Transactional and Interactional English Content

BRIEF REPORT ONENCOUNTERED LANGUAGE PROBLEMS

       PHONOLOGICAL PROBLEMS:

       Incorrect pronunciation of vowels

       Sometimes I use the ones from Spanish language, but our pronunciation was pretty clear, confident and fluent; we were able to understand one to each other.

       LEXICAL PROBLEMS:

       Unnecessary repetitions.

       I used several times the pronoun they and from, but it was like taking time to think, like I was trying to find the correct words.

      Hesitations

      Too much uh. I think we used these hesitations to think ahead, to form the ideas, to use the appropriated vocabulary, according to the aspects of teaching we were talking about, but they are natural, in any language, unless speech is previously rehearsed or prepared.

     GRAMMATICAL PROBLEMS:

      Reinforcing or correcting an adjective.

     “It`s more easy, it`s easier”. With this expression, one is reflecting at the same times one is speaking, that if it is correct la first option, or should I say it with the second option.  

      Incorrect use of the verb to be in the past tense, third person

      I asked “Were your classroom too big?” Instead of: Was your classroom too big?. I did this mistake because I was going to ask something else.

       Lack of cohesion items.

       In the whole conversation, we followed an informal style, so we didn`t pay too much attention on the cohesion items, even when it was coherent, it made sense.

      INTERACTIONAL PROBLEMS:

       I felt that I took the control of the conversation.

       I asked and answered a little more than Mariana; I wished it would be more equal, but in general, it was a relaxed, nice and informal conversation.

      COMMUNICATIVE PROBLEMS:

       Repetition of the name of Mariana at the end of the questions

     

       I overused the name of Mariana, to seek for an answer. I was not sure if she listened to my questions, and sometimes I asked questions like she was still teaching, because I got confused about Mariana`s classes, and her answers were ambiguous, even when she mentioned since the beginning that she stopped teaching.

EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES TO SOLVE PROBLEMS

      I have to make an effort to improve my pronunciation with vowels; using the tools we can easily find on the internet. There are several sites where we can practice pronunciation and intonation, from different countries that speak English. Also, when we watch television or movies in English we can learn new vocabulary and expressions, even jargon.

      I just found out that, nowadays there are some channels in the television, in the U.S.A. that have subtitles in English and speaking English, it is amazing that they are narrating a game and the words are instantaneously appearing in the screen. I firmly believe that is an excellent choice to learn pronunciation along with vocabulary in an interesting way, either news, sports, entertainment, etc., according to any style.