Prator

,O.

DEWLOH.IEI{T OF A },IANIPULATION-CON{MUNICATTON SCALE

,ri I ! ^, 27'

li{;;'

^F-.r:

ilrlll

work

of a rather

mechanical

aort

^and are

like1y to

have

Little intellectual content.

On

ths

other hand noet courees In'

llteraturer typicalty

reserved

for

eenior peraonnel, are either taught

lar6ely iu

the mother tougue

of the

student

or, lf

ooD-duoted

in

the ^second langue.ge, make no deliberate 6y6tcoatlc

at-tsmpt

to

help

the

Etudent inprovc

his practlcal

^conoand ,5f tnat languageo

Ia the tro

6et6

of

courees, alrua, methodor and aubJoot

Datte!

ale.uttorly diesimilarr If

anothor ^pan aphraBe

la

perrla-alb1e1 language

ie

laa6uaget and

literature

16

Ilt€raturer

^aod

never the

tsain

eha1I meet.

-8ourc eB

of Diffioulty

It Ie

_Juot 6uch a meetlu6:-of J.aagua6e aud

lit

ertit

ure-that la

oalled

for in the

LDternedi&to

or

^advanced class

in

Engllsh aa a aeoond lan6uage. The unfortunet€ dlohotomy prey&llin8

in

^our.

1aa-Eua8e departn€nt8 ^m€an6

that

Ee have

Iittle

^precedent

for

the klntt

of

courao

tbat

nnkee

a

Eradual arcl

ordorly tran6itloB

^froE

acth-itlea tbat

omPhaoiE€

the

development

of

ba6ic

linguiotlo

^{6ki11o to}

activltleo ileeiped to

encouraSo

the free

communicatioD

of

^thou6ht.

It la

^apparent

r ^thent that

aon€

of the'dlfflculty te

oxl,erlence

lh

^pu6hln6 on beyontl tho beginninS 1ovel atems

directly. froo

the provalent coicept

of

departnental or8aDlzation ^and

the

^coD6oquent aelnratlon

of

^{laDgrrage arld}

litelature'.

An oven oore lqiportc&t souroe

of

our

difflculty

nay

Ile ln

our current otrcoB6ivo depeodenco oD the Gtructural

linguista

^{aa tha}

fouEtaiilheatl

of

^our

attitudes torard

^lan8ua8e

toachitr8.

There 1r no Bainsayin8

the fact that

^{Ee teachers}

of

English ae

a

aecond. 1a'!,-Suage ows

tho lingulets a

tremc[dou6t

debt.

^{One can no nore deny}

the idoa

that

^languago teaching nu6t be _SrouDdetl ^on

lingulatlce-thct le to

^{Bayt oB the body}

of

kuowlodge ws _Poasess about the uaturo

of

Language and

of

Bpooifio languagee-than one can dery

rirtuor

ho$er and Erother. But

it

ohould be equally ^obvious that our

di8clPllne

^should

rost

^on other foundationd aB woI1t

partlc-u1alhr on

that

branch

of

plychology

that

^deals

rlth

the naturo of

the

learner and

of

the 1a!8us8o-Iearnin8 _Procet6.

Furtheroore, Anorican

lin8ulstG

^{have been notably} unltrter€6tetl

ln certsln

a6pcct6

of

^lalguage

Yith

whlch

tho

teacher ou6t ^oonosrE

hlooelfr

especially

in

^advanood cfa66eE. ^Since

Bloonfieldr

^the.

foou6

of attention in linS istic

^{reseaich ha6 beotr'the} spokca 1aa-guage,

with IIttIe irttention

^pald

to rritlug

^{above the}

Ievel of

grapheElc6. GraEnatlcal afidlyeio ^{hae doveloped}

alnost

excluelvely

275

rithlD

the

limite of the indiviCual

aentence, and there has beon

llttIe

6tudy

of

the

relation-ohipe

between 6ontence6

in larger

units

auch aa

the

paragraph.

Yetr.the

ad,vanced. otudent

of

English as ^a

EocoEd language nust be tauuht composltion.

