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setting, the channel we are using to communicate
by, and the type of communication (genre) which
we are involved with. If we want to give people
facts (or purpose) in a lecture theatre (setting)
through a microphone (channel) we will probably
use a lecture genre with its typical patterns of
rhetoric and organization, and this genre will de-
termine the style of the language we use. The
whole event will be different from how we might
transmit the same information to a friend in an in-
formal conversation. This in turn would be dif-
ferent from the kind of language we might use
when writing the same information in a particular
magazine genre: when exchanging e-mails on the
subject with a close colleague our use of language
will almost certainly be very different again.[3]
In each of above cases, the writer or spe-
aker will operate at a different level of formality.
We can characterize this as a level of intimacy,
where the more distant a speaker or writer feels
themselves to be from their audience, or the more
tentative they feel about their message, the gre-
ater will be their use of formal grammar and le-
xis. When people talk about spoken and written
grammar, therefore one of the differences they
are sometimes describing is between ‘distance’
and ‘closeness’.
A feeling of distance will make the use of
well-formed sentence in writing a priority. It will
suggest the use of full forms and written equiva-
lencies in spoken communication.
Closeness, on the other hand, leads to
spontaneity so that in conversation the occurrence
of ellipsis, non-clausal sentence, tags, hesitators
etc. is more common.
Distance and closeness are not the same as
writing and
speaking, however.
People sometimes
write ‘closely’ in media such as postcards, e –
mails, and notes left around the house. They can
speak more ‘distantly’ in speeches, formal inter-
views, and prescribed ceremonies. It may, there-
fore, be useful to think of language production as
being more ‘writing-like’ or more “speaking-li-
ke’. Thus essays, formal articles, reports, and so-
me novels, are very distant and ‘writing-like’
whereas some writing such as particular maga-
zine articles, fiction, advertising and, especially,
e-mail writing is much closer and more ‘speaking
–like’
In order to speak and write at different le-
vels of intimacy students need practice in diffe-
rent genres and styles so that as their level incre-
ases they can vary the grammar, functions, and
lexis that they use. It is vital, therefore, that if the
coursebook does not offer a satisfactory range of
such genre-based activities, we should supply it
ourselves.
Interacting with an audience
Part of our speaking proficiency depends
upon our ability to
speak differentially,
depending
upon our audience, and upon the way absorb their
reaction and respond to it in some way or other.
Part of our writing ability depends upon our
ability to change our style and structure
to suit the
person or people we are writing for.
Where people are giving formal ‘writing-
like’ lectures, they are likely to adapt the way
they are speaking and the
words they are using on
the basis of audience reaction; just as good actors,
for example, are expert a riding a laugh, or chan-
ging their pace to suit public conditions, so good
presenters, salespeople, and politicians keep their
ears and eyes open to see how their words are go-
ing down and speak accordingly. Writers engaged
in an e-mail correspondence modify subsequent
communications on the basis of the reaction of
the people they are communicating with. Novelis-
ts and playwrights at a conscious or subconscious
level identify a prototypical audience to write for.
In informal spontaneous conversations we are
constantly alert for the reactions of the people we
are interacting with so that we make our commu-
nication as informative as required, amending it
depending on how the other participants in the
interaction behave.
Dealing with difficulty
When speakers or writers of their own or of
a foreign language do not know a word or just
cannot remember it, they may employ some or all
of the following strategies to
resolve the difficulty
they are encountering:
Improvising: speakers sometimes try any
word or phrase that they can come up with in the
hope that it is about right. Such improvisations
sometimes work, but they can also obscure me-
aning
Discarding: when speakers simply cannot
find words for what to say, they may discard the
thought that they cannot put into words.
Foreignising: when operating in a foreign
language, speakers (and writers) sometimes cho-
ose a word in a language they know well(such as
their first language) and ‘foreiginise’ it in the ho-
pe that it will be equivalent to the meaning they
wish to express in the foreign language.
Paraphrasing: speakers sometimes paraph-
rase, talking about something
for cleaning the
teeth if they do not know the word toothbrush, or
saying that they are
not happy with somebody
when they want to say that they are really fed up.