teaching me aboutrespect. Let me ask you: what's the use of being in the papers if you 25cannot maintain self-respect? What do you know about respect?'

'As for my mshana, he learnt a lot. I taught him that in this world onehas to fight sometimes, and that when one does fight one must do it verywell. '

'Did you see, mshanai Did you see how a man who thinks too much of 30himself is a defeated man? He was too sure of hrs superiority. Did yousee? When he came round that corner dancing and impressing people, Iknew he was a defeated man. Studyyour enemy, mshana, and know himwell. Self-righteousness and the feeling of superiority are the weakness ofthe powerful. lf you know that, you can defeat them with the simplest of 35things.'

'Don't say such things to the child.''He's a man.'

l'm fingering my food and mixing papawlth some meat and gravy. I amnot looking at Uncle as he talks to me. Why does he look at me? Why 40address me? He should be looking at Mother. I cannot look at him. Motherwill think I am listening to him. She'll think I am not respecting her; that Iam taking sides. We are quiet for a while.

'Eat quickly,' says Mother to me. 'And then wash the dishes.''l will help you, mshana,'says Uncle. 45'You will do no such thing,' says Mother. 'l am living with this child and

he should learn to carry his own responsibilities.''And after helping you with the dishes we are going to clean up our

bedroom and then have a good bath afterwards.''At nine? So late at night?' 50'The room must be clean, and we must be clean.''surely it could wait for tomorrow. At nine? At night?''At any time of the night!''That boy must be tired. He must go to bed now!''He's a man.' 55'That there is my sonl''0-o-o! When I am here, I have complete responsibility over him.''Since when have you been so responsible?''Even if you changed my nappies once, I am that boy's uncle.''Oh you!' exclaims Mother putting a bottle in front of Uncle. 'Here's 60

some honey, I know you've always liked it. See, it's still in the honeycomb.Got it from the priest's wife yesterday.'

'Do you remember when I disappeared with him for a whole Sunday?''Only a fool could remind me of that day,' says Mother as she leaves

the kitchen carrying her cup of tea. She is smiling. 65Uncle winks at me.

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Answer the following questions about the argument.

1 Why is Mother so annoyed by what her brother did to Nzule?2 What do you think Uncle really feels about what he did to Nzule?3 What do you think Mother hopes to achieve by arguing with her

brother?4 Why do you think Uncle defends himself so stubbornly?5 What do you think Uncle actually did?6 Why do you think Mother always refers to her son as a boy whilst

Uncle always refers to him as a man?7 Who do you think wins the argument? Give your reasons.

Intensive reading

Task 1

In this task you will be asked to analyze in depth thetactics in the argument.

1 a What is the force of the repetition of 'fancy'in line 1?b What is the force of 'whole'in line 1?c Does Mother expect an answer to her question in line 2? Why

does she ask it?d Why does Uncle not answer (L.3)?e Why does Mother use the word'special' nlne 4?f What is Mother accusing Uncle of in lines 4 to 12?g What do her words tell you about her character?h Do you think Uncle believes in the logic of his argument in

lines 18 to 22? Why do you think he uses it?i What is Mother implying in lines 23 to 26?j Why does Uncle address his mshana instead of his sister?k Why does Uncle offer to help his mshana with the dishes

L.4il?Why does his sister refuse his offer?

I What is Mother implying in line 58?m What does the exclamation'Oh, you!' signalin line 60?n Why does Uncle remind Mother of the day he disappeared

with his mshana for ' a whole Sunday' (L. 63) ?o Why does Mother smile?p Why does Uncle wink?

Unit6 109

2 Try to complete the following analysis of the argument.

. exclamations

. exaggeration

. rhetorical questions

. repeatedexclamations

. narrative

. question/answer

. exaggerationo rhetorical question

3

4

Utterance

1 M l ines l to2

2 M l ines 4tol2

3 U line 13

4 M line 14

5 U l ines 9to22

6 M lines 27 to29

7 U lines 30 to 36

8 M line 37

9 U line 38

a

a

a

a

a

a

Objectiue(s)

ridiculeto express angerto make U feelashamed

to showdeterminationto make him feelashamedto show how hurtshe is and to makehim feel guilty

Summarize the main features of both Mother's and Uncle's stylesof argument and comment on their effectiveness'

Rewrite lines 1 to 12 with Mother using gentler, more subtletactics to try to make her brother feel ashamed and admit that hewas wrong.

110 Unit6

Preparation

Task 1

In this task you are going to imagine yourselfin a difficult, irritating situation, and to predict

how you would react.

Imagine that you are Professor Vinnie Miner, a fifty-four-year-oldAmerican woman who is in London to research rhymes for herforthcoming book. On the plane from America you sat next toChuck Mumpson, 'an engineer from Tulsa specializing in waste-disposal systems . . . married with two grown children . . . andthree grandchildren . . . and on a two-week Sun Tour of England.'It is now late at night and you have received an unexpected visitfrom Chuck Mumpson who is anxious to tell you about hisabortive visit to Wiltshire to search for his reputedly aristocraticancestors.

You listen patiently to his long story but become irritated when hebecomes pathetically worried about how his wife and her familywill mock him when he returns to Tulsa.

You want to help Chuck but you also want to express yourannoyance with him and to get rid of him so that you can go tobed. What would you say to him?

Form pairs and discuss what each of you has decided you wouldsay to Chuck.

Still in pairs, complete the following sentences spoken by Vinnieto Chuck.

a 'A l l r igh t then, don ' t . . . . . . 'b ' L i e d o w n i n . . . . . . a n d l e t a b u s . . . . . . 'c ' O n l y s t o p b e i n g . . . . . . 'd 'But of course, it's none of . . . . . .'e ' Id idn ' tmeanto bu t i t ' svery . . . . . . and lhaveto

. . . . . . ,

Extensive reading

Task 1

In this task you will be asked to compare yourpredictions with what Vinnie Miner actually said.

I Read the following argument between Vinnie Miner and ChuckMumpson, fuomForeignAffairs by Alison Lurie, and as you readcompare her words and behaviour with your predictions.

Unit6 111

'All right then, don't show a little initiative,' Vinnie says, losing hertemper. 'Lie down in the street and let a bus run over you if you want to.0nly stop being so damn sorry for yourself.'

Chuck's square, heavy jaw falls; he stares at her dumbly.'l mean for God's sake.' She is breathing hard, suddenly enraged. 'A

white Anglo-Saxon American male, with good health, and no obligations,and more money and free time than you know what to do with. Mostpeople in the world would kill to be in your shoes. But you're so stupid youdon't even know how to enjoy yourself in London.'

'Yeh? Like for instance?' Chuck sounds angry now as well as hurt, butVinnie cannot stop herself.

'staying in that awful tourist hotel, like for instance, and eating theirterrible food, and going to ersatz American musicals; when the town is fullof fine restaurants, and you could be at Covent Garden every night.'

Chuck does not respond, only gapes.'But of course it's none of my business,' she adds in a lower tone,

astonished at herself. ' l didn't mean to shout at you, but it 's very late, andI have to get up early tomorrow and visit a school in Kennington.'

'Yeh. All right.' Chuck looks at his watch, then stands up slowly; hismanner is injured, stuffy, formal. 'Okay, Professor, I'm going. Thanks forthe dr ink. '

'You're welcome.' Vinnie cannot bring herself to apologize further toChuck Mumpson. She shows him out, washes his glass and her teacupand sets them to dry, gets back into her flannel nightgown, and climbsinto bed, noting with disapproval that it is ten minutes past twelve.

2 With your partner discuss the similarities and differencesbetween your predictions and the text.

Task 2

In this task you will be asked to work out theattitudes of Vinnie and Chuck to each other and to

predict the development of their relationship.

1 Which of the following statements do you think describe Vinnie'sfeelings towards Chuck?! a She is in love with him! b She despises him! c She dislikes him but wants to help himD d She has no strong feelings towards him at all! e She finds him irritating but interesting! f She is furious with him for disturbing her so late at night! g She is attracted to him but doesn't want him to know

112 Unit6

Write a sentence of your own describing Vinnie's feelings towardsChuck.

2 What do you think Chuck thinks about Vinnie?

Why does he decide to leave?

3 Write the following:a a note from Vinnie to Chuck apologizing for her behaviourb a note from Chuck to Vinnie apologizing for his behaviourc an extract from another scene when Chuck and Vinnie next

meet

Intensive reading

Task 1

In this task you will be asked to look more closelyat the strategies used by Vinnie and Chuck in

their argument.

I Ct'rticize each of the following lists as an analysis of Vinnie'ssequence of strategies in her argument with Chuck.

a l command b ladv ice c l sarcasm2 opinion 2 anger 2 accusation3 description 3 opinion 3 exclamation4 explanation 4 insult 4 exaggerated

5 accusation accusation6 suggestion 5 exemplification7 irony 6 distance8 excuse 7 apology

8 escape

2 Why does Chucka stare at Vinnie dumbly?b becomeangryandhurt?c gape at Vinnie?d look at his watch?e refer to Vinnie as 'Professor'?

3 Which of Vinnie's strategies do you think are calculated and whichdo you think are spontaneous? Give reasons.

4 Imagine you are Vinnie and that you are thinking about theargument after Chuck has left. How much of what you said areyou pleased with and what do you regret?

Write a short dialogue in which you report your argument withChuck to a friend.

5 Rewrite the extract as a scene from a play, and either:a make Vinnie much more restrained and constructive in her

comments and advice, or

Unit6 113

b make Chuck much more aggressive and self-justifying in hisresponses.

Preparation

Task 1

In this task you will be asked to predict thecontinuation of an argument and to work out the

nature and objectives of the participants.

1 Who do you think the following conversation is between?'Would you l ike a l i t t le lunch?''No, l 'm not hungrY. '' l could fix you breakfast.'' l just said I 'm not hungrY. ''What's wrong?''Nothing is wrong. ''Are you sure?'

What does the conversation tell us about the two people?How do you think the conversation will continue?

2 Read the following extract ftomLaheWobegon Days by GarrisonKeillor to find out if you were right in 1 above and to discovermore about the two people and their argument. As you readdecide whose side you are on and why.

Lake Wobegon Days

The Tollefson boy who has been up until two tn the morning for weeksreading books, is stil l basking in the glow of graduation and getting theSons of Knute Shining Star Award (a $200 scholarship). His mother,Frances, is st i l l basking, too, and that 's why, when she comes up behindhim, she touches him l ight ly on the shoulder and says gent ly, 'St i l l in yourpajamas, Johnny?'.

He flinches as if she were a snake. He sighs. 'The answer to yourquest ions, Mother, is yes. These are my pajamas and I 'm in them.'

'Would you l ike a l i t t le lunch?''No, I 'm not hungry. '' l could f ix you'breakfast. '' l just said I 'm not hungry. ''What's wrong?'Nothing is wrong. ''Are you sure?'He sighs. He's cornered with her there behind him. He walks over to

the brown cane chair bythe porch swingand slouches down in i t . l t 's hardto get comfortable if you're tall, you have to ease down until you balanceon a particular vertebra a few notches above the coccyx. He finds thebone he wants, puts his feet up on the swing, sets his sad blue eyes onthe Krebsbach house across the street, and wishes she would leave him

114 Unit6

alone. Why is it the people who follow you around asking what's wrong arethe ones who wouldn't know if you told them?