The IUIpI!4nc e

of

Meaning

In thpir efrort to

develop noro rigorouB Eethods

of lingulatic

aaalyala. the Blooofieldlano have tond.ed

to

doun8rade the

lBlort-aace

of

Eealriag as aa eloneut

of

lau8uage. Eorever healthy

thla

tle-empbaeie

of

EeaEl[g $a]r have beeu Ln

aaalytlcal

workr

it

ahoultl Deyer have been exteDded

to

the

practical activitlee of

the

lau-'

Euaga

claosroon. Iu following ths

^11ngui6te

too.truetiugly

^oa

thia

poi[t

r

re'laDguage teachers have of l.on fal1en

into

grievoua error:

exteaded

ttrillb

on tloD6enoe

eyllabIee, fal,luro to

nake Eure that our atualenta uaderstand tb,e ^6enteDco6 they are eo asoideouely

re-poatlngl

tbo uee

of

lauguage.

that

^{beare no}

relatioaehip to

the

re-alltles of the Eituationi

exerciooo ^mado up

of totally

diaconnect-od EoateBceE.

Perhape nost ^gefioue

of a].l

^aB

a

cau6e

of the dtfficul-tioa r€

sre

ror

experienoing

i[

^advancod

i[atructionr

^{rre oeen}

to

have

lar6ely lost

Bight

of

the

role of

oooruaication

ln

laaguage teaoh-l.ug. .

If

EoaniEB

lE

Dot

lnportaat,

thon

nelther ie

connullcat1on.

Ietl

even on the tbeorotioa].

Ioveli lt

ahouLd bo oaay

to

^coavlaoe odraclveo.tbqt oonmuaioatlon

ie

^an easoatlal dpopoaeat

of

Latr-'

guagrtbat

lauguago

boroft of ltB

coEnuDlcatlve luEotlorl ia:

lot

1aagua6o.

at all.

but Eero

larrotiDg.

Ihe

toa.cher rho runtlereatlnatea

the

loportaaco

of

cooounl-

,

^,:.

g.itlotr

la llkely to

attaoh corroepondl.ngl.y groater

relght to

c-Bother eleoent

of

largua8o

that

_ba8

a

olear msthoalologloa]'

algpl-ftoaros-lts

Eyatonatio Daturo.- Ono

of tbo

greato€t sorylcea thc

Ila{frlota

^hAve rendererl

le to.lnsist that a

lauguage ia. baaloa:'ly

r

sr8too

of atructural

^B16aB16 by ooaas

of

sblcb

a

^epeaker lndicatea the

,, iolltlonabl.p

betrooa contoEt woral6.

It

followa

that a

^prlEary

aln of i[Etructipu

^{muEt b6}

to

^praotice theao arrangoEeDts

of

^stgDa16,

trat

i1

they:oaE behanqled autonatioally ^{as a,}

Eatter of babit.

^Horxoor

'orir fuUy Juatlfiod

^f,ondaosa

for

pattorD practioe.

;..

,

^{tr9 Euat}

^roallEe,

lgyg.rgr,

that

^{pattera. practico aDaI}

coBEurll-oalio!

aro _9o

a

considerable dcgreo

antithetioal. If

our Btudcgtc ,:af?

to forr

oorroct 6peeclr. b.ablte thrvu6h Pattera

praotlcal le

-Eust uoq

allos

thon

to

_Dractlce

€rroro,

^Theroforc ,

re

nu6t erorclae

i'r l:

.1.

277

Strict controls, and must supply the ^proper r.vords and 6tructurea ln the form of an external model that we require the otudents to lmitate. _On the oth.:r hanrt, the bcginning and essence of

coornuui-oation Ls the preucnce of a thought that the speal<er wisheB to

ehare with a hcarerr followed by that mysterious process _whereby he produces from wlthin himself the ^word6 and pattern6 that erpre6E

thought. _True communication implies thc absence of axternal con-tro16.

Tro Tvpes of ClaGsroon ^A ctivit le;r

Por the ^purposes of this article, then, we may define comnunicatlve olassroom activities a6 thoBe that al1ow the Gtudent hj.nsslf to flud the word6 and structures _he Usce. The other type of activity, In whlch he reccives the Eorde and. Gtructures from teacher, tape, or book, may he caI1ed--foHant of a better word__a nanipulative aotivlty. In thle €ense, an _oxampLe of ^pure nanipulation Fould be a driII ln which the students _merely repeat 6entence6 after the

teacher. An examplc of ^pure communicatj,on wouLd be a free con-Yel6atLoD _alBong the members of a c1aes.

