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TitleComplaint Questions
SourceCASLS Activity of the Week
Body

by Sara Li and Siri Sitthiwong, LTS Graduate Students

This activity is designed to increase the pragmatic awareness of English learners with intermediate-low to intermediate-high proficiency levels. In completing this activity, learners will gain awareness of the speech act of complaint in the form of a question.

Learning Objectives: Learners will be able to:

  • Identify the intended meaning of questions used by speakers in a variety of contexts
  • Analyze the characteristics of verbal and written complaints by noticing the speakers’ facial expressions, gestures, tone, and other pragmatic devices.
  • Apply the learned characteristics of complaints to appropriately make complaints to produce actions/changes in role plays.

Modes: Interpretive Reading, Interpersonal Communication, Presentational Writing

Materials Needed: Passages from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Excerpts from American Born Chinese, “What would you do?” clip (https://www.pinterest.com/pin/361132463850836835/sent/?sender=361132601278245562&invite_code=24691d4a64a14d5f9fe1406626fe3b2f) and transcript, worksheet, peer evaluation form

Procedure:

  1. To begin, the teacher provides learner groups (no more than four members each) with a different passage of text from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. These passages show different types of questions that indicate complaints: statements with rising intonation and questions marks, negative interrogative, and pure questions. The teams will find the questions and predict/explain the purpose of these questions.
  2. The learner teams will report what they found to the class. The learners will discuss the intended meaning of the speakers within the passage and come to a consensus regarding how to categorize the questions that were found. The teacher will embed instruction regarding the use of questions in order to exact complaints throughout this discussion.
  3. Learners return to their group to analyze excerpts from American Born Chinese, a graphic novel.  They will (1) identify the questions in the excerpts; (2) observe the characters’ facial expressions, gestures, and actions to determine/predict the purpose of the questions; (3) identify the devices/terms used to intensify the complaint questions; and (4) rank the intensity of the complaint questions by using a worksheet with a graphic organizer.
  4. Learner teams report their findings and explain their analyses to the class.
  5. Next, the teacher plays the clip (1:06-3:45) from the reality show “What would you do?” Learners take notes regarding facial expressions and gestures, devices/terms used to intensify complaint questions, and the purpose of each question posed. A script has been included with this activity for teacher reference.
  6. Learners rejoin their groups in order to compare their notes and categorize the questions into the three types discussed in class.
  7. Next, learner groups begin to apply the information that they have analyzed by writing scripts for short scenes related to social maltreatment. These scenes include a restaurant owner kicking a beggar out of the restaurant, a kid being bullied on the playground, an adult torturing an animal, and a blind woman being cheated out of change by a seller. As they write the script, learners must consider the following roles: the wrongdoer, the victim, and witnesses.
  8. Learners practice the script and focus on incorporating appropriate facial expressions, tone, and gestures.
  9. Learner groups present their scenes to the class. As they present, the classmates observing the performances evaluate the groups with the peer observation form. Simultaneously, the teacher takes notes to provide the class with global feedback.

Notes: A possible extension of this activity would be to provide the learners with different scenarios to create a non-scripted role play to be recorded and uploaded to a class website for another round of analysis in class. This second round of analysis should include attention to the social context of the situation at hand (the power dynamic between the individuals involved in the interaction, for example).

Publishdate2016-05-02 02:15:01