What's wrong is this - and it isn't this exactly, this is only one thing ofmany - it's his mother's plan that at two o'clock they pick up his grandmaand Aunt Mary and his uncle Senator K. Thorvaldson, and the wholemotley bunch drive to St. Cloud to see him register at St. Cloud StateCollege for fall quarter.

Summer'lt's only registration! lt's like getting a driver's license! lt takes ten

minutes! What's the big deal?' he said to her three days ago when sheannounced this idea.

'l thought you'd be pleased. They're so proud ofyou. They want to bethere.'

How do you tell your mother that there's something funny about yourold relatives? They talk funny, and they look funny. lt's less noticeable inLake Wobegon, but put them in a big city like St. Cloud and everybodysees it, like they have signs around their neck that say'Hick'. People in St.Cloud have some shine to them and look comfortable in their clothes asthey stroll along St. Germaine, going about their business affairs, and ifyou asked one of them for directions to a good restaurant, they'd tell youthat, but his old relatives dress up like scarecrows, Uncle Senator wearsbagry black pants and an old white shirt buttoned up to the neck and notie and hightop kangaroo shoes, and if you asked him for directions he'dgive you the story of his life.

For three days they've gone around and around.'Why don't you and them go register? You don't need me.''0h, Johnny, it's such a little thing.''lf it's so little, how come they have to go?''l can't tell them they can't come now, they'd be so hurt.''Well, you should've thought of that when you invited them.'His dad said, 'lf we're not good enough to be seen with you in public,

then maybe it's time you started packing.''l don't see what that has to do with the fact that I am perfectly capable

of going to St. Cloud without taking my whole family along.''There's a lot you don't see and I doubt if you ever will.'

Extensive reading

Task 1

In this task you will be asked to act out thescene frorn Lake Wobegon Days and to write a further

scene yourselves.

In groups of four practice acting out the scene (with one of you asdirector). Add some dialogue of your own at the end of the scene.

Join another group of four students and watch each otherperforming your scenes. Discuss any ffierence of interpretation.

Unit6 115

3 Write a scene from a play in whichJohnny is reporting thediscussion with his mother and father to a friend.

Intensive reading

Task I

In this task you will be asked to'read between thelines'to find out what the characters really mean and

intend by what they say.

What is his mother implyrng when she says'Still in your pajamas,

tohnny?'?Why do you think so many of the family want to see Johnnyregister at St. Cloud State College?Why do you thinkJohnny doesn't want the 'whole motley bunch' tosee him register?Why does Johnny refer to his family as having 'signs around theirnech that say'Hick' '?

What does Johnny's mother mean by 'If s such a little thing:?Who do you think says 'There's a lot you d.on't see and I doubt if youeuer will'?What do you think is meant by it?What tactics are used in the argument by:. Johnny. his mother. his father

5

6

3 Review activities

In these tasks you will be asked to relate anduse the knowledge you have gained in this

unit about arguments.

Task 1

1 Which of the 15 Rules in Your Way (page 101) are followed andwhich are broken in the three arguments you have read in Section 2 .Do you think any of the participants would have gained fromfollowingmore of the 15 Rules? Which?

2 The first argument in Section 2 takes place in South Africa, thesecond in London (between two Americans) and the third inAmerica. Which differences in tactics do you think are attributableto cultural differences? Would these arguments have been veryffierent in your country?

116 Unit6

Task 2

Do one of the following:

I Use the 'arguments'you have read in this unit to help you to writea scene from a play or novel which features an argument betweenone of the following pairs:

o a married man and his young mistress. a teacher and a student. a priest and a member of the congregation. the manager of a football team and one of his star players. the director of a film and the star of the filrn

2 Write a magazine article on how to win an argument in English.Try to make the article both informative and amusing.

1 1 7

TEACHER'S GUIDE

This Teacher's guide provides suggestions about how touse the tasks in each unit and detailed answers to thequestions. Many of the questions are 'open' and so do nothave single, correct answers. The answers provided,

therefore, are not definitive and teachers should beprepared to accept alternative answers in many instances,providing they can be justified.

UNIT 11 ArgumentThere are a large number of questions in this section rrorder to provide a very thorough'text-attack'. You willneed several lessons to complete all the questions. Onepossible teaching scheme is:

Les son 7 (1 hour): The tasks in P reparation and E tctens iuereading

Lesson 2 (1 hour): T ask I in I ntensiae readingSelf-study: Task2inlntensiuereadingLes s on 3 (1 hour) : T ask 3 in I nten siu e reading and lhe

tasks nt Extension

PreparationTask 1If you are teaching a mixed class, do this activity with pairsofthe same sex. Then, in the class discussion draw outany differences in opinions between males and females.Allow the discussion to continue without'ruling'who isright or who is wrong. Point out that we all tend to havepreconceptions about the kinds of differences in the waymen and women use language. Tell the students that manyof the points of comparison listed in the table are coveredin the passage and that they will have a chance to evaluatetheir answers when they read it.

Task 2The answer is d. Encourage the students to justify theirchoice and their rejection of the other choices by referringto specific quotations.

Extensive readingTask 1Make sure the students are clear aboulthe task beforethey start to read. Discuss the kinds of strategies neededto skim effectively: for an example, reading the first andlast lines of each paragraph to identify the topics dealtwith.Answers: 1 L. 1 to L.93

2L.94toL.2753L.276 to L.399

Task 2Ask the students to write down answers to the twoquestions before they get into groups. Then let themcompare answers in groups, referring back to the passageif they need to sort out any differences. Check theanswers in class discussion, asking the students to justifytheir choices.Note The questions have been framed to have no clear

single answer. They should, therefore, stimulateargument. For 1, a is probably best; b does notmention'language'; c and d deal with only part ofthe content. For 2, cis perhaps best, although acase could be made for a and b.

Intensive readingTask 1Make sure that the students know which section of thetext to read to do this task. Work through the questionsone at a time. They are intended to build up anunderstanding of how the topic is orgaruzed, in a systematicfashion.1 Do these questions orally with all the students.

Answers:b The general idea is 'fixed beliefs'.c The viewpoint might be described as 'the need to

challenge false assumptions about male/femalelanguage'.

d They are key words because the whole purpose ofthe text is to make people rethink theirassumptions.

e Some of the mlths mentioned are:o males are serious and taciturn speakers/females are

gossipy and gamrlouso females use more trivial words. females stop talking in mid-sentencer females talk about the same things over and over

agaln. pitch differences are the result of anatomical

differences

2 The diagram is based on the second paragraph. Askthe students to read the paragraph and to relate thesentences in it to the different parts of the diagram.When they have finished, ask them to close theirbooks and try to give an oral summary.

3 Ask the students to write their answers individually.Check them orally.

Answers:a Research has challenged the preconceptions.b The preconceptions have had to be discarded

because the research has not been able to produceany evidence to support them.

118 Teacher's guide

4 These questions canbe done inpairs.

Answers:a 'Pitch' provides an example of a difference that is in

the beholder rather than in the language.

b The preconception is that males are meant to talk inlow-pitched voices and females in high-pitchedvolces.

c The true cause of male/female pitch differences issocial, i.e., there are'penalties'.

d The evidence includes:. no anatomical differenceso pitch in males varies from country to country

depending upon'gender differentiation'

5 The other function ofparagraph ten is to lead in to thenext section. The paragraph tells us that this is'language and power'.

6 The purpose ofthis activity is to review the firstsection. Ask the students to do the activityindividually, reading through the text carefully. Thenask one of them to reproduce the first section in theirown words and invite the other students to commenton the summary.

Task 2

Let the students work through questions 1 to 6 in this taskon their own, perhaps as homework. Make sure theyknow which part of the text they have to read. Put theminto groups to compare answers. Go through the answerswith them quickly, or, better still, prepare an answersheet which you can give out to the groups for them tocheck their own answers. In short, make the students dothe work needed in this task.

Answers:l a2 a false; b true; c false; d true; e false; ftrue

(We leave it to you to work out how to rewritesentences a, c and e to make them true. )

3 athey talkless thanmen (i.e., theylisten to the mentalking)b they don't interrupt and they don't protest whenmen interrupt them.

4

Study Subjects Results Conclusions

I teachers atconference

a twice asmuch male asfemale talk27t30participantsbelievedthere hadbeen morefemale talk

o

women talkless than menbut arebelieved todominate talk

Study Subjects Results Conclusions

2 32 femalesand 5 malesin workshop

. 32158minutes oftalk taken upby males

o most peopleunaware ofdispropor-tionateamount ofmale talkingtime

males have totalk almost allthe timebefore theyare seen todominate talk

5 The'double standard'refers to the fact that peopleview male and female talk from different points of viewaccording to their stereotypical ideas of how men andwomen behave conversationally.

6 Females are polite because they have less power thanmen. Because she is polite, the female forfeits herequal rights of access to talk.

Question 7 helps students to review the section they havebeen studying and to focus on the way the discourse isorganized,. If you decide to ask your students to draw adiagram, make sure that they can identify the paragraphscovering the different sub-topics before they begin. Whenthey have drawn it ask one student to draw his/herdiagram on the board quickly; then invite other students tocomment on it and suggest improvements.

Task 3

1 Do this orally with the students.Answers:The probLem is that girls get less opportunity to talk inmixed-sex schools than boys and tend to accept thisstate of affairs. The solution is for teachers to helogirls to enjoy the same rights to talk as boys, andencourage them to demand these rights.

2 and3 Do these questions in groups. If you want tosave time give 2 and 3 to different groups.Answers:2 The best order is d, e, b, c, a, f. Other orders are

possible.

3 1 . . . . qu ie tanddoc i l e2 . . . . talktoother girls3. . . . rebuked for calling out4 . . . . k e e p s i l e n t5 . . . . accept any task (i. e. , Just get on with it')

4 One way to do this is to instruct the students to writedown key fhra.ses from the text as they reread thesection. Then ask them to turn over their textbooksand produce a summary of Spender's argument basedon the key phrases they have noted down.

Teacher s guil.e 119

ExtensionTask 1The purpose of this task is to explore to what extentdifferent students have responded differently to the article- in particular, according to whether they are male orfemale! In the group work, encourage the students torefer back to the passage to find evidence to support theiropinions. Check up on this in a class discussion at the end.

Task 2Do this task as a class discussion. Take a class vote on 1 ifyou like. Encourage the students to say whether theythink the article will charge their behaviour in mixed-sextalk and. if so. how.

2 First person narrativeThis section is deliberately shorter than section 1 and canbe completed in two one-hour lessons:

Lesson 7: AII the tasks inPreparation, Extensiae readingand Intensiae reading.

Lesson 2: The Extensionlask.

PreparationDo 1 with the whole class. Give the students only two orthree minutes to make their lists in 2 and tell them to'brainstorm'. Try and make sure that the groups aremixed-sex. Perhaps the students could go on to discusswhat they think are the features of a 'sexist wife'.

Extensive readingThe students should work individually on ttris task. Shortwritten answers are enough. Write the correct answers onthe board and let the students correct their own answerswithout discussion.Answers:1 She disobeys him.2 Hit her.3 Tries to hit Sofia.4 Sofia beats up Harpo.