Y,/hen wc begin

to

^anal-yze

aotivities

from

this point of

v_Ier, howovert we 6oon diecover

that

moet

of

th6n do

not faI1 entirely tithin either

category

but

are

nixtures of

comnun,i.cation and. manltrF

ulation in

varioue

proportions. i-n*". o

teacher can f:,1me a

questlon

in

such a way as

to

contiol

aDsrer

to a

considerab)-e dcgrec but

ln the cholce of worde: Bcfoi,e you c^.r-ix c to school this Eornlu_8r

tl"t

hgg_ygS_alre

gll

^alode at hone? That one e;eem6 to involse a

rather larger elcment of communj,cation than of manl_pulation.

What all thie hae to do yrith the ^problerns of ^ad.vaDced

Eng-lieh lnstruction _beglne to becorno apparent _{when wo} reflect that the Prlnclpal methodological _chango that should characterize the

pro-Sreesion from the l-oEer to the upper levelo of language teaching Le

prscl8ely the inoreased. freerlom of expreesion 6iven otudents lu the hlgher clasees. In the beginning Etagesr the teacher exert6 6uch

rtgorous oontrol as to reduce tho poseibi.Il-tlr of error to anin i-Errfi:

at leastr thie ie what happens in claGses taught by the methode

oost ridely approvod.tod.ay. At some _i_ater 6tage the time muot iu_

evltably come when thoee controls dioappearr when oral pattern -praotico gives way to the diecuEsion of idees, and dictatlon 16

auperolded by frce compositj.on. l1e nay regard the ^{ryhole procee,B} a!

a _{Prolongod and graduaL} shift _from manipulation to communication, thc

sLi-1.1

form of the Etudent ^I a

lcave him some freedom

I

2?8

acconpllshed through progrooEive

decoatro]"

We deter.nine

tho

^spooal

of the trqloition

by

alloring the

Btudent

the poeeibillty of

oakiag ocrtolE

erroro

ouly wden

re

are r6aso!,ably oure

that

he

xilt

^Do

1on6er be

likeIy to

make then.

' It ie

fortuJxate

that

tho movement

f-on

nnnipu).ation

to

966-uuaication doee

not

have

to

be nado abnrp.r,ryt

atd ii ls

^prolablo

that the Ehift

EhouLd aover be

total,,

oven

ln

the ooot advaaoed o].aaeeoo Thereia

liea.

the loport6ace

of

enalyziug

aII the

great ran8o

of

^poesible laag.uage-teacirlpg technlquee

fron

tbe poiDt of

Tl€w

of thelr

nanipulat lon-coru:runication conteEtt ^au al

of

arraaglng

them _J.n our minds aJ,ong

a eort bf

eca]'e c;teadin8

fron

the Eobt

Eaulpulatlve

to

the moot conmunloatlr/e typea.

A Four-tlay Scale

Iu

the devololnent

of

a manlpulatiog-oomtrunication oca1e,

lt

nay be

helpful to dlvide

claaarooE

Aotlvltiee into at

Leaat

four

naJor 8rouP8: ^{.1 ) compl,etel}y _naII1'pulativo

r 2)

predominantlv _manipulatlvo

J)

predomlnantlv connunloativeI _and

4)

^cornplet e1

y

communlcatLYe o

For eaae

of

referoncet

ro

can

]abol

theoe a€ groupa

oner jE, three,

aad

four.

ObviouslJr,

the

dl'ooneloDo

of thid artlcle

^p111

Bot

p€roit

a.a

attenpt

at.

a

conDlote

classtflcatlon of thio

sortr but ^& Butrb€!.of

Bpeclfic

exaepl.t may bo ueefril.

One

of the oulrontly

do6t

poputir aotivltlea

1n langua6e

olassed

1! the rhglo

61ot dubEtltutlob

arlttt

The teachor 6lvor a oodel 6€nto[ce, auch aB

ry

^f"!.t _"C

Ia a

doctorr and aska

the

atu-tleato

to

cotrstfuct

si-ollar

EoEter.ce8 by

eubetltutln6 for

dogtol

a serleo , of

^nouna

of profeesioB*glgg3, fgg,

fisherparr,

etc.-{hlcb tho

teacher

also

euppilo6

ora11y. Ia thie foro

the oxelcioe

lE oertainly'conpletcly

sanipulatlve and henco belouga 1n

our ^group

one.

But by any

of

^a lunbor

of elight

chan6es ne oan

turs 1t iEto a grouptro

aatirr:ity and thue--even

ln

an elooeutary olase-oome sl16htLy closer

to

our

ultimatc

goal

of

ueing 1arr-guage

for

conmuaicatiou. _tr'or inBtanoe,

the

ctudenta could

indirrl-dually substitute

the name

of thoir fatherre real professlon.

