discourse-competence-2

Discoursecompetence语篇能力Discourse:Oraldiscourse&TextualdiscourseThemostimportantcompetences:Continuityofmeaninganddevelopment&ComprehensiveabilityExampleQuestion:Whatdidthehurricanedo?Differentanswers：A.Thehurricaneuprootedthetrees.B.Thetreeswereuprooted.C.Hundredsoftreeswereuprootedbythehurricane.D.Ituprootedhundredsoftrees.“Itismorenormallythecaseindiscoursethatsharedinformation(aboutthehurricane)precedesnewinformation(aboutitseffects).”BYWiddowson(1978)AnswerDisthebest.Ituseareferenceitem“it”asacohesivedevicetorelatetheanswertothequestionandthisfitsinwiththenormalpatternoforaldiscourse.AslearnersofEnglish,weneedtobecomeawareofhowdiscourseworksintermsofthecommoncohesivedevicesusedinEnglish.B:Well,itfeelshealthier,doesn’tit?A:Yes.B:Andseemshealthier…A:Yes.B:Thetheoryisthattheydistracteachother…butthat’slife,isn’tit?Showcontinuityofmeaninganddevelopmentindiscourse,nomatteryouareaspeakerorlistener.Anextractofauthenticconversation:B:…itstilltendstobetruethatmostofthebestonesaresinglesex..A:Mm…B:AsfarasIcangather…bestintermsof…youknow…A:Recordstoshow…B:Yes.A:Ican’tseewhybecauseI’mconvincedthatmixedonesarethesoundest…Imeanoverall…thesoundest…Howtoperformtheturnsindiscourse?Howtomaintaintheconversation?Howtodevelopthetopic?Thesevariousabilitiesneededtocreatecoherentwrittentextsorconversation,andtounderstandthem.DiscourseCompetenceSecondlanguagelearnerswillneedtoacquireusefullanguageforstrategiessuchasinitiating,entering,interrupting,checkingandconfirminginconversation.Weneedtolearnthetypicaldiscoursemarkerswhichsignalthedirectionofdiscoursesuchas:“bytheway”introducinganincidentalremark;“I’dliketotakeupanearlierpoint..”returningtoconsideranearlierargument;“That’sallverywellbut…”challenginganargument.ThelearnersofEnglishreadingtechnicalEnglishwillhavetofollowthestructureofdifferenttypesofexpository说明的，解释的prosesuchasdescriptionsofprocesses,cause-effectanalyses,andcomparisonsofsystem.Thelearnersneedtounderstandtherelationshipbetweenthepropositions主题ofadjoiningsentencesandtointerprettheserelationshipthroughformaldevices.“Thepopulationisageing.Thatistosay,thereishigherpercentageofpeopleovertheageofsixtythanatanytimepreviouslythiscentury.”Here,thesecondsentenceisareformulationofthepropositioninthefirstandservesasanexplanation.Theconnective“Thatistosay”linksthemeaningofthetwo.