Intensive readingDo this task as group work. You can give 1 and 2 todifferent groups if time is short. Make time for classdiscussion at the end, though.Answers:1 'he sound a little proud of this to me'.2 He feels that he has to make Sofia 'mind', i. e. , accept

his authority because he is a man.3 We are told that Sofia acts very differently from Celie,

i. e. , she shows no fear of Harpo or Mr. -.Therefore Celie must be afraid. A.lso we are told thatCelie Jumps'when Mr. - calls her.She keeps talking when the men come into the room.We are told that Celie thinks Sofia pities her. Celieresents this and therefore suggests that Harpo beathis wife.

6 He is embarrassed to admit to his father that he hasnever beaten Sofia.

Celie Sofia Harpo Mr. -

stoicaljealous

vamspirited

conformiststubborn

aITOgantcruel

Extension

Do 1 as a class discussion. 2 needs careful preparationbefore the students start working in their groups. Inparticular, you need to get the students to identify thedifferent scenes mentioned in the extract:e Harpo, Mr. - and Celie on the porch. Sofia and Harpo talking while Sofia is getting ready to

visit her sister. Sofia and Celie talking when the men come into the

roomr Harpo trying to beat up his wife and getting beaten up

himself. Celie meeting Harpo the next day

3 Review activitiesBegin this section by allowing a few minutes for thestudents to skim through the texts in the previous sectionsto remind themselves of their content.Task 1This task can be done as group work. In addition toproviding evidence ftom The C olour P urple extract youcould ask the students to provide evidence from their ownexpenences.Sofia's spirit is finally broken, she ends up working as aservant for a white familylTask 2

1 The 'ideal'characteristics should take the form of:'Shelhe should be. . . . . .'Encourage the students to think about languagebehaviour (i.e., talkative, silent, etc.). When the pairwork is over ask the students to what extent theyfound evidence of stereotypical views.

2 'Positive discrimination' consists of deliberateattempts to favour women in society. Somesuggestions of what forms this might take are:. reserve places for women in university in subjects

such as engineeringo reserve a given number of places for women in

parliament. deliberately allow women to interrupt, while

rebuking men for doing so. appoint women as the chairpersons in mixed

committees/meetings45

120 Teachet/s guide

UNIT 21 Exposition

PreparationTask 1

l-4 These questions don't have 'correct'answers.

Their main point is to encourage students to thinkand talk about what is involved in comprehensron.They are therefore best done as group discussrontasks.

5-G Try to get as many different interpretations aspossible and to ask students why they responded tothe sentences in certain ways. Try to get them toappreciate the importance of previous experience,of cultural norms, of stereotypes, of personalopinions, of expectations, etc, when trying tocomprehend a written text.

7 This could be done as a class activity with the maincomponents of the theory written on the board.The teacher should act as a facilitator rather than asan informant but should try to make sure that thestudents appreciate that comprehension does notjust involve knowing the words.

Task 2You could discuss the implications of each heading with theclass and then get students to work in pairs to predict thecontent of the passage.

Extensive readingTask 1This could be done as a pair reading task with the partnersdiscussing the match between their predictions and thepassage as they read. They should be clear that they don'tneed to spend time discussing the meanings of difficultwords or sentences.Task 2The main points made by Christine Nuttall about readingcomprehension are:1 The reader plays an active role in getting out ofthe

text the message that the writer has put into the text.2 The reader needs to try to work out what linguistic,

cultural and topic assumptions the writer has madeabout the readers.

3 For most reading purposes it is not necessary to havetotal understanding of the text.

4 In order to achieve the degree ofunderstandingrequired the reader needs to interact with the writerand to ask questions about the text.

5 Predicting the likely language, content and attitude ofthe text can be a great aid to comprehension.

Intensive reading

Task 1

This activity is best done as a group discussion inwhich the sharing and justifyine of opinions is moreimportant than the answers decided upon.Our answer is:b r by getting the reader to think about and answer

questions: e.g., 'Is the reader's role passive?'. by getting the reader to do actual reading tasks:

e . g . , 4 . 2r by challenging the reader's assumptions about

reading: e. g. , that reading is passived . by the use of simple diagrams: e. g. , Fig 4

. by analogies with non-linguistic activities: e. g. ,assembling furniture

f . by getting the reader to do reading activitieswhich prove her points: e.9., 4.4 and 4.9

h . by not treating her answer as absolute: e.g.,'Here are my comments; you may well find otherthings.'

Any answer is acceptable provided it is justified by anexample from the text.a 4.1 'Why do we reject this?'b 4.8 Making a table.c 4.6 'The meaning is not merely lying . . . or

intellectual limitations.'To help them understand what she is saying Nuttall:. encourages her readers to interact with her text by

asking them to think about questions before sheprovides her answers.

o gets her readers to use their knowledge of theworld, of the topic and of English to lead them intopredictions about what she is going to say next(e. g. , to predict what she is going to say aboutReader b in 4.6).

o involves them as active readers by getting them todo tasks as they read.

o gets them to use their experience of reading and ofthe world to help them to understand what she issaying (e. g. , comparing reading with carpentry).

r gets them to relate what she is saying to what shehas said before (e. g., the reference in 4.3 back tothe chemistry text in 4.2).

In this activity the process of analysing and discussingis more important than getting the answer right. It istherefore a good idea to do it as a pair or group activityand to accept any answers which are justified byreference to the text.

Task 21 This is best done first as an individual task so that all

the students have to think of an example, and then asa group task in which they share their examples andthen reach general conclusions about the causes ofmisinterpretation.

Teachels guide 121

6

The diagram should indicate in some way that thereader has to do something to the text in order to getmeaning out of it and it should show some of the waterspilling down the face.

One possible answer is:'A text is difficult to understand if the reader does notshare with the writer the same code, knowledge orway of thinking.'

One interesting way of doing this activity is for groupsto write the texts collectively and then for each groupto read its texts at random and to ask the otherstudents to say who the message of each text isintended for. Students and the teacher can then givefeedback to the group on the appropriacy of the textfor the intended decoder.We think she presupposed that the readers would:. be either educated native speakers of English or

educated advanced level non-native speakers ofEnglish.

o have a reason for wanting to find out about theprocess of reading comprehension.

o not akeady have expert knowledge about theprocesses ofreading.

r not be familiar with specialist linguisticterminology.

o find some of her points initially surprising.

There are many possible situations in which onlypartial understanding is needed. For example:o finding the arrival time of a train in a timetable.r listening to a song for pleasure.

An example of a situation requiring totalunderstanding would be following written instructionson how to operate a machine.

Reading for partial understanding only requires thereader to focus on those aspects of the messagewhich are relevant and important to the reader. Itdoes not require careful reading of every word andcan often be done quickly. Reading for totalunderstanding requires slow, careful reading andrereading of the whole text.

Easy: Situations in which you are reading aboutsomething you have a lot of experience andknowledge of. For example:o the venue of an international soccer match in a

country in which internationals are nearly alwaysplayed in the same stadium (e.g., Wembley inEngland).

r the instruction'Now stir the mixture'in a recipewhich has told you to put different ingredients intcthe same bowl.Difficult: Situations in which you are reading aboutsomething you have no previous knowledge orexperience of. For example:

r instructions on how to play a game you have neverheard of before.

o the age of a character mentioned in the lirst line ofa novel.

Try to get as many examples as possible fromstudents.

9 The 'value' of an utterance is 'the significance of theutterance for particular speakers in a particularsituation' (i. e. , what the speaker is trying toachieve). For example, the value of 'Aren't you cold?'could be a request for the window to be closed.Obviously you cannot expect your students topredict such an accurate answer. Accept anyprediction which is feasible but then tell the studentswhat Nuttall does mean by'value'.See 5. 1 page 12 to 13 of Teaching reading skills in aforeign languageby Christine Nuttall for a fullexplanation of 'value'.

10 This is best done as an individual task followed bygroup discussion. The compansons are:r text-jugofwater. mind - sponger reading - walking up a hillo reading a difficult text - chopping down trees to get

to the top of a hillo reading a text - assembling furniture from a kit

ExtensionTask 1

1 What matters is that students are able to use the visualand textual clues (e. g. the contrast between thechildish toothbrush and the razor; the frequentreference to spots, etc) to make predictions about thecontent of the book from their theories of the world. Itdoes not matter whether the predictions are accurateor not as long as they are feasible.

2 Any feasible predictions are acceptable. The crucialpoint to understand is that the dedication isdeliberately deceptive and that its irony can only beappreciated by relating to the new information in b andthe satirical tone of the extract in c.

Task 2Each student could decide to write the story individually,in a pair or in a group. The stories could be pinned on thewall for everybody to read or possibly monitored and thenpublished in a class magazine.

2 Narrative

PreparationTask 1

1 There are several feasible answers to these questions.Don't give the actual answers (below) yet, as that willspoil the next task.. 'them' in the first extract refers to prisonerso they are in a prison cell togetherr they are there as prisoners ofwar

Extensive readingTask 1The characters are so obsessed by time because they

122 Teacher s guide

never know the exact time and because the ritual of trmeprobably helps to give a comforting sense of routine andsystem to a very uncomfortable and disturbing situatron.The author probably started the novel in this way to first ofall involve our curiosity in working out what is happening(through using our theories of the world) and then toprovide us with a frrsthand experience of the situation theprisoners are in which will help us to understand themotives of some of the characters later on in the novel.

Intensive readingTask 1

1 It involves the reader actively from the start inhaving to work out who'them'refers to.

2 (e.g.the card game) To occupy themselves; to stopthem thinking about what might happen to them.

3 Each prisoner had his own awareness of what time itwas. Time meant a way of keeping sane, by relatingtheir situation to something routine and reliable.

4 They wanted the prestige of being the only reliablekeepers of the time.

5 In a way the watches had become more importantthan their owners; they were of more value to theother prisoners.

6 They were the only two men with access to the time;the others depended on them for'news'about thetlme.

7 They were terrified of becoming hostages and hadnothing else to think about to distract them fromtheir growing fear.

8 To compare it with his own time. Possibly in thehope that the antique watch had stopped.

9 He felt he had betrayed his fellow prisoners by losingthe only way of giving them the correct time.

10 They were the only two men of position among theprisoners (i. e. a mayor and a lawyer). The mayorhated Chavel because he suspected him of trying tobecome the leader of the prisoners and becauseChavel's criticisms of him showed he had no resDectfor his position.

11 Because if the others found out he would lose thecredibility and power he had gained as one of theproviders of the time.'Pursued'conveys the mayor's desperate need tocatch up with Pierre's time.

12 Possibly because he suspected something was wrongfrom the mayor's appearance and behaviour.

13 o the time told by his watcho the time he had invented and which therefore onlv

belonged to him

14 It would be useful to prepare the class for this task byanalyzing the statement with them before askingthem to analyze the text in pairs.

lean - no unnecessary words or detailsshar!-eyed - helping to visualize the essential detailsof the scene

Greene has done a lot of work as a film script-writer.Coray is saying this has helped him to write thisscene in such a way that it becomes dramaticallyvisible to the reader.

