View Content #24281

From https://elt-resourceful.com

The new 2017 NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements deal with three modes of communication: interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational. Each of these is broken down into different areas for indicators. For example, for interpersonal communication, there are three different questions: How can I exchange information and ideas in conversations? How can I meet my needs or address situations in conversations? How can I express, react to, and support preferences and opinions in conversations?

These modes are a different way of thinking about language skills from some other traditional treatments of language learning as dealing with four skills: speaking, reading, writing, and listening. 

In this this recent blog post, Rachael Roberts talks about speaking. She writes, "First of all, we need to identify what exactly we mean by speaking. Brown and Yule (1983) distinguish between primarily interactional (conversation) and primarily transactional (transmitting information) functions of speaking. Jack Richards has added a third broad function- talk as performance- which would include such things as presentations and speeches." These first two functions correspond well to interpersonal communication, and the last corresponds well with the presentational mode.

Read her blog post for ideas to help identify different speaking functions and to build students' skills with them: https://elt-resourceful.com/2017/12/05/what-exactly-do-we-mean-by-speaking-skills/