| Body | by Sara Li
The purpose of this activity is to introduce English language learners to the pragmatic knowledge that is necessary to wage an effective complaint. This activity was designed for a classroom of learners at intermediate-low to intermediate-high proficiency levels.
Learning Objectives:
Learners will be able to:
- Prove comprehension of audio texts through effective note taking, main point identification, and reconstruction of the texts.
- Listen to audio texts and identify the interlocutors, main ideas, and the four steps in complaint dialogs.
- Prove understanding of the severity of a complaint through analysis of pragmatic features including intensifiers, swear words, and upgraders.
Modes: Interpretive listening, Interpersonal Communication
Materials Needed: Audio Text 1 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV7SXmHq0Bk), Audio text 2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJQcxoXi5cg), Student Handout, ink pens in black, blue, red, orange, green, and yellow
Procedure:
- In small groups (no more than 5 members), learners brainstorm the characteristics of an effective verbal complaint. During this brainstorm, they should consider common words, common phrases, and other linguistic features including prosody (the rhythm and intonation of language).
- Next, learners verify their brainstorm by analyzing Audio Text 1. As they listen, they must take notes about and identify (1) the main problem; (2) the steps in turn taking that formed the complaint; (3) the steps in turn taking that formed the response to the complaint; (4) any changes in tone; and (5) the questions asked and the purpose behind those questions.
- In order to verify their notes, learners are given the dialog from Audio Text 1 in sentence strips that have been scrambled. They continue to work in small groups by using their notes to put the dialog back in order. They then verify that their dialog is in the correct order by listening to Audio Text 1 one more time.
- After that, learners listen to Audio Text 2 and repeat Step 2.
- As a class, learners briefly discuss what the differences are between the two dialogs (missing steps in developing the complaint, tone, use of swear words, emphasis, etc.).
- In order to ensure that all learners understand the pragmatic requirements of the two audio texts, they will then mark the transcripts of the two complaints by using the Student Handout. They will use (1) red ink to underline the start of the conversation; (2) orange ink to underline where the complainer states the problem; (3) yellow ink to underline where the complaint receiver clarifies the problem; (4) green ink to underline where the interlocutors make suggestions and take actions; (5) black ink to circle the similarities in both dialogs and draw stars to mark the differences; (6) red ink to circle the words or phrases that indicate how each interlocutor feels; and (7) blue ink to mark the place where the complainer restates/emphasizes his request or problem.
- As the learners work, the teacher should circulate through the room to provide feedback.
- To close this activity, learners participate in a class discussion in which they work together to decide which complaint sequence is more severe. They are to support this decision through analysis of tone, emphasis, swearwords, and the like. Teachers may find it beneficial to project some of the marked texts with a document camera during this discussion in order to help learners to justify their analyses with specific information from the text.
Notes: As a possible extension, teachers can have learners write or roleplay their own complaint scenarios in order to see if the students are able to emulate appropriate pragmatic behavior.
This activity can easily be adapted to lower or higher proficiency levels by adjusting the complexity of the audio texts. In this same vein, teachers may find that novice learners need to use their first language at times in order to analyze the discourse appropriately.
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