Attitudes to classroom conversation and casual chat have varied over the years. In the heyday of audiolingualism, one writer,
Louis Alexander, warned that the traditional conversation lesson is of no value at all if the student is not ready for it. The student must
first be trained to use patterns in carefully graded aural-oral drills. Only in this way will he finally learn to speak.The chat stage of the
lesson, if it occurred at all, was simply there as a curtain raiser to the main event – the controlled practice of sentence patterns. Until
recently, one London language school was still advising its students that the teacher and the student must not chat during the lesson.
They must only ask and answer the questions in the book. Chatting is a waste of time. Such a view sits uncomfortably with the finding
that conversation, i.e. casual talk that is primarily interpersonal, is by far the most common and the most widespread function of
speaking. Moreover, there is a school of thought that argues that, in L1 acquisition, the development of conversational skills precedes
the development of language itself. As Evelyn Hatch put it, language learning evolves out oflearning how to carry on conversations, i.e.
out of learning how to communicate. By extension, it has been argued that conversation in English as second or foreign language is not
the result of language learning, but it is the site where learning occurs. lt is also, of course, a fact that many language learners feel that
their most urgent need is to develop conversational competence, and they regularly choose conversation as their principal objective
when answering needs analysis surveys. For this reason, many language schools offer conversation classes as a way of
complementing more traditional, grammar-focused, classes. However, these offer a challenge to teachers and course designers since
it is difficult to plan or programme something as inherently unstructured and spontaneous as casual conversation. As one writer puts it,
genuine conversational interactions cannot be the outcome of planned lesson agendas, they have to emerge - and so, by definition,
cannot be planned. One way that teachers get round this is to organize conversation classes around a set of themes. Ideally, these
should be negotiated with the learners in advance, through the use of a questionnaire or by means of a consensus debate. Themerelated texts can be used to trigger conversation, either in open class or in groups. Or individual students take turns to make a short
presentation on the pre-selected topic, which is then followed by open discussion. Pre-planned lesson content can take the form of
teaching useful conversational formulas and routines, such as how to open and dose conversations, how to interrupt, change the
subject, ask for clarification, and so on.

THORNBURY, Scott. How to Teach Speaking. Cambridge: Longman, 2005, pp. 110-1. (Adapted).
In this excerpt, the author states that “By extension, it has been argued that conversation in English as second or foreign language is
not the result of language learning, but it is the site where learning occurs”.
After reading the passage as a whole, choose the best alternative that explains how to cope with this matter.

Question

Attitudes to classroom conversation and casual chat have varied over the years. In the heyday of audiolingualism, one writer,
Louis Alexander, warned that the traditional conversation lesson is of no value at all if the student is not ready for it. The student must
first be trained to use patterns in carefully graded aural-oral drills. Only in this way will he finally learn to speak.The chat stage of the
lesson, if it occurred at all, was simply there as a curtain raiser to the main event – the controlled practice of sentence patterns. Until
recently, one London language school was still advising its students that the teacher and the student must not chat during the lesson.
They must only ask and answer the questions in the book. Chatting is a waste of time. Such a view sits uncomfortably with the finding
that conversation, i.e. casual talk that is primarily interpersonal, is by far the most common and the most widespread function of
speaking. Moreover, there is a school of thought that argues that, in L1 acquisition, the development of conversational skills precedes
the development of language itself. As Evelyn Hatch put it, language learning evolves out oflearning how to carry on conversations, i.e.
out of learning how to communicate. By extension, it has been argued that conversation in English as second or foreign language is not
the result of language learning, but it is the site where learning occurs. lt is also, of course, a fact that many language learners feel that
their most urgent need is to develop conversational competence, and they regularly choose conversation as their principal objective
when answering needs analysis surveys. For this reason, many language schools offer conversation classes as a way of
complementing more traditional, grammar-focused, classes. However, these offer a challenge to teachers and course designers since
it is difficult to plan or programme something as inherently unstructured and spontaneous as casual conversation. As one writer puts it,
genuine conversational interactions cannot be the outcome of planned lesson agendas, they have to emerge - and so, by definition,
cannot be planned. One way that teachers get round this is to organize conversation classes around a set of themes. Ideally, these
should be negotiated with the learners in advance, through the use of a questionnaire or by means of a consensus debate. Themerelated texts can be used to trigger conversation, either in open class or in groups. Or individual students take turns to make a short
presentation on the pre-selected topic, which is then followed by open discussion. Pre-planned lesson content can take the form of
teaching useful conversational formulas and routines, such as how to open and dose conversations, how to interrupt, change the
subject, ask for clarification, and so on.

