Discourse Patterns in First Language Use at Hcme and Second Language Learning at School: an Ethnographic Approach

Interpretation / Ібб

Re-phrasing, requests for repetition, or acknowledgment of information
already given, confirmation moves etc. may similarly be expected from the
other speaker, or be felt necessary to produce. The structuring of the
interaction according to Ll discourse patterns, then, should facilitate
the learning of the L2 because it activates known learning strategies.

An Interlanguage approach would make language use at school more similar
to that of the home, in that in both settings the language-learner
children 'constantly need to express ideas which are beyond their
linguistic resources' (Ellis,1985:13), and to do so they use strategies
that are common to Ll and L2. It would also relieve teachers of some
pressure, as they are aware that their competence in Portuguese is
limited while at the same time they are regarded as model speakers, and
reduce the ambiguity of the classroom situation where everybody pretends
not to know each other's language.

Such an approach would be useful as a guideline for the grading of input
presented and of the corresponding competence in use expected: the
concern for grading would be not only in the selection of materials,
tasks and controlled practice, but also in the communicative demands made
on the learner gradually to incorporate the input into his developing
interlingual system, while at the same time making use of his cognitive
abilities already developed.

If the suggested alterations to the Texts are Indeed minor, the attitude
teachers must have in order to make them, or invent other communicative
situations, imply major changes in outlook. This is because their own
position towards Portuguese (its political ideology), and therefore
towards the code-communication dilemma, their roles as teachers and their
pedagogical beliefs are called in question. For, in the last instance,
'fluency involves the capacity to be able to put what one wants to say
into words with ease? (Faerch et al.,1983:143), and one communicates
effectively only when has something worth telling and is not denied the
opportunity of drawing on personal experience. The key issue then is how
teachers conceptualize the learner and value the out-of-school experience
of both children and community: it is not so much a question of syllabus

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