August, 2006 Vol. 55 No.5
We believe that for Japanese learners to make progress towards mastering English, several conditions and tools are necessary. One of the key tools is conversation strategies and a subset of that called control language. What do we mean by these two terms? Why are these tools necessary? To find out more, please read on. Today Mayuka and I are joined by Don Maybin of Shonan Institute of Technology. Don is one of the leading proponents of conversation strategies and the “control model” for Japanese learners of English. Don himself speaks several languages at the survival level and is fluent in 4 of them. He is also a featured speaker at the national JALT 2006 conference in Kitakyushu where he will speak on conversation strategies.
R: Don, last time Mayuka and I were talking with Mathew White from Nanzan University about World Englishes and the topic of conversation strategies came up so I instantly thought of you.
M: We really appreciate you taking the time to join us especially since we know how busy you are with your research and your writing.
D: My pleasure, thank you for asking me.
R: Well Don, jumping right in, for our readers how would you define control language.
D: Control Language and Dynamic Strategies are terms that I coined. The definition is kind of technical, but first there is a big umbrella called learning strategies or learner strategies and that comes directly from Rebecca Oxford’s SILL.
R: Did you say Phil? P H I L?
D: No, S I L L for Strategy Inventory for Language Learning. A surprisingly small component of that is what I call conversation strategies. Conversation strategies to me are any techniques that you use in a conversation to understand or to be better understood. Underneath that comes the Control model and Control language.
M: So first there is learner strategies, under that comes conversation strategies, and under that is control language, right?
D: Right, but control language is part of the control model. I divide the control model into three stages. When you don’t understand, you need to take some form of action.
R: What do you mean by take some form of action?
D: Well, first you need to stop the other person speaking. The second level is to understand what exactly is giving you trouble. If the problem is a word that you don’t understand, use “What does that mean?” If the speaker has an accent that you’re having trouble understanding, I would even go to the spelling level like, “How do you spell that?”
M: Ok, I think I understand those two levels. First, stop the speaker, and second use an appropriate phrase or sentence to address the problem. What is the last level?
D: The final phase in the control model is the hardest phase, and that is checking or confirming the idea that you may think you understand, “Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.” but in fact you need to make sure that you have gotten it, “Um, you mean ….” so saying it in your own words. Confirm using language, gestures, or even drawing on a piece of paper.
R: That is the hardest phase to do, right? All three phases require an active production stance and the third phase also requires the person to come up with their own original language.
D: Yes, but it is important because it gives a good idea of the level that the speaker is really at.
M: When you were talking about the three different levels, I was thinking about communication itself. I think that overall Japanese is a very vague language. Even between Japanese native speakers we have to figure out if we really understand what the speaker is saying in real time. For example, when I am talking with my Mum, I have this kind of difficulty: she just all of a sudden says “Went there.” in Japanese. And I am wondering: who?, where?, for what? So I have to wait until she starts talking about who and where…
D: With that example, you have the luxury of being a native speaker talking with a family member. You know that if you wait, you will probably plug in to what she means a little while later. But with a non-native speaker of the language, it is risky. I don’t think it works for most learners if they wait.
M: Well, one of my strategies for getting my English ability was to listen to native speakers speaking in English. I would pay attention to the last word of the sentence. When the person who was speaking wanted to check if I was listening and understanding, they would look at me. Even though I didn’t understand what they were saying, I didn’t tell them. I just repeated the last word as a question. For example, if they said, “I went to the market.” I would say “market?” and they would keep speaking and then look at me and I would say the last word that they just said. In this way, the conversation kept going on and on and on. I was not understanding what they were saying but still, I got a chance to listen to English!
D: That is an effective learning strategy especially when combined with conversation strategies.
R: What can teachers do to improve themselves Don?
D: Teachers who have recently studied a foreign language have a much better understanding of what their students are going through. When studying be critical. Is this beneficial? Would I use this in my own classes? Can I take this into the real world? If I can’t say yes to those questions I would think I have a crummy teacher and I would quit pretty soon. I have no tolerance now for that waste of time in a classroom.
R: I am with you on that one Don. I am also gung-ho on conversation strategies, especially for Japanese learners.
D: If students have the basic ability to clarify, to ask for repetition, to explain themselves, and to get the words they don’t know, teachers can do so much more in the classroom and make it more enjoyable for both students and the teacher. They are all strategies that you can train students to use.
M: When I am working with elementary school students the strategy they like best is “What’s nani nani in English?” For example, when they make a car they want to say car in English but they say kuruma kuruma. I have a doll that can teach English called Larry so I say;” What do you have to do?” And they say, “Let’s ask Larry. What’s kuruma in English?” Later, when I talk with their mothers they say my child loves to say, “What ‘s this in English?” They take it out of the classroom and use it at home. I love it!
M+R: Well Don, thank you for joining us today.
D: What did you say???? Just kidding!! Thank you both.
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