PreparationTask 1Encourage the students to use their imaginations andtheories of the world by getting them to consider all thepossibilities of choice within the situation. At this stagedon't tell them the actual answers to the questions.

Extensive readingTask IYou could help the students by getting them to answerquestions 2a-eby detailed reference to the text as apreparation for doing 2f and 3 as group activities.

Intensive readingTask 1

1 Possibly because it was a task which befitted hisposition, because he wanted to be seen to beimportant and perhaps because he hoped to be able tomanipulate the draw to his own advantage.

2 a to be systematic and to appear to be fair.b so that he will draw near the end when the marked

papers have possibly already been drawn.c because it gives him the chance to go first and get it

over with.3 His mind was on his fate.4 r Because it reduced his chances of drawing a marked

paper.. Because the odds were narrowing as each man drew

a blank piece of paper.. Because there was now a one-in-three chance that

he would draw a marked card.5 o To check that his paper really was marked.

o He did not really know how to behave.6 Because there now appeared to be a one-in-two

chance of getting the marked paper. He wantedChavel to have to draw again and thus to lengthen theodds.

ExtensionEach pair or group could be made responsible to anotherpair or group for monitoring their work and suggestingimprovements to it. The revised work could then be'published'on the walls or in a class magaztne.

3 Review activities

1 It would help if you could provide books for thestudents to use in this activity.

3 If possible the paragraphs should be written for aparticular class of students. The most suitableparagraph could then be selected and improved by thewhole class and given to the intermediate students toread.

Teacher's gu'ilt 123

UNIT 3I Reporting an experimentYou will need several lessons to complete this section.One possible teaching scheme you could follow is:

Lesson 7 (1 hour): The tasks nPrefaration and Extensiuereading

Lesson2 (1 hour): Tasks 1 and,2of IntensiuereadingSelf-study: Tasks 3 and 4 of Intensiue readingLesson 3 (1 hour): The tasks in Extension

PreparationTask 1Begrn by writing 'parrot-talk' on the board and asking thestudents what it means.Do 1 orally with the whole class, spending most time onthe differences between human and animalcommunication. Make a list of the differences the studentssuggest on the board.The students should then do 2 individually. Don't spend along time going over their responses and don't attempt toindicate which responses are correct or incorrect. Tellthem that they will have the chance to compare theiranswers to those given in the passage later.

Ask the students to do 3 and 4 in groups. Allow abouteight minutes only. In the class discussion that follows, thefollowing criticisms of the experiment should emerge:o the experiment only tests the parrot's ability to

remember the names of objects, but language is morethan just memory for words.

. the experiment only tests the parrot's ability to say thewords when it can see the objects they name.

. the researcher's conclusion is unjustified, as childrenare not taught to speak in this way and the parrot cannotbe said to have'learnt language'.

Children learn their language as a result of communicatingwith their parents; to find out if parrots can learn Englishlike a child, one would have to carry out an experiment inwhich the experimenter spent time holding'conversations'with a parrot.

The answer to 4 is b.

Extensive readingTask IEncourage the students to read through the passagequickly without referring to the table. They can then readthrough the statements and put a tick next to those theyare certain about. If there are any statements they are notsure about they will need to check the passage again.When they have finished the exercise, ask the students tocompare their responses to those they made to the samestatements nPreparation Task 1.2 (page 43).Answers:The passage provides direct or indirect evidence tosupport statements 1, 3, 5, 6,7,8, 10, 11, 12, L3 and14. However, the parrot's ability to do some of these,such as 13, is very limited.

Task 2

1 The students should skim through the textindividually; they may need to be reminded of the bestway to skim to discover how the text is organized intosections.

Answers:1 L . l to L . 892 L . 9 0 t o L . 1 4 03 L. 141 to L. 159

2 Do the second part with the n'hole class. The tlpe oforganization described here is that which would befound in a report of a scientific experiment in a journal.

The passage does not follort this organization becauseit is intended for a more general, less academicreadership. The passage is more journalistic inor ganizalion and style.

Task 3

This task helps to consolidate rvhat the students shouldalready have discovered from Task 2. If there is time, askthe students to do it in groups; if not, thel can do it forhomework.

Answers:a The passage was written for the educated general

reader.

Some of the clues are:o the title (it is flippant). use of colloquialisms (e.g., 'So what?')r avoidance of too many technical termsr short sentences (e.9., 'ALex can'.)o the informal way the information is organizedr the writer does not assume the reader alreadv has

knowledge about language experiments involringanimals (i. e. , everything is made explicit r.

Intensive reading

Task 1

Make sure that the students know u'hich section of thepassage the questions in this task are based on.

Give the students a few minutes to sort out the sentencesindividually. Then ask a student to act as'teacher'by gohgthrough the statements with the rest of the students; if the'teacher'is wrong replace himther with another studentwho is right.Answers:1 subject + results3 method5 method7 conclusions

2 conclusions4 results6 method * results8 results

Task 2

Again make it clear to the students which section of thepassage this task is based on.

1 Do this quickly with the whole class.No, the information in the passage does not follow theorder suggested.An academic article would Dresent its information inthis order.

124 Teacher's guide

If time is short, you could distribute questions 2,3 and 4to different groups to work on. Then instead of goingthrough each question in class discussion afterwards, youcould ask the group leaders to give brief oral reports onwhat they have discovered about the information in theparagraphs they have been studying.

2 a (c) provides the most accurate summary.

b 'So what?'means 'what is special about this?'It ismeant to challenge the reader to pay attention.

c The writer's point is that previous experiments withparrots have not demonstrated that a parrot canreally learn language (i. e. , they have beenproblematic), but the present experiment hassucceeded to a much greater extent and is,therefore, worth paying attention to.

3 a These paragraphs provide information on themethod.

b One method is called model/rival training andinvolves making the parrot compete for the trainer'sattention. The other method involves repetition andreward.

4 a Results:o 807o right on object naming testo produced novel combinations of words (e. 9.,' blue

hide')r learnt to say'no'. learnt to count to five

b Conclusions:o capable of 'segmentation'

. seems to understand the concept of 'rejection' (i. e. ,a more complicated idea)

c The first conclusion is contained in the sentence.'This suggests that he is capable. . . differentcombinations.' The generalization is the firstsentence of paragraph six.

Tasks 3 and 4

Ask the students to work through the questions in thesetwo tasks in their own time, for homework. Let themcheck their answers in groups with the help of answercards in the next lesson. Deal only with major problems ofunderstanding.

Ansuers:Task 3

1 b apes.

2 'The argument is about whether apes can understandslmtax or segmentation'.

3 debates - acrimony - argument - disputed -jeer -

sceptics - allegation

4 b Novel combinations may occur through sheerchance.c Researchers may give unconscious cues to theanimals.

Task 41 b2 Parrots are better subjects than apes because it is not

so easy to give unconscious cues to a parrot whichmight help it to produce complicated language.

ExtensionTask 11 Make sure that the students understand the pairs of

adjectives in the table. They may need to undertakesome preliminary dictionary work. It is important tomake sure that students can justify their opinions byquoting evidence from the passage. To show themhow to do this it might help to do the first pair(sceptical - convinced) with the whole class.

Task 2The questions in this task are challenging. Put thestudents into groups and ask them to work through thethree questions, allowing plenty of time for discussion.Have the leaders report their group's opinions to the restof the class and allow other groups to challenge them.Answers:1 a The evidence is in the parrotlearning to say'no'.

It is difficult to see how this is a'more complicatedidea'. Many animals have communicative devices forexpressing rejection.

b 'Segmentation'refers to the ability to recognize thatan utterance is composed of separate elements(e. g., words). It is crucial to language learningbecause without it we would only be capable oflearning whole chunks (i. e., complete utterances)and would not be able to create our own sentences.The experiment gives some limited evidence thatthe parrot is capable of experimentation, but asingle instance (and that is all that is reported) doesnot constitute definite proof.

2 The answers here are largely a matter of opinion. Onewould want to see more evidence that parrots arecapable of learning the grammar of a language: forexample, the ability to produce sentences with adifferent word order as in statements or questions.

3 The article would need to be reorganized (introduction- subject - method - conclusion), the style would needto be made more formal, and a more objective analysisof the experiment provided.

2 Third person narrativeYou will need about two hours (together with somehomework time) to complete the tasks in this sectior,.

PreparationTask 1

Questions 1 and 3 are best done with the whole class.Question 2 canbe done in group work. Ifyou havestudents from different cultures you may find that theyhave different ideas about the characteristics of some ofthe animals, (for example, spiders might be seen as

Teachels guide 125

'creepy'or as'cunning'). In the class discussion thatfollows the group work try to bring out any culturaldifferences. You might like to end question 2 by asking'Ifyou were to become an animal, which of the animals in thelist would you like to be and why?'.

Extensive readingTask 1Discuss the kinds of reading strategies the students shoulduse to read the passage in order to answer question 1.Emphasize that it is not necessary to read every sentence.Set a time limit for doing the reading and answeringquestion 1: four minutes should be ample. Short answersonly are needed. Do question 2 otally with the class.

Answers:I a Hazel and Fiver

b Bigwigc Abandon the warren.d Fiver thinks something very bad is going to happen

to them.

f. Hazel gives evidence of Fiver's previous predictionsthat have proved correct (L. 50). He has also riskedcoming to see the Chief Rabbit with Fiver!

Quotations Comment

This indicates thatBigwig is trusting andalso capable of makinghis own decisions. He isa good judge ofcharacter.He is very nervous (hestutters) and excitable.He is unable to explainthings clearly.He is forgetful. Arational rather thanintuitive person.Authoritative.Hazel does not seemunduly embarrassed byFiver's behaviour. He iscalm and collected,unawed by the situation.

4 ,A.dams makes us think of the rabbits in human terms;they have all the mannerisms of humans. But heconstantly reminds us that they are indeed rabbits byreferences to the 'world' of rabbits (e.9., 'burrow' and'lettuce'), their actions (e.g.,'sniffind) and parts oftheir body (e. 9.,' forePaws').

Task 2These questions can be done as self-study. Afterwards gothrough the answers quickly and then spend some timediscussing with the students what they have found outabout the theme from doing the questions.

Answers:1 a soldiers of some kind

b they keep control; they steal lettuce for the ChiefRabbit

c they 'threaten and bully' (L.32)

2 Hazelis an 'outskirter' (i. e. , commoner).Bigwig is a royal guard.The Chief Rabbit is a kind of president or king.

3 The rabbits'society is very hierarchical: each personhas a clearly defined place with clearly defined rightsand privileges.

