Most language learning textbooks these days include a dialogue (or two) in each chapter, along with a vocabulary list, followed by some discussion of grammar. The dialogues are usually based on some assumed needs analysis of the learner, and focus on common scenarios language learners are likely to encounter, in the order in which learners are presumed to encounter them. For this reason, many books I've seen start with a 'Meeting at the airport' scene.
There's the typical greeting, followed by a brief introduction (simply one's name), and sometimes talk about luggage. Now while this all seems a reasonable way to start the book, I really don't like this kind of dialogue. In my experience, if someone's coming to pick me up at the airport, they're either family, friends or a business associate, all of whom would probably speak the same language as you. (Sometimes it's just the driver who may not speak the same language, but none of the dialogues I've seen cover things like 'Are you the driver?' or 'Did [insert name] send you?') One might argue that such lessons still incorporate elements of 'real world' interaction like greetings and introductions, but my point is, why the need for such a contrived environment?
During my first Assamese lesson, my first tutor had prepared a whole dialogue based on her own needs analysis for me - we had met the previous day to discuss the tutoring over tea. She said, we would go through the dialogue, memorise it and then look at some grammar points.
I have nothing against memorisation. I spend a lot of time memorising new vocabulary and set phrases. But I'm dead set against memorising dialogue, unless of course I'm in a play. For certain topics, like when I'm introducing where I'm from and talking about my family, the act of repetition naturally makes me memorise my little spiel. Anyway, the dialogue my tutor had prepared went exactly like this (in English):
(The situation assumes I'm walking into the office for research students in the linguistics department for the first time and meet someone sitting at her desk, who incidentally is my tutor.)
Me: Hello.
Tutor: I'm [tutor's name]. What is your name?
Me: My name is Amos [my tutor actually wrote my full name, but I argued that people there wouldn't be able to tell which was my first and last name]. Do you work here?
Tutor: No, I don't work in this department. I work in the ELT department.
Me: Ok.
Tutor: I teach in the ELT department and at present am doing my PhD. What do you do?
Me: I'm a research scholar. [...]
What followed was then a long description (not all of it correct) of what she thought I did, like saying 'I'm doing a PhD.' I had to stop the dialogue at that point and tell her that this wasn't what I wanted out of my language class.
For one thing, the scenario was just not something I was ever going to encounter. I'd already met the people in the office and our meeting was nothing like what she had written for me. Then there was the issue of having her write out what she assumed was my introduction, without getting the facts right first. I told her that I would actually like to compose my own introduction, and she could judge it to see if it was culturally and linguistically appropriate. Finally, the dialogue just didn't sound natural to me. I know there are are cross-cultural differences, but I've tried writing dialogue for plays in English, and it never sounds natural to me when I go back over what I've written.
Anyway, whatever it was, I explained to my tutor that I already had a long list of things I wanted to be able to express in Assamese, and a number of scenarios like catching an autorickshaw and paying for stuff at a shop that I really wanted to cover. It wasn't as if I was sitting in a class with 10 other people and had to follow a set syllabus - the advantage of having a private tutor is being able to dictate, within reasonable boundaries, what you want to learn and when you want to learn it. IF you know what it is you want to know. For me, having been in Nepal and having learnt a little bit of Nepali, I already had a good idea of the situations I wanted to be comfortable in in Assamese.
There's the typical greeting, followed by a brief introduction (simply one's name), and sometimes talk about luggage. Now while this all seems a reasonable way to start the book, I really don't like this kind of dialogue. In my experience, if someone's coming to pick me up at the airport, they're either family, friends or a business associate, all of whom would probably speak the same language as you. (Sometimes it's just the driver who may not speak the same language, but none of the dialogues I've seen cover things like 'Are you the driver?' or 'Did [insert name] send you?') One might argue that such lessons still incorporate elements of 'real world' interaction like greetings and introductions, but my point is, why the need for such a contrived environment?
During my first Assamese lesson, my first tutor had prepared a whole dialogue based on her own needs analysis for me - we had met the previous day to discuss the tutoring over tea. She said, we would go through the dialogue, memorise it and then look at some grammar points.
I have nothing against memorisation. I spend a lot of time memorising new vocabulary and set phrases. But I'm dead set against memorising dialogue, unless of course I'm in a play. For certain topics, like when I'm introducing where I'm from and talking about my family, the act of repetition naturally