THORNBURY, Scott. How to Teach Speaking. Cambridge: Longman, 2005, pp. 110-1. (Adapted).
In this excerpt, the author states that “By extension, it has been argued that conversation in English as second or foreign language is
not the result of language learning, but it is the site where learning occurs”.
After reading the passage as a whole, choose the best alternative that explains how to cope with this matter.  Alternativa A: Using conversation is one of the great challenges in oral practice, because teachers do not know how to control the flow of
conversation and consequently teachers avoid at all costs conversation practices in their classrooms. Ou Alternativa B: Although it is agreed among students that conversation is an essential part of learning English as a foreign language, teaching
conversation demands a good deal of preparation as it is hard to control the flow of interaction. Ou Alternativa C: Although there is a great effort from the part of language English teachers and schools to promote the use of orality in class
interactions, there is a general agreement that orality only emerges from contact with natives.  Ou Alternativa D: It is widely accepted that conversation in foreign language classes is an important part of oral practice, but this perspective is not
completely regarded as important by teachers and by most language students. Ou Alternativa E: To achieve oral fluency in English it is not enough to learn language as it was thought before; nowadays things have changed
considerably and no-one else believes that language is solely structure.

Qconcursos · Accepted Answer

Alternativa [B] Although it is agreed among students that conversation is an essential part of learning English as a foreign language, teaching
conversation demands a good deal of preparation as it is hard to control the flow of interaction. Gabarito: BFundamento decisivo: A decisão estava em reconhecer, no trecho, a combinação entre a valorização da conversação pelos aprendizes e a dificuldade de planejar a interação espontânea; por isso, a alternativa correta é a que reúne esses dois pontos.Tema central: ensino de conversaçãoAnálise das alternativasAErradaEstá errada porque transforma a dificuldade de planejar conversa em suposta recusa dos professores em usar conversação. O texto não diz que eles evitam essa prática “a todo custo”; ao contrário, afirma que escolas oferecem conversation classes e descreve maneiras concretas de organizá-las.BCertaA letra B sintetiza com fidelidade o problema pedagógico exposto no excerto. O texto sustenta, de um lado, que muitos aprendizes consideram urgente desenvolver competência conversacional e escolhem conversação como objetivo principal; de outro, afirma que aulas de conversação desafiam professores e planejadores porque a interação casual é inerentemente pouco estruturada, espontânea e difícil de controlar/programar. O próprio trecho também apresenta formas de organizar esse trabalho, como seleção prévia de temas e uso de textos-gatilho.CErradaEstá errada porque introduz uma condição que não aparece no excerto: a ideia de que a oralidade só emerge do contato com falantes nativos. Essa informação é inventada em relação ao texto e, por isso, não pode sustentar a resposta.DErradaEstá errada porque contradiz diretamente o trecho sobre os learners. O texto afirma que muitos aprendizes sentem necessidade urgente de desenvolver competência conversacional e escolhem conversação como objetivo principal, e não que essa perspectiva seja pouco importante para a maioria dos alunos.EErradaEstá errada porque faz generalizações absolutas que o texto não autoriza. O excerto contrapõe uma visão antiga a uma perspectiva posterior sobre o papel da conversação, mas não afirma que “ninguém mais” acredita em língua como estrutura nem apresenta esse consenso total.Pegadinha da questãoA confusão explorada foi tomar a afirmação de que a conversação espontânea é difícil de planejar como se isso significasse rejeição da conversação em aula; o texto diz o contrário, pois reconhece sua importância e discute como organizá-la.Dica para questões semelhantesEm questões de síntese, procure a alternativa que reúna os dois eixos centrais do texto, e descarte as que ficam com apenas um deles.Desconfie de alternativas com absolutos como “a todo custo”, “general agreement” e “no-one else” quando o texto fala apenas em tendências, correntes ou muitos aprendizes.Se o texto apresenta dificuldade pedagógica e depois oferece formas de enfrentá-la, a conclusão correta é de planejamento desafiador, não de impossibilidade ou abandono da prática.

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Attitudes to classroom conversation and casual chat ...

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