4 c

ExtensionAsk the students to do questions 1, 2 and 3 in pairs. Tellthem there are no 'correct' answers, but that they shouldbe prepared to justify their answers with reference to thepassage. The film script should be prepared in class (i. e. ,the main episodes covered in the extract listed) and then

f

2 c

Fiver; the warren is

for allowing Fiver and

Intensive ReadingTask 1Before the students turn to the exercises, ask them towrite down all the names of the characters in the extractand to pick two adjectives to describe each of them. Thenask them to do question 1 individually. Put them intogroups and ask them to compare their answers to 1 andthen to work through questions 2 and3 together. After ageneral class discussion of their answers, do question 4orally.Answers:

2 a Bigwig ignored Fiver (L. 3). Bigwig refers to tum as' h e ' L . 6 .

b Bigwig says 'I'll do it for you' (L. 9).c Bigwig comments that the Chief Rabbit ought to

know Hazel but doesn't. He also comments Ihat'heis getting ol.d'.The Chief Rabbit keeps forgetting Hazel's name.'. . . or so they tell me' (L.70) suggests that he doesnot keep in direct contact with the affairs of thewarren.

d He behaves in a distant way with Hazel and Fiver,quickly irritated if corrected. He tells Bigwig off forallowing the two rabbits in to see him.

e Bigwig comments'I'll frobably get mry head bittenoff , meaning 'be scolded by the Chief Rabbit.'

He sees no reason to believethriving.The Chief Rabbit scolded htmHazelto disturb him.

Chief Rabbit

Bigwig Hazel Fiuer Chief Rabbit

dutitultrusting

sensibleconfident

neuroticclairvoyant

supenorforgetful

126 Teacher/s guid.e

written collaboratively in small groups. Ask the studentsto act out their scripts if there is time.

3 Review activitiesTask 1Help the students to get a clear idea of the different typesof information (Orientation, etc. ) by telling them ananecdote or short story and getting them to identify whichinformation belongs to which category. The task itself canbe done in group work or individually. Students can beinvited to give oral summaries based on their completedtables.

Task 2Do question 1 orally. Ask the students to do 2 individually.When they have finished pair them off (both students in apair should have done the same task); they can take it inturns to explain their outline and to ask questions or offersuggestions for improvements about their partner'soutline.

UNIT 4I Analysis

PreparationTask 1

1 Rules tell people what they are and are not allowed todo in a particular situation (such as a particular place,sport, club, institution, etc). Probably the firstdefinition is the clearest, most precise and most valid.The others only focus on one aspect of rules.

bc

There is no law which enforces the use of 'some'in

positive statements and makes people liable toprosecution if they disobey it.

acceptable

Paying bribes is against the law. You are notnormally sent to prison for breaking regulations.

d It is advisable to follow the instructions as they arewritten to help you to use the machine. Instructionsare never compulsory.

e You can break laws but not procedures. He lost hisjob because he did not follow the procedures.

f acceptableg acceptable

3 Examples of' things that haoe rules': competitsons,factories, companies, trade unions.Other 'common linguistic features of rules' include:c Modals: for example, 'You must report any accident

to the supervisor.'d Passive of allow/permit: for example, 'You are not

allowed to sign in more than two guests per month.'e No * noun/gerund: for example, 'No glasses

allowed by the swimming-pool.''No singing.'

Task 2Accept any feasible rules and help the students to phrasethem correctly.

Intensive readingTask 1

They are four rules of communication expressing theneed to be clear and to be polite.

a Hearerb Speakerc First languaged Second languagee Contrastive Analysis

bandcHe makes assumptions that certain linguistic termswill be understood, such as, 'addressee citation'butexplains his points with a thoroughness andexplicitness which would not be necessary withexperienced linguists.'Non-free goods: people's age, salaries, politics,

love affairs, ambitions, etc.'Free'goods: distances,times,populations,

etc.A Hallo. That's a nice shirt. How much did you pay

for it?B Quite a lot.A Where are you going?B To see a friend.A A girlfriend?B Maybe.A How old is she?B Mind your own business.a reLatioistic notion - somellttng which is vieweddifferently in different cultures (e. g. in England it isconsidered rude to ask a stranger where he/she isgoing; in Indonesia it is quite normal).

2talfc

Sides

Teacher/s guid.e 127

euphemisms -polite expressions used to refer tothings which are considered unpleasant orembarrassing.aaoi.dance leremes - words used to avoid using otherwords which are considered to be rude,embarrassing or unpleasant.taboo areas -topics which are not supposed to bereferred to in public.

a Eating flying ants is revolting.b 'little room'- toilet

7 By offering to make a sacriflce.e.g. S'I ' l l take that sack of wood toMrs Brown's

when I walk home tonight.'H 'Oh no. I'll take it in the car now.'

One possible dialogue is:S 'These flowers are looking a bit sad. They

could do with some water.'H 'They'll be all right. It looks as if it's going to

rain.'8 A question which implies a command: for example,

'Do you like sitting in a draught?' (i.e. Close thedoor).

9 a 'Hi. Everything OK?'b'Hallo. Howare things?'c 'Good morning. How are you?'

10 The writer rarely uses the first person singularpronoun and does not give his personal views.Instead he uses the first person plural pronoun, usesspecial terminology (e. g. 'addressee'), uses tentativemodals (e. g. 'The reader might care to consider') andfrequently uses formal expressions (e. g. 'must beconstrued'; 'lest'). These characteristics are typicalof a semi-formal, objective, expository style.

11 GriceToric Effective

conversatlon.

LakoffAcceptably politeconversation.

Content Keep the interest and At least appear to beattention of the considerate to thelistener. listener.

Slyle Affirmative Negative andimperatives. affirmative

lmperauves.Purpose As an aid to speakers As an aid to speakers

in conversations. in conversations

ExtensionTask 1Possible openings: o Question with known answer (e. g.

'Have you been to the match?')o Provocative statement (e.g. 'People

shouldn't be allowed to smoke inhere, shouldthey?')

r Topic nomination (e.g. 'See the busfares are going up again.').

Possible closings: . Reasons for closing (e. g. I must go.I'm expected home bY ten.')

o Expression ofgood wishes (e.g.'Well, I hope you win the game.')

The maxim writing could be done as a pair competitionwith everybody voting for the pair they consider to havewritten the most accurate and pithy maxims.

2 Using rules

PreparationTask 1

1 An alcoholic drink made with apples.2 Abuildingwhereciderismade.3 It only lasts for a short period ofthe year (i.e. just

after the apple harvest).It attracts people who don't have a permanentjob,people who are prepared to move around the countrylooking for work and people who choose to workduring their holidays.

4 This could be done as a plenary session with theteacher eliciting ideas, suggestions and then rulesfrom the class. The rules could be written up on oneside of the board exactly as they are dictated by thestudents. Then, if necessary, they could be rewrittenon the other side with suggestions for corrections andimprovements coming from the students.

5 There are no correct answers to these questions. Anyfeasible suggestion will help the students when theycome to reading the passage.

Extensive readingTask 1It might be useful to create an impression of Homer first(e.g. his age, appearance, background, character, etc).

Intensive readingTask 1

1 The tone ofpolite appeal and especially the use of'Please'.

The writer is probably a well-meaning person who hasthe interests of the workers at heart. Heishe hasprobably tried to get the workers to follow these ruleswithout much success and has probably tried manydifferent ways of phrasing them. He/she obviouslydoes not want to bully, order or offend the workers,preferring to appeal to their sense of reason instead.

The workers obviously like to enjoy themselves in theevening. They are a bit reckless in their behaviour;they drink a lot (sometimes whilst working), smoke inbed and like to congregate on the roof. They are notalways responsible in their attitude towards their work.

128 Teacher's guide

2 1 It is dangerous and could damage the operator and/or the machine.This is a fire risk - especially after drinking.There might be an accident.Otherwise they might not be usable the next timethey are needed.Otherwise it will not work properly next time.They might drop (or be dropped) off the roof andcause injury/damage/mess.

7 This could be fatal if the door gets locked.8 AJter that it might disrupt the work.9 Otherwise the roof might collapse.

Obviously in the past the workers have been guilty ofthe practices which are appealed agairst in the Rules.

3 To draw special attention to it. Obviously the rotaryscreen is frequently not washed until the pomace hasdried on it.

4 The writer is trying to stress the importance of thisrule by being more authoritarian in the wording.

6 Either as a sign ofrejection ofthe rules or ofindifference towards them, (or possibly to use thepaper for another purpose).

7 a the device which crushes the apples into smallpleces.

b the device which crushes the apples with greatforce in order to squeeze out their juice.

c the cloth which allows only the juice to passthrough.

d a device which moves round and prevents anythingbut the juices from getting through.

e presumably what is left of the flesh of the applesafter they have been ground and pressed.

f a large refrigerated room for keeping things fresh.g the person in charge ofthe workers.

Extension

Task 1

You could lead short preparatory discussions for each ofthe activities, and then invite each student to chose whichactivity to do.

Preparation

Task 1

You could ask the students what they know already aboutthe workers and about Mrs Worthington (obviously she isthe writer of the rules). and then leave them to do the taskln pars or groups.

Extensive reading

Task I

1 This could be done as a pair-work reading activity inwhich two students read the text together and stop todiscuss any sentence relevant to their predictions orwhich reveals information about Mr Rose.

2 He probably expected them (from previous years),and wanted to show he had noticed them andappreciated them but didn't place any value on them.

3 He implies that he has got his own rules which he willmake the workers follow.

4 He probably appreciates her concern for the workersand her pleasant manner with him but thinks she is notstrong enough as a boss.

5 She respects him as a worker but there is somethingabout him she dislikes and fears.There are obviously many other possibleinterpretations.

Intensive readingTask 1

1 a True. 'It was a hot, Indian-summer dq,', (i.e. aftersummer). Also apples are usually harvested inautumn (called'fall'in the USA).

b He is not mentioned so has probably died or ispermanently ill. Mrs Worthington obviously runsthe farm and has done so for a long time.

c No. Olive is Mrs Worthington.d The seventeen pickers, the cook and Mr Rose are

negroes who have travelled together from theSouth. As they waited in their cars, there was'anorchestra of black fingers strumming' .

e Yes. They wait in their cars for him to representthem to Mrs Worthington.

f Probably, Mrs Worthington implies that Mr Roseshould read the rules to them.

g They are in the parking lot at first but then theymove inside the cider hous e: 'Mrs Worthingtontouched the rules she'd tacked to the wall . . .'.

h It is their first meeting. Mr Rose invites Homer towatch the first press (i. e. he has never seen onebefore) and Mrs Worthington afterwards tellsHomer her views of Mr Rose.

i He obviously tries to (he is proud of how much ciderthey can produce so quickly) but does notcompletely succeed. Mrs Worthington implies thatthey do not work as hard as Mrs Rose.

j He implies this when he says with a smile, 'I'm goodat rules'.

k This is implied in the last sentence.2 They are probably impatient to get out of the cars after

a long journey.

3 Probably to cheer up an unattractive place and to showher consideration for the workers.

4 They may cause problems (such as fights over thewomen, or accidents with the children).

5 So that they are bound to be seen.6 Probably because he knows that Mrs Worthington is

aware that her rules will be ienored and his will befollowed.

7 He wants to impress him and to show him who is reallyin charge.

8 To signal that he is the boss ofthe workers and shouldbe treated with resoect.

234

c

6

Teacher's guide 129

Extensive readingThis could be done as a pair reading activity or with theteacher reading the text aloud and stopping every so oftento invite responses from the class.

a Homer seems to really hope that one year the ruleswill actually be obeyed. He also wants to show hissy'rnpathy towards the workers while at the sametime asserting that he is in charge and refuses to bedefeated by their pranks and insults.

b The rules weren't obeyed because the workersprobably felt insulted by them, especially by thepretence of consideration for their welfare. Theyprobably also saw disobeying the rules as anopportunity to assert their independence.

