Teaching focus for conventional use
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J.M. Lewis [1]
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[1] North Carolina State University
North Carolina State University
Township of Raleigh, Estados Unidos
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- Localización: ELT journal: An international journal for teachers of English to speakers of other languages, ISSN 0951-0893, Vol. 55, Nº 1, 2001, págs. 47-54
- Idioma: inglés
- Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
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Resumen
The skilful use of focus, or intonational prominence, to create meaning is essential for learners of English. To take full advantage of this resource, students must learn to perceive, produce, and predict how focus is used. The last of these areas - prediction - is usually taught with reference to word class and new/given information. This paper presents an alternative approach to predicting focus which appeals to functional and meaning regularities which do not depend on extensive written input, and are more easily applicable to normal conversation. Analysis and possible exercises for three regularities are presented: focus in answers to questions, the correction of misinformation, and focus in repeated questions. Appealing to these and other functional regularities will help in bridging the gap between classroom instruction and the conversational use of focus.