Suoh

a

^change wou1d,

incldentalIy,

avold

the

element

of silliness

ln-herent

in

having the 6on

of

a profe.aor _ohorusing

that hi6 fathbr i6 a Janito!.

Another chatrge

rat

would

pcroit _a

_{€hort step} toraf,d.

codmuuication.would be

to

cue

the

oxorcise visua1Iy, by neane

of

^a

seriee

of pictures,

instoad

of

cuing

it ora1ly" In thlE

6ltuatLonr thou6h

the structure is

determincd by

the

teacher, the ^stualont

279

Eupplie6 at leasb a 6ing1e word j-n _eoch sentence. (It le to ^be

hoped that this argumont may have ^eome weight rith thoee too nEnerou6 lnetructors tho are doeply fearful of losing tllgnlty if they ueo visual aids with adult studcnts).

As I have 4lready pointcd outt the most typical _Sroup-one activity i6 ^probably the repetition of sentenceE by the atudenta ln

lmmediate lmitation of the teachei. Yot, the ^{teacher can}

in-troduco an element of communication into even this type of exsrciee by al-lowing a sigulficant period of time to elapee betreon the heapllg of the model- and the attempt at imitation. In a bcginning olaoer thio might take the form of returning to a repetitlon drilI after havlng moved on to 6one other type of exerclae; oxcept thatt the oecond time aroundr the teacher would ask tho etudenta to

re-produce such sentences as they could remember vrithout benefit of Dode1. C1ear1y, in this delayed repetitj.on the possibillty of

e!-ror and. the neod for the stud.ent to draw upon his orn tnner linguletlc

reBource6 would be Breater than in the orlginal vereion of the

activity. In an advanced c1a6s the teachcr could ^aPPIY the ^eane principle by asking studente to retetL an anecdote qulte sone tlne after he had told lt to ^thom.

Thls would seem to be a good place to conelder memorizationl especially thb memorization of material- ln dlalogue forn' ^The

recitatlon of froshiy meBor'ized dialoguer whether lt be redlted ^with full comprehension by both participants or not' whether it be ln perfectly authentic conversat j.onal- form or notr cannot be said to invoLve any considerable elemont of communication ae that term 18

deftactt in thie pappr'. ft io almoet purc oanlpulationt ^{6ince the} opporturity for' the speakcr6 to supply all or part of thr ^language ia practically ni1. on the other hand' if the teacher eacouraga6 studente to paraphrase all, or portions of a dialoguet ^{then thoy}

can cartaiuly move into the area of communication. One rondere

;hy ou.r textbooks oo ^eeldom contain versiono of tlialogues that Ieave blank 6orue portlons of sentenoes, to bc fillcd in by atudent lDprovieation.

8".gfEg_q4_wrlEgE

In advanc€d classoo, though thc toachor may occasionally treed to u6e a _Broupone exercisc, ^he sirould probably placc _Sreater emphasiB on actlvitics that faII into ^{groups tvro and} three. Since readlng p1ay6 a prominent rofc in most ad,vaacod clasoes, it is iateres-tlng to apply our scale to varioris activlties usually ^{connected with}

,

28o

roading.

Following our

definitiorr6,

ue would be forced

to

claecify

sileEt

reading,

in

which no

overt

1laguistj-c

activity of

any eort

ie

^demanded

of

the etudentr a6. beLonging

to

group one_oompletely manipulatlvot hence

not often

deeirablo

for

use

in

^c1a66

at

the advanced

reveI.

Reading aroud,

in direct imitation of

teacher would

also, of

coursc,

faII into

group

one. jlut

reading al-oud without

aD lmEediate

oral

model

to folIow

would

require the

student to oupply the .appropriate ^6ound6 ane sound sequencee, ana ^,ro,i1d be

craeeified as

a

group-two

activi.ty,

and shoulal

thcrefore

^probably

have

a

^place

in

advauced

instruction.

Varlouo typee

of

questioning

ordinarily

foI1ow

readiog.

In

maa6uring

diffsrent

types a6erinet our manipulation_comnrunication

scaler we can nake ^good u6c

of

Gurreyts wel1-knowu claeEification

of

^queotions a6 6tep-oner 6tep-tvror aDd

step-three.

He labeIe ae

etep-bne

a

question the an.yer

to

which can be found

in the

cxaot words

of

the

text.