ExtensionTask 1Both activities could be prepared through class discussionwith each student then deciding which one to do andwhether to do it individually, in a parr or rn a group.

PreparationTask 1This is best done as a group activity as its main purpose tsto get the students thinking about various possibilities forthe rules of the race.

Extensive readingTask 1The rules could be described as follows:

I Each team has three men and a horse.2 The race is over ffieen miles - three laps of five miles'3 The winning team is the one which wins most laps.4 One runner from each team must cover all three laps'5 On the first lap the sprinters ride the horses whilst the

distance runners run most of the way. However thesprinters must run at least the last furlong of the lap.

6 On the second lap the quarter-milers ride the horseswhilst the distance runners run most of the way.However the quarter-milers must run at least the lastquarter of a mile of the lap.

7 On the last lap the distance runners ride the horses forfour miles and then run the last mile.

The Indian probably won the first lap as Moriarty'steam obviously needed to win the last two laps to wnthe race.Buck won the second lap.Moriarty won the third lap.Moriarty's team won the race.

Before writing the newspaper report, it would be useful tohave a class discussion about the likely style and content ofthe article.

Intensive readingTask 1Accept any feasible answers. The original words were:

Thus itwas that, on 20 April 1 878, the micles of the Yuta County Foot R*e Ee sign4

Articles of Agreement1 The competition !o take place owr thre five-mile Iaps stming at noon on 20

Ocrober 1878, a circulu cou$e encompassing the Bigv/cti El Diablo Mounhindd the town of Y"t4 c+j itself, the stm to be +he svena VisLA Hot.l

2 Each @m will consist of three men *J oe hoae3 The comp!,!'on will be arelay over th@ sepdate laps, two men from

each tem dd a horse competrng over each lap, with only the JisLme on"ers

completing the full fifreen-mile couse, the other runners completing one laponl5 Thus, the sprinter md distance-runner from each tem will .owr th€{irst l.p, rhe qumr-milels mddistcn"e -r.""ecs the second, with the finallap covereA hg the Jisl*e -.-n"e"s J-rc

4 The two-mo tems will be . w.J bo lu or ride at lheir dis@tion on eachlap, dle only ploviso being that on the f rrst lq bhe sgi"tees udtrun the fmalfulong to the fuish, on the second lap the t@rtr F,l.rs melt nn the frnal quder-mile md on the last lap the Ji.t4.< -.*€, t|.e €,"J nile, these distmces beingmdked by Union flags and being scrudnised by officials appointed by a"{e

Hag"cs The distmce-runne$ ee requircd to .o... "ll

Ll-'€€ l"fs theother two runners coFpctiq -5.r^rt .a<h othe. only on oae lap

5 The winner of the competition is the t* -l,r.l hd wo^ k hq+ lapv,ctor,es i .e. 2-0 - 2-1. Lhe f inal tbi ter on al l compedtions being JudgeHaynes. Shouldthef ist two . .c resolt t . wictoel for any one tem,then tle final lap by the drstece-runne$ will not be runi

6 The L-. horscs ee to be selected by Judge Haynes, md the pffies in dispute(Peter Boyle md William Brcnnm) will throw dice for . hote of rc"nts

7 The owneNhip and watering rights of the aEa known as The Big Wet will beassigned o the sponsorof the vt . td. ious le^

Extension

Task 1

If ttre class got really interested in this task you could turnit into an extended project with newspaper and videointerviews, letters of invitation to actual athletes andcommentaries and reports on the actual event. You mighteven sell the idea to an actual sponsor and manage toachieve a real race.

3 Review activities

1 a Visitors to a private club.b In the entrance to the club and probably also in the

bar and restaurant.c To make sure there are no embarrassing scenes

when guests try to pay for drinks or meals.d To make the rule absolute.

2 a Players of a game.b In the instructions contained in the box the game is

packed in.To help people understand how to play the game.To be helpful and supportive. It is not an absoluterule.

Someone learning Japanese.In a textbook.To provide helpful advice.To be helpful and to indicate that it is notcompulsory.

a Drivers.b In a highway code.c To provide a definite rule of behaviour.d To stress that it must be followed.

a Smokers.b In a cinema.c To stop people smoking.d To make it absolute.

cd

3 abcd

130 Teacher's guid.e

6 a Parents.b At the entrance to a school.c To cover the school in the event of a child not being

collected before 16.30.d To make it clear but not offensive.

7 a To guests in a hotel.b On the wall of the shower.c To prevent the shower getting blocked with hair.d To make it very clear that it is not allowed.

There are obviously other possible answers to many partsof these questions.

UNIT 51 ClassificationYou will need several lessons to complete all the questionsin this section. One possible teaching scheme is:Lesson 1 (1 hour): The tasks in Preparation and Extensiue

reading (part one) and Intensiuereading (part one)

Lesson 2 (1 hour): The tasks in Extension (part one),Extensiue reading (part two) andI nt ens ia e reading (part tw o)

Lesson 3 (1 hour): The tasks in Extension (part two)

PreparationTask 1Begin this task by giving your own answers to thesequestions in the form of a short talk. Then ask thestudents to read through the questions silently and workout their own answers. Put them into groups andencourage the group leader to make a note of anydifferences in opinion. Finally, ask one member from eachgroup to give a short talk about the different opinions thatemerged.Note: Itmtght help to remind the students that accents canbe divided into'native' and'foreign' accents and that theycan consider both.

Task 3Ask the students to work out the answers individually andthen go through the questions quickly in class, making thestudents give evidence from the heading and abstract tosupport their answers.Answers:1 d 2 b 3 b

Part One

Extensive readingTask IThe activities in this task are designed to help the studentsskim the passage to obtain a general idea of its content. Do1 orally with the whole class. Then ask them to do 2individually and compare answers in pairs.Answers:I The sentences come either at the beginning or end of a

paragraph.

b2 a

b

c

is the main function of these sentences.'This process of modelling the other person'sspeech in a conversation could also be termedspeech convergence.''This is what Michael fugyle has called'responsematching'.''Not only this, but, in many cases the way someonespeaks affects the response of the person to whomhe is speaking in such a way ttrat'modelling'is seento occur.'

d 'It may be that response matching can be moreprofitably considered as an unconscious reflection ofspeakers'needs for social integration with oneanother.'

e 'In other situations, speech divergence may occur. . . he is dealing with.'

f 'Nevertheless, distinct contexts . . . from one andthe same speaker.'

The highlighted sentence that has not been paraphrased is'Response matching has, in fact, been noted . . . and voiceloudness.'There are many possible headings for Part One of thetext: How u)e uary the way we speak would do.

Intensive readingTask 1Tell the students to try to work out the way the content ofthe text is organized, as they read: i. e. , to spot its'architecture'. Ask them to write down sub-headings theycould insert into the text to show its structure. Then letthem do 2.3 and,4 can be done individually, but 5 is bestdone in pair or group work.Answers:2 a 'Langtage variation'goes before paragraph one.

b 'Response matching'goes before paragraph two.c 'Speech divergence'goes before paragraph four.Here i3 ls a suqqesteo answer:

Topic Definition Examf Le

Languagevariation

Different patternsof speech used bysame speaker indifferentcontexts.

How Englishschoolchildrenspeak to friendsand to theirteacher.

Responsematching

Changing the wayone speaks sothat it matchesmore closely theway the personspoken to speaks.

Correspondencebetween length ofreporters'questions andKennedy'sreplies.

Speechdivergence

Modifying one'sspeech away fromthe way theperson spoken tospeaks.

The brigadier'swife and the carmechanic.

Teachels guide 131

4 1 Speechchange; 2 Speechdivergence5 Further information about speech convergence and

divergence.

ExtensionTask 1Set these questions for self-study out of class. Start thenext lesson with a discussion based on the answers thestudents come up with.Part TwoExtensive readingTask 1Do 2 with the whole class. Ask one half of the class to dothe first part of 3 and the other half the second part of 3.Then form pairs with one student from each half. Onestudent reads out hisftrer completed description while theother listens and checks it against the diagram, queryingany'thing that is not clear.Answers:2 Types of speech change: fi,gre2

A speaker's accent repertoire: figure 1

3 1 idiolect 2 receivedpronunciation 3 broadregional 4 broadregional 5 affectedreceivedpronunciation1 convergence 2 divergence 3 Upward4 receivedpronunciation 5 downward 6 regional7 upward 8 downward

Intensive readingTask 1These questions guide the student into a discovery of howthe information in the text is structured. They are bestdone by the students working individually through all threequestions. The teacher should then check the answe:squickly.Answers:1 'Accent repertoire' starts with paragraph two.

'Types of accent change' begins with paragraph five.

3 1 convergence 2 downward 3 divergence4 upward

Task 2The students can do this task in pairs. When they havefinished ask them to close their books and prepare briefnote summaries of the text from memory. Invite a studentto give a talk of his/trer surnmary to the rest of the class.

Answers:1 a example b generalization c generalization

d generalization

2 a 'Obviously accent response matching is not of sucha power . . . of their regional self-colourings.'

b 'such as Cardiff. . . south Wales lilt'c 'ghetto children. . . public school children'd 'Think of a woman . . . in an urefined marner' (the

whole of the rest of the paragraph)

ExtensionTask 1Do 1 with the whole class and 2 in groups or pairs. Makesure that the students realize lhat 2 requires them tocomment on Grles's aiews i. e., not just to producedefinitions of upward convergence, etc.Answers:1 a Giles's choice of words ('immobile"limitation'

'ghetto') suggests a negative view towards speakerswithout an accent repertoire.

b Giles's talks about downward convergence helpingto'reduce embarrassment' and creating'a commonbasis for the communication of ideas and feelings'.

2 Giles' view is largely neutral: i. e., he simply describeswhat upward convergence consists of.

Upward divergence (of the kind practised by the floormanager) is related to'aloofness'and social'superiority'.

Downward divergence (of the kind practised by thewoman shopper) is related to'indignation'and an'unrefined marurer'. However, in general Giles seemsto find divergence of both sorts amusing (as shown rnhis choice of examples).

Task 2Let the students do this task individually, then check theanswers. Put the students into pairs arrd ask them to thinkof four different situations to illustrate each type of accentchange.Answers:1 downward convergence2 upward divergence3 upwardconvergence4 downward divergenceTask 3Ycu will have to do some preliminary work with thestudents on the kind of style that will be needed. A goodstarting point would be to go through the text and identify'technical' words (e. g. ,

'accent repertoire') and ask thestudents if they can think of 'everyday' ways of expressingthem (e. g., 'more than one way of speaking').

2 DramaPreparationTask 1These questions are best done in group work. If you havestudents with mixed language backgrounds, make surethat the groups are mixed.Answers:2 Upper/middle-classes are likely to speak with a

received pronunciation accen! loweriworking-classesare more likely to speak with a regional accent.

3 There may be differences in accent and dialect.'Educated'people may use a different kind ofvocabulary and may choose to talk about differenttooics.

132 Teachels guide

Task 2

Do this task with the whole class. Encourage the studentsto speculate. Don't evaluate their answers but encouragethem to justify their predictions. Write up theirsuggestions. Later, when they have read the extracts,they can check which of their predictions were right.

