In this paper, it is argued that task-based language teaching is a suitable teaching method for explaining the English grammar of reported speech to foreign learners. Reported Speech is used when a sentence is reconstructed. However, the reported sentence has some differences from the original sentence, for example the tense and the pronouns. Cognitive Grammar aspects, integrated into TBLT, help learners understand the meaning behind the tense backshift and the other differences and allows them to apply this form correctly.
Table of contents
1. Introduction
2. Reported Speech
2.1. Form
2.2. Meaning
3. Task-Based Language Learning
3.1. Development and theory
3.2. Definition of task
3.3. The role of grammar
3.4. Willi’s task cycle
4. Didactic Reduction
5. Didactic Principles
6. Lesson Plan
7. Bibliography
Appendix 1: Sample worksheet
Appendix 2: Homework
1. Introduction
Cognitive Grammar places special emphasis on meaning and differs greatly from the familiar teaching of grammatical structures, which often focuses exclusively on form (cf. Niemeier 2017: 61). For instructional purposes, Cognitive Grammar can be used effectively because learners can decide by themselves how to express something and are not forced to use a particular form (cf. Niemeier 2017: 62). By incorporating the semantic aspect, the learner is led by the teacher to recognize why a grammatical structure is formed in a certain way and what the meaning behind it is (cf. Niemeier 2017: 62). According to cognitive grammar, the grammar depends on the context, it can be combined with task-based language teaching, which focuses on establishing a communicative situation (cf. Niemeier 2017: 62).
Therefore, it is argued in this paper that task-based language teaching is a suitable teaching method for explaining the English grammar of reported speech to foreign learners. Reported Speech is used when a sentence is reconstructed. However, the reported sentence has some differences from the original sentence, for example the tense and the pronouns. Cognitive Grammar aspects, integrated into TBLT, help learners understand the meaning behind the tense backshift and the other differences and allows them to apply this form correctly.
Regarding the structure of this paper, the second chapter deals with the linguistic theory and explains the form and meaning of reported speech. The third chapter explains the didactic theory of task-based language learning. Firstly, it deals with the development and principles of the theory and then various definitions of a task are described. Subsequently, the role of grammar in TBLT and Willis’s task cycle are explained. The next chapter is about didactically reducing the linguistic theory so that it becomes comprehensible for students in a ninth grade level. The last chapter deals with didactic principles, exploring the previous knowledge of the target group and explaining the sequence of lessons that contains the sample lesson. Then the curricular relevance of the topic is explained and possible teaching methods are mentioned. At the end of the term paper, a sample of a lesson plan is added.
2. Reported Speech
To understand the use of reported speech, several factors need to be explained. Therefore, this chapter deals firstly with formal aspects and grammatical rules and secondly with meaningful aspects which facilitate the understanding of the rules.
2.1. Form
In English it is possible to directly reproduce a statement at a later point in time by quoting the original speaker, which would thus take the form of “Jeff said ‘I am tired’” (Langacker 1991: 254). When a person wants to report people's thoughts or statements, they often use their own words by forming sentences with a reporting clause and a reported clause (cf. Hewings 2013: 64), for instance, "He said that the weather was very beautiful". There are some possible reporting verbs, such as "say", "think", "mention" and "agree", after which one uses "that", but it can be omitted if the sentence is in informal speech (cf. Hewings 2013: 66). After some reporting verbs, such as "tell", "ask", "order" and "advice", a personal pronoun and "to" is used (cf. Vince & Sunderland 2003: 98), for instance in "He told me to shut the door". If the exact wording is important to the speaker, he can use a quotation with a reporting clause, either before, in the middle or at the end of the quotation (cf. Hewings 2013: 64), "The weather is very beautiful", he said to me.
In most text books a rule called “backshifting” (Larsen-Freeman & Celce-Murcia 2016: 732) or “sequence-of-tenses rule” (Larsen-Freeman & Celce-Murcia 2016: 732) is described, according to which the tense in the reported clause is determined by the tense in the reporting clause (cf. Larsen-Freeman & Celce-Murcia 2016: 732). Therefore, the verb in the reported clause has to "backshift" (Larsen-Freeman & Celce-Murcia 2016: 732), but only if the verb in the reporting clause is in the past tense (cf. Larsen-Freeman & Celce-Murcia 2016: 732), e.g. "I am hungry" changes to "He said he was hungry". Additionally, pronouns in the original statement change from the first person, such as "I" or "we" to the third person "he", "she" or "they", "tomorrow" changes to "the next day" and "yesterday" to "the day before", as there is a change in perspective and a shift in time (cf. Larsen-Freeman & Celce-Murcia 2016: 733-734). Adverbs of place also change, if the reported statement was expressed in a place other than the report, "here" changes to "there" (cf. Larsen-Freeman & Celce-Murcia 2016: 736).