Since

the

atudent ha6 only

to

locate ^anal r€ad

tbe appropriate _vrordsr que6tioning

of this sort

wou1d. appear

to

^be

a

predomlnantly manipulative

actlvity, _suitable

ae

a etcrtin8

^poitrt

in

^advaace olasees provided

that the

teacher then moves on

to

^queB_

tloning of

a. pre doro

inaDtly

communlcati?c

typer

such a6 etep_tyo aad otep-throe

questione.

_In, Gurroyre

thinkin6, a

step-two

que6tion

is

one

the

otudent can aaewer by romembering information aupplied by

the text

but

not

by.usin8

thc

exact words

of

the

t€xt.

A Btep-thrce queation

relatea to the

studsDtr

s

own exporiencer wlth

1t6

conteut rnerely 6ugge6ted. by the

text.1

Obviously,

thid latter

typo approaches pure communication;

the

only renaining

control lies

1S

the

form

of the

^queetion itsel-f ^.

Studoqta lD, advanced classos are usually aeked.

to

write conpooitloDs.

1f

^these

arc

aosignecl rxithout _advance preparatlon

ol

^aay

kind,

the

writing of

them

is a

group-four

actlvityt

co6-pletel.y communicative.

It ls surely

prefsrable

to

lead up

to

^coE_

positlon

through

a

series

of relatod

group-two

or -three aotlvltles.

Coueultlng our sca1e, wo

ni8ht

docide

to

begin the seriee

rtth

e

dictatioa

dealihg

with _the

contcnt

of the

eventual eooay

to

^bo

rrlttenr

then

to

oove on

to

anothor

diotatlon

on

the

6ane

aub-Ject but ono

in

whlch eentenco. are

left

incgapleter

to

^be

flll.ett

1cf. stevick, Art.9

of

^those type6. ^(8d6.) , for further discuseiou of questiona

\l

^4.

in by the student, before final-ly assigning the related compo6ltloD.

0r xe mlght prcfer to base tirc composibion on a text that ha6 be6n

readi and to prepare for it throu3h s graded aerj.es of questions of a progreesively more communicativc sort.

Perhap6 I have said enough to pcrmit u6 to _JutIlSe rhether or not the kind of manipuJ.ation-conmunication acale here ^deecribed

caE 6ervc effectively as a thooretical 6uidcline in our organization of c1a66e6 and textbooks. It scems to be a way of reconfirming, thrdugh a ncw loglcal approach, quits a few of our oetabliohed ldeae and convictions. On othcr points, however, it brings us to certain conclusj-ons that we may find upsetting, and therefore challenging.

From the point of view developed in this articlo, a typical

claeo would be seen aa made up of Eeveral cyclea of activities, tlth sach oycle related to the teaching of a correGponding eoaI1

uDlt of subJect matter. Within each cycle the acti'ritieo sould bo

8o alranged a6 to constitute a gradual progrosslon _from oanlpu].a-tlon to communication. The 6€rmo progroeeion would characterlze the whole _movement from elcmentary to advanced En6liah

couraoF-thou8h Ot the poiht ^where maDipulative activltleB dleappear

alto-Sother lt might be well to dtop thinklng of the rork aB toachln8 Engliah a6 a Becond. language.

One rcsull of the appllcatlon of thc ecale might be a blur-rin6 of the 6harp line that noy scparatee language coursea from

llterature courses. lle might bc encouraged to ^pu6h through 6ora

often to communication in ele elitary language courseE. We alght realj,ze tho ;r.rvete ^{v/e now} flequentty display ln trusting that our be6inners will ^somehow find adcquato occa6ion outside the clase for

u8in8 communicatively the etructures that we havo taught theB but

that they hdve never,eo used. j.n clase. ile mtght be helped to

realizo that ^we elmply oannot be surs that our atudents havs Eaatered a _81ven atructure until we have hoard them produce lt in a

con-nunicatLon situation free of aLl controls. ^We might even coBe to con6ent to thc Eupreme heresy of including in early litsrature

courseB a solld element of r,anipulation, eo that they could nako

a norc dlroct contrlbutio!. to tho Covefopment of lan6uage ek11la.

-.: ^,':

.l:i.".>'

?-E r..:.?1:'.?lr'{-il'l I ' .,-a

or

rEMPEnar.uRqgigl(

itt

^t

C1i.ff,ord

ir. hAtor

'.r:'.,

l$lP