Extensive reading

Task 1

Some background information may help you to explanpoints to the students ifthe need arises. Older studentsgenerally enrol with the Open University in order to studyfor a degree in their spare time. Most of the work is bycorrespondence, but students are given a tutor whom theycan visit occasionally. Rita is a Liverpudlian and speaks thelocal accent and dialect. She clearly has not had muchformal education. During the play she leaves her working-class husband and moves in with a middle-class flat-matecalled Trish (short for Tricia). Frank is middle-aged. Hehas been a lecturer at this university for a long time. Oncehe used to write poetry, but he has long since stoppedbecause he felt his poetry was too academic and lackedfeeling.

This task should be done with the students workingindividually. If there is time, let them discuss theiranswers in pairs or groups before the class discussion.

Answers:

1 Rita becomes much surer of herself. She becomes'educated'in the sense that she is able to talkobjectively about literature and to mix on equal termswith university students.

2 Frank is proud of what she has accomplished butthinks that she is betraying her own nature (e. g. ,when she puts on a false accent).

Intensive reading

Task I

Ask the students to work through these questions in pairs.

Answers:I

Author Book Rita's opinion

ExtractOne

. DylanThomas

. RogerMcGough

. E MForster

. Lawrence

. Lawrence

HowardsEnd

. Never heard ofhim.

. 'dead good'

. Probably difficultto read andunderstand

Extract LadyChatterly

Sons andLouers

Limited literarywork - like'sparkling wine'Great literarywork - like'champaRne'.

a

a

2 a Irutially Rita likes popular writers; later she comesto appreciate great literary writers.She learns to play the'educational'game; shemasters the skills of literary criticism but in so doingalso becomes conventional in her responses.

b In Extract One Rita appears to try to shock Frank,by suggesting thatHowards Ezdis 'filthy'and byswearing. She talks about'packing the course in'.She belittles her own'brain'.In Extract Two she feels confident enough to talk toand argue with the students about literature.

3 She wants to be able to understand and appreciatethose aspects of life (ballet, literature, etc. ) which sheassociates with educated people.She has achieved what she wants and is now able totalk about these aspects with other educated people.Rita feels that she has become articulate because shecan talk about literature. However, she always washighly articulate (note how she talks about'stuck-upidiots' in Extract One).

Task 2Try setting this task as self-study. Choose a student to gothrough the answers with the rest of the class (i. e., to takeon the role ofthe teacher).Answers:1

a Rita changes the way she speaks because shebelieves it suits her new status as an'educated'person.

b This change shows us that Rita is rejecting her pastand her true identity.

c Frank finds it artificial.d In a way, the different way of speaking is only an

'experiment'for Rita. She isn't really committed toit.

Rita uses too many colloquial expressions to list here!Extract One has more colloquial expressions,indicating that Rita's style of speaking becomes moreformal and more standard.In both extracts Frank speaks standard English, with areceived pronunciation accent (probably) and uses aformal style.a Frank speaks in the standard way ofan educated

Derson,

Two

Feature ofRita's speech

regionalregional

informaVcolloquial

Teachels Guide 133

They come from diametrically different socialbackgrounds.

Frank does change a little: his speech is less formalin Extract Two.' D ead honest' is dialectal:'dead' means'very' or'absolutely'. It is one of Rita's favouriteexpresslons.

It suggests that Frank responds positively to Rita:he warms to her.

ExtensionTask IAsk the students to quickly read through the two extractsagain before they write their character sketch in 1. If theyneed guidance in writing the character sketch ask the classto suggest adjectives that describe the two characters andwrite these on the board. AJter the pairwork, ask one ortwo students to read their character sketches to the restof the class. 2 and,3 can be done as a class discussion.

The play ends with Frank leaving for Australia and askingRita to go with him. She refuses. However, sherecognizes that she has never done anything for him andso gives him a haircut (she used to be a hairdresser).

3 Review activitiesTask 1It is important to check that the students have a clearunderstanding ofthe terms in 1. After you have done this,Iet the students work through the rest of the questions inpairs. Emphasize the importance of finding evidence fromthe texts to support their answers. End with a classdiscussion of whether Giles's framework can be used tointerpret the way the characters speak to each other inEducatingRita.Answers:2 Neither Rita nor Frank have much of an 'accent

repertoire'. Rita can only speak with the Liverpudlianaccent at the beginning of the play, while Frank onlyappears to know received pronunciation.

3 Rita seems to be diverging downward (i.e.,emphasizing her Liverpudlian way of speaking). Shefeels threatened and vulnerable during her firstmeeting with Frank.

There is some evidence to suggest that Frank isconverging downwards: for example, he echoes Rita's' packing it in' (L. 39). In general, however, Frankneither converges nor diverges.

4 Rita converges upwards (she puts on a'posh'accent).She wants to appear'educated'like Frank. But it is aconscious rather than spontaneous convergence.

Frank converges downwards by using colloquialismsllke'finished him off ' (L.55) and by borrowing adialectal expression, 'dead honesf . He wants to getcloser to Rita.

5 The degree of'response matching' increasesconsiderably from Extract One to Extract Two,indicating the degree of mutual liking andunderstanding the two characters have for each other.

Task 2These are'opinion' questions. They are designed to makethe students think about the relationship between socialfactors and language. Do L,2 and.3 in groups and, after aclass discussion, do 4 in pairs. Encourage them to makeuse of the ideas in the texts they have read in this unit.

UNIT 6A suggested teaching scheme for this unit is:

Lesson 7: The tasks in Section 1 Preparation andExtensiue reading

Lesson2: The tasks inIntensiue reading

Self-study: The tasks nExtensionLesson3: The tasks inSection2 PreParationand,

Etctensiue readingSelf-study: Task 1. 1 of.Intensiae read:ing

Lesson4: Tasks 1, 2, 3 and4 of.Intensiae reading

Lesson 5: The tasks inPreparation and Extensiuereading, and Task I.I of. Intensiue reading

Self Study: Tasks 1, 2, 3, 4 and'5 of. Intensiue reading

Lesson 6: The tasks in Preparation, Extensiue readingand Intensiue reading

Lesson 7: The tasks in Extension

1 AdvicePreparationTask 1

1 This task could be done initially in pairs. The pairscould then form groups of four to monitor each other'sanswers. In each group each pair could read its fivedialogues to the other pair and ask them to suggest inwhat situations they might be appropriate. The pairscould then try to improve each others'answers. Thiscould then be opened up to the rest of the class, withgroups reading some of their dialogues and the classsuggesting appropriate situations.Finally the teacher could help the students to makegeneralizations about disagreement in English: forexample, lengthy utterances containing modal verbssuch as, 'I am not quite sure that I would agree', areappropriate in formal, polite situations whereas short,verbless utterances, such as 'No way', are moreappropriate in informal situations.There are obviously many possible dialogues in thistask. The following are just some examples:r A 'This car is a good bargain.'

B'I don't really thinh it's such a good bargain asvou sav.'

134 Teachels guide

A is a sales assistant. B is a potential customer whodoes not want to buy that particular car (or who istrying to reduce the price). B does not want tooffend A.B 'You must be joking.'

B is not interested in the car and is not worriedabout offending A.

r A 'Futre's going to be a better player thanMaradonna.'

B 'No way.'A and B are friends. B completely disagrees with A,and wants A to know that.B 'I don't realLy think he's going to be that good.'A and B are acquaintances. B disagrees with A butdoesn't want to risk offending A by expressing thisdisagreement too strongly.

2 This activity is best done in groups so that thestudents can share and extend their knowledge ofdifferent ways of arguing in English.One of the many possible answers is the following:

Statement Situation

Two brotherswho haven't seeneach other for along time.Formal meetingbetween two newbusinesspartners.Married couple.

Mother buyingteenage daughtera dress for aparty.Acquaintancestalking in a pub.

An advisorresponding to apolitician.Two strangerswaiting for a bustogether.Boyfriendresponding togirlfriend'ssuggestron.

It would be useful to collect in the group answers andfollow up any confusions in the next lesson.

3 This is best done as a pair or group activity followed byclass feedback.

a Obviously there are no'correct'answers inevaluating the table. Any points justified byevidence are valid. In the feedback it would beuseful to give your own opinions.

b You could elicit various suggestions regarding theuse ofthe table from the pairs/groups, collate themon the board and then ask the class to decide whichwould be the most useful.

c The pairs/groups could brainstorm at randomdifferent ways of expressing disagreement inEnglish, then consult available textbooks/referencebooks and finally fit their examples into theframework.

4 This could be done as a class discussion with amonolingual group or as a group discussion with amultilingual group. It is a good idea to try to preparesome examples in advance in case the students haveproblems with this activity.It is obviously not essential that students do all thePreparation tasks. One possibility would be to askeach pair/group to choose three of the activities towork on.

Extensive readingTask 1

It would be helpful to explain and exemplify what ismeantby'talk' to the writer. You could ask yourstudents to read each sentence silently and at the endof each sentence comment or ask a question aloud tothe writer. For example, 'Successful disagreementrequires cunning.'(17fty?)'Nobody who . . . wins anargument.' (Is this really true? What do you mean by'wins an argument' anyway?)Encourage the A students to summarize the mainpoints rather than to present each point in detail.Encourage the B students to anticipate the main pointsof their partner's summary and to prepare objectionsto these points. There is no need for a detailed follow-up to the pair work but it might be interesting if yougive your opinions about the author's points and invitestudents to respond.

Intensive readingTask 1

1 a 'Or are we trying to win people over to our side . . .to enlist their support?'

b 'Don't be wrong. Be Right.'c 'Always end the argument and end it in a positive

way.'d 'Always give the impression you are right but not

superior.'e 'I would suggest that anyone who communicates the

message . . . can only hope to achieve at best a verycheap and shallow victory.'

f 'So obey most of all the final rule:Rule 15 Don't Feel. Think.'

'You could'veasked me to help.'

'All the signsindicate animminent increasein the oil price.''I think we'll go toMajorca again thisyear.''This is a nicedress, dear.'

'Charlestown is avery attractiveplace. ''What we need todo is to build moresecondary schools.'l think it's going torain this afternoon.

'Let's go out for ameal tonight.'

'Sure. Like whenI needed moneyfor the rent.'

'I'm not surethat's quite how Iread thesituation.''Not again?'

'Come off it mum;the guys wouldlaugh at me.'

'No way; I usedto live there.'

'I'm not entirelysure I agree.'

'You could ber igh t . Bu t . . . '

'Great idea! Whothe hell's going topay for it?'

Teacher s guid.e 135

'Always appear to be willing to listen. This gains yousupport and often traps your opponents intoweakening their own arguments with exaggerationand over-repetition.''Review your opponent's arguments beforeproposing your own.

The writer is trying to:a influence the readers'opinions by inviting them to

answer a question to which the answer has alreadybeen given.

b give the impression of balance, system andorganization; make an impact by restating anegative statement in a positive way.

c make an impact through forceful repetition; stressthe importance of the point.

d suggest that there is no question at all about thewisdom of the advice.

e to indicate that this is a considered, thoughtfulconclusion; to command attention by a dramaticdifference to styles.

f to give prominence to the writer's main point.

p to convince the reader of the wisdom of the initialstatement.

h to suggest that the statement is so self-evident as tonot need justification or reinforcement.