If the situation reported is from the perspective of the current speaker in the past, the past tense in the form of simple past or past continuous is used (cf. Hewings 2013: 70), "Peter said that he did not want to go with me" or "Harry said that he was searching for his glasses". If the situation to be reported was already in the original utterance in the past, the past perfect is usually used for the report (cf. Hewings 2013: 70)., to demonstrate "I saw him on the bus" changes to "He said that he had seen him on the bus" and "We have found the book" changes to "They said that they had found the book". If the reported situation “is a permanent / habitual situation” (Hewings 2013: 70), or is still relevant at the time of reporting and if the verb of the reporting clause is in the present, the simple present or present perfect is used (cf. Hewings 2013: 70), e.g. “US scientists claim that they have developed a new vaccine against malaria.” (Hewings 2013: 70). If the verb of the reporting clause is in the past tense, one can use the following tenses in the reported clause; the present, past and also present perfect and past perfect (cf. Hewings 2013: 70).
When reporting a situation in the past, the verb of the reporting clause is usually in the past tense, however, if the situation is still relevant at the time of the reported utterance, one can use the present tense, e.g. if news is reported or if one does not know the reported information is true (cf. Hewings 2013: 70). For reported statements with modal auxiliaries, the modal verb changes if there is a past form of the modal ("will becomes would", "can becomes could" and "may becomes might") and if the reporting verb is in the past tense (cf. Vince & Sunderland 2003: 97). However, there are more rules regarding reported speech, e.g. reporting questions, conditional sentences or negative sentences, but these are not relevant for the further course and would go beyond the scope of the paper.
2.2. Meaning
In order to understand or explain the form and meaning of the reported speech, a basic understanding of tense is required, as tense refers to time in a grammatical way (cf. Niemeier 2011: 29). As humans, we are only capable of describing situations in the past by recalling them, which does not exclude that these situations can be real (cf. Niemeier 2011: 29). Niemeier describes that in a Cognitive Grammar perspective for tense, there are always three components involved: First, “speech time” (Niemeier 2011: 31) refers to the time of the actual utterance, which consequently is always in the present (cf. Niemeier 2011: 31). Second, “relevance time” (Niemeier 2011: 31), which refers to when the speaker considers the utterance as relevant and lastly, “situation time” (Niemeier 2011: 31), which refers to at what time the situation took place and which can be at the same time as relevance time (cf. Niemeier 2011: 31). On the other hand, tense does not primarily set events on a timeline, but allows the speaker to set a period of relevance to his utterance (cf. Niemeier 2011: 32).
According to Radden and Dirven, the present tense sets a state or process at the same time of speech time, while past tense does so at a time before speech time (cf. Niemeier 2011: 32-33). The past tense, which is used in reported speech, involves in contrast to the present tense, which determines events at the exact moment of the utterance; a temporal distance of the speaker to the event (cf. Niemeier 2017: 93), therefore, setting a situation “at a time earlier than speech time” (Niemeier 2011: 33).
Langacker (cf. 1991: 253) argues against the use of the sequence-of-tenses rule, since it does not agree with the ideas of Cognitive Grammar and the semantic aspect is neglected. He states that this rule can be disproved because e.g. in reported speech one can choose different forms, all of which have different meanings (cf. Langacker 1991: 253).
On closer examination of the two reported speech statements “Jeff said he is tired” (Langacker 1991: 253) and “Jeff said he was tired” (Langacker 1991: 253) one notices that there are fundamental differences (cf. Langacker 1991: 253). Using the first sentence, the “actual speaker” (Langacker 1991: 253) expresses that the described state of the “surrogate speaker” (Langacker 1991: 253) Jeff lasted for a period of time, including the moment of the reported statement (cf. Langacker 1991: 253). However, the second sentence means that Jeff was in that state only at the time of the utterance in the past (cf. Langacker 1991: 253). As the speakers have different viewpoints, the actual speaker, to refer to the surrogate speaker, has to use the pronoun "he" instead of the pronoun "I", as the surrogate speaker is from his point of view in the third person (cf. Langacker 1991: 254).
Langacker (cf. 1991: 253-254) explains that the surrogate and the actual speaker each have a different “conception of reality” (Langacker 1991: 253) which includes the “actual ground” (Langacker 1991: 253) and the "surrogate ground" (Langacker 1991: 253). Consequently, by using the reported speech it is the conception of the actual speaker that the state of the surrogate speaker was part of his own conception of reality (cf. Langacker 1991: 254). Since the condition of the surrogate speaker from the point of view of the actual speech event (ground) belongs to the past; the past tense is therefore used in “Jeff said he was tired” (cf. Langacker 1991: 254-255). In the sentence “Jeff is tired”, on the other hand, the focus is on the continuation of the state to the actual ground, if the actual speaker is correct in his assumption, this form can be used (cf. Langacker 1991: 255).
If one transfers Niemeier's model to reported speech, in the reported sentence "Jeff said he was tired", the speech time is in the present. The situation time is in the past, as the actual speaker serves as a deictic center and because Jeff was in that state at an earlier point in time. The relevance time for the actual speaker is the past. Although, in the previous discussion of the sentence "Jeff said he is tired", the relevance time would be more difficult to determine.
3. Task-Based Language Learning
This chapter deals with the didactic theory of task-based language learning. Firstly, the development and principles of the theory are explained. Then, various definitions of a task are described. Lastly, the role of grammar in TBLT and Willis’s task cycle are explained.
3.1. Development and theory
The Presentation-Practice-Produce approach which dominated the field of language learning in the mid-twentieth century has been heavily criticized over the years because the learner is expected to obtain a normal language use only through the isolated practice of form, which was refuted by studies that showed that language learning takes place through a communicative use of language in social interactions (cf. Van den Branden, Bygate & Norris 2009: 3-4). Subsequently, the method of Communicative Language Teaching which gives the learners more autonomy and involves communicative situations that the learners would encounter in the real world was developed, but was only included in the long-established methodology by most of the teachers (cf. Van den Branden, Bygate & Norris 2009: 4- 5).
The result was the emergence of Task-Based Language Learning, which defined communication as opposed to CLT as a fundamental element of language learning and teaching, and focused more on autonomy and interaction of learners and meaning (cf. Van den Branden, Bygate & Norris 2009: 5). A significant difference between CLT and TBLT is that TBLT, „highlights the idea of topically structured communication and not just of communication as such” (Niemeier 2017: 23). In TBL, tasks are of special importance, since one has to learn the language and use it in everyday life in order to be able to perform real world tasks; TBL uses meaningful pedagogic tasks to prepare learners for real-life activities (Van den Branden, Bygate & Norris 2009: 6-7). In TBL, there is no fixed outcome of a task and there is a lot of interaction between the learners and the teacher (cf. Keßler & Plesser 2011: 162). One advantage of TBL is that learners have a free and authentic language use and can use linguistic forms depending on their language level without being afraid of misusing a particular linguistic form (cf. Keßler & Plesser 2011: 162). In addition, own ideas of the learners are included (cf. Keßler & Plesser 2011: 162). Since the language is used in the same way as in the real world, and past experiences of the learners are also included, thus the tasks motivate the learner (cf. Richard & Rodgers 2001: 229). The teacher must find and structure appropriate tasks for the learning group that relate to communication in the real world in order to be pedagogically valuable (cf. Niemeier 2017: 24).
3.2. Definition of task
The definition of a task depends on the perspective of the scholar (cf. Kumaravadivelu 1993: 70). Bygate, Skehan & Swain (cf. 2001: 11) give a basic definition, whereby a task is an activity in which the learner has to use language to achieve an objective, with a special focus on the conveyance of meaning. Furthermore, the outcome of the task is particularly important (cf. Willis 1996: 24), as it determines whether the task was successful; if the outcome focuses on meaning, it is successful, but if it only consists of a performance of linguistic ability, it is unsuccessful (cf. Ellis 2003: 5). The task should take place in a communicative context and not just involve the use of grammatically correct forms (cf. Willis 1996: 24). The language use in tasks can be the same as in situations in the real world or may include unreal language activity, but also in this case the type of language use is the same or similar to that in real word situations and communication (cf. Ellis 2003: 10).
There is a distinction between a task and an exercise. In an exercise, the learners only have to use a particular correct grammatical or linguistic form, there is no communicative purpose of the activity and no relationship to real world situations (cf. Ellis 2003: 3). Furthermore, there are so-called real-world or target tasks and pedagogic tasks. These target tasks are real world activities that are necessary for a normal everyday life using the newly learned language and not classroom activities (cf. Long 2015: 6). This type includes, for example, having a conversation with colleagues at work or helping children with their homework (cf. Long 2015: 6). Thus, pedagogic tasks take place in an educational context; they are activities with clear instructions performed in the classroom (cf. Long 2015: 6), in which the learner uses his linguistic skills to make meaningful utterances, whereby the focus should not be exclusively on form (cf. Nunan 2004: 4).
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