There are obviously many other examples of some of thedevices, such as sy'rnmetry and statement plusexplanation, and other valid interpretations ofthe writer'sreasons for using them: for example, h - the writer wasfinding it tedious to keep conforming to a self-imposedpattern of statement plus explanation or reinforcement.2

Utterance Purpose

Utterance

Tentativestatement

'Hemight.. . Statementlose support.'

Purpose

Give theimpression of itbeing athoughtful,well-consideredpomt.Provide reasonfor thestatement in 8.

3 The writer uses rules to express his ideas to makethem easier for the reader to follorr; to give authorityto the ideas; to make an impact.

He follows the same 'NeveriAln-a]'s'approach toreinforce a negative with a posinve and thus gainimpact; to provide a clear course of action; to give theimpression of system and organ2ation.

The writer ends with Rule 15 to proride a climax tothe text; to highlight the main poinu to provide a finalsimple summary of the whole text.

4 a clever planning of the argument in order to trick thelistener(s) into giving thea support.

b arguing in such a way that the listeners do notrealize they are being manipulated.giving expression to our anger.the appearance of having won the argument withoutrea.lly convincing anyone or gaining their support(i. e. , cheap in the sense of 'haring little value' andshallow in that it is not significant or lasting).for what he is known for.to invite the listener to make their meaning clear(and therefore to imply a criticism of thestatement).

g glve your opinions.h admit that they are correct.

5 Obviously any reasoned answer is acceptable here.The main point is to encourage the learners to becritical of the content and expression of what they readand to develop skills of evaluation.

ExtensionTask 1

1 It might be a good idea to get your students to list themain points on the board and then to elicit suggestionsfor expressing and linking the points.

2 This is best done as an individual task, possibly ashomework.

2 People arguingPreparation

I TlpicaLparticifantsThis could be done on the board with suggestionscoming from the students. For example, mother anddaughter; teacher and student; customer and waiter,etc.

cd

ef

2 'Nobody. . .argument.'

3 'Such candid . .stealth anddeception.'

4 'A successfularguer. . .convmcngactor.'

5 'But . . .argument.'

6 ' W h a t i s i t . . .our spoken.'

7 ' O r a r e w e . . .their support?'

Reinforcement

Explanation

Restatement

Statement ofmtent

Questions

RhetoricalQuestion

Give a reasonto support 1.Give furthersupport to 1.

Concisesummary ofmain point.

Get reader tothink.Get reader tothink.Prepare readerto receive ananswer.Provide aCon'v'lnCnganswer to thequestions in 6.

136 Teachey's guide

Tlpical reasonsAgain this could be done as a class effort on the board. Forexample, conviction; desire to persuade/convert; self-defense; provide an excuse, etc.

Tgical objectiuesThis could be done in groups as preparation for 2. Forexample, to enhance a reputation; to divert blame; to hurtsomeone; to avoid doing something, etc.2 Tactics

c Sarcasm

d Irony

e Abusef Warning

Examples'That's the most useful idea sinceearthquakes.''Yes, that would certainly reveal toeveryone how well you are doingthe job.''What absolute nonsense!''Nobody would ever vote for youagain.'

g Refutation 'I'm telling you; I wasn't eventhere.'

The main point of this activity is to encourage studentsto think about different tactics used in argumentsbefore they read the three argument texts. It is bestdone as a pair or group activity so that students canpool their knowledge and stimulate each other tothink.

The exemplification of a variety of different tactics ismore important than the terminology used to labelthem.

Extensive reading

Task 1

This could be done as pair-reading with two studentsreading one text and talking to each other as they read it.

1 Because people will link her to the incident and she willbe disgraced.

2 He is possibly a little ashamed but doesn't want toadmit it.

3 She probably wants to make sure her son is notimpressed by what Uncle did to Nzule and to makeUncle realize that what he did was shameful. She alsowants to dissociate herself from Uncle's actions and toexpress her annoyance at the way he has responded toher hospitality.

4 Possibly so as not to lose face in front of his nephew,and as an indication of his chauvinistic reluctance toaccept being told offby a woman.

5 He obviously attacked Nzule in the street. He mayhave tricked him in a cowardlv wav or used unfairtactics in the fight.

6 Mother wants to emphasize that he is still young andneeds her guidance and protection; Uncle wants tostress that he is old enough to be more independent

and that he needs guidance from a fellow man (i. e. ,himself).

7 Mother manages to make her point and to make Unclefeel some shame. But Uncle manages to escape from avery tricky situation without losing face and withoutreally antagonizing his sister (he manages to make hersmile). Perhaps then he is the winner because histactics succeed even though his case is weak.

Intensive readingTask 1

1 a To give sarcastic emphasis to her points.b To mock him (i. e., Can he really be grou'n up if he

behaves like that?).c No. She is stating emphatically that he has no self-

respect.d He doesn't want to respond to her provocation. He

wants her to weaken her argument by gettingangry.

e To stress his lack ofappreciation.f Taking her for granted; abusing her hospitality; not

valuing her company; letting her down.I She is a proud woman. She makes a lot of

sacrifices. She gets easilyroused and she worriesabout what people say/think about her.

h We don't think so. Possibly he wants to provokeher. Possibly he is acknowledging the validity ofwhat she says but is also signalling that he will notallow her to win an argument against him in front ofthe boy.

i As the younger brother he ought to respect her.j To annoy his sister and to claim the boy's support.

Possibly also because he is really too ashamed toface his sister.

k He wants to gain the support of the boy andpossibly to show that he is not as selfish as hissister implies. She doesn't want him to win thesympathy of her son and possibly doesn't want tohave to be grateful to her brother.

I That he only claims responsibility when it isconvenient and that he usually behaves in anirresponsible way.

m That she is appeased and has forgiven him.n To show how well he gets on with the boy and

possibly to refer to a past argument which hasbecome a family joke (ust as this one probablywill).

o She recognizes what he is doing and wants tosignal that the argument is over.

p To signal his victory.Other answers will obviously be acceptable. What isimportant in this activity is not the actual answers butthe way the questions encourage the students to readbetween the lines. The questions could be answered inpairs or groups, or individually and then the answerscompared and evaluated in groups.

Teachels guide 137

3 The summary could be done on the board. Forexample:

Mother: Features of slyle Effectsarcasm fails to provoke

4 This could be written in pairs and then acted out andevaluated.

PreparationTask 1Obviously there are no correct answers to these activitiesand no need for any lengthy feedback from the pair work.The teacher's main task is to encourage and respond tothe pair discussions.

Extensive readingTask 1It might be useful for students to note down theirpredictions before they start to read.

Task 2

1 c, e and g - even though c and g appear to becontradictory.Other answers may be acceptable if students canjustify them using the text.

2 There are a number of possible interpretations.Chuck is intrigued, irritated but impressed by Vinnie.He leaves because he wants her to feel sorry for heroutburst and then to feel s1'rnpathy for him.

3 This could be done in pairs with one personresponsible for the note from Vinnie, the otherresponsible for the note from Chuck and bothresponsible for the extract from the later scene.

Intensive readingTask 1

1 a This is not comprehensive enough and describesonly the superficial functions of her utterances: forexample, 'don't show a little initiatiue'is not really acommand but a sarcastic comment on Chuck'sapparent inability to show initiative.This analysis is more thorough and informative thana, but not all the labels are accurate descriptions ofthe functions of the utterances they refer to: forexample, 6 suggestion and 7 irony.This is the most complete and accurate analysis.But even so its labels are a mixture of descriptionsof the form of the utterances (e. g., exclamation),the function in the text (e. g. , exemplification of theaccusation) and the situational purpose (e. g. ,distance; escape).

Try to get the students to produce an improvedversion of c.

a He is amazed by her outburst and has no idea howto respond to it.

b He is angry that she insults him so strongly (e. g. ,'you're so stupid') and hurt because he cannot seewhat he has done to deserve such an outburst.

c He cannot believe that she can still continue heroutburst when he has signalled his anger and hurt.

d He is looking to see if it really is as late as Vinnieclaims and to refute the implied accusation ofdisturbing her late at night.

e He wants to hurt her back by implying that she isbehaving towards him as a lecturer rather than afriend.

She seems to be initially carried away by herexasperation and to blurt out spontaneous criticisms,accusations and insults. But then when she realizeshow emotive she has become and how her outburstseems to have hurt rather than helped she deliberatelychanges to a lower (therefore gentler) tone of voiceand becomes apologetic in order to excuse heroutburst and to escape from what has become a veryawkward situation.

Utterance

. personal appeal

. answer

rhetoricaln r r c q f i n n

request forclarificationexclamation

statementexplanation ofstatementfurtherexplanationreinforcement

statements

rhetoricalquestionsstatementsinterpretationsadvice

command

. statement

Objectiue(s)

justificationan attempt toclose the2rq rmcnt

without losingfacenon-acceptanceof hisjustificationrefusal to closethe argumentprovocation

furtherjustificationprovocation

o justification

e justificationr change offocus

of discussionr to escape from

the argumento refutation of

adviceo signalling

recognition ofhis tactics

o justification ofadvice

a

a

a

o

a

o

a

138 Teachels guide

It might be helpful to encourage students first of all todecide how Vinnie would feel the next day andwhether $he would be aiming to amuse her friend,explain and excuse her own conduct or be candid andfrank.The scene could be written in pairs with one partnerwriting Vinnie's part and the other Chuck's.

Preparation

1 There are a number of possibilities.

mother/son Ihusband/wife F or uce versa

brother/sister Itwo friends

This actMty could be done as pairwork. Encouragethe students to justify their answers, and maybe askthem to act out the scene according to their owninterpretation.

Extensive readingThe director should allocate the parts, give advice on toneof voice, attitude, gestures, movement, etcandthenrehearse the actors in the performance of their scene.

Intensive reading

She is communicating her pride in her son as a late-night student but at the same time she is suggestingthat he ought to be up and dressed by now.

They are proud to be related to someone who hasgraduated and want to show off in public'

Because he will be seen with them and will be ridiculedfor being part of such a peculiar, unsophisticatedfamily.Because the way they dress and behave makes itobvious that they don't belong in the city'

She means that it's not asking very much forJohnny toagree to his family sharing his great moment. She isimplying that he is being selfish.

Johnny's father. He is much more direct in his criticismthanJohnny's mother.He is implying thatJohnny is being selfish and does notrealize how important the registration is to his mother.

Johnny is sullen and taciturn; he is sarcastic; heappeals to his parents to leave him alone. He impliesthat he is being unfairly treated.His mother ties to be gentle, reasonable andsympathetic. She appeals to him to consider others'She attempts gentle persuaston.

His father is direct in his criticism of Johnny's selfishbehaviour.

3 Review activitiesTask 1

1 There are many possible answers. Certainly Mother inF o o ls and O ther S tories (p. 106), Y innie in F oreignAffairs (p. 111) and Johnny in I ake Wobegon D ays(p. 113) would all have gained more support if theyhadn't broken Rules 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 11 and 15.

Task 2Let each student decide whether they want to workindividually, in pairs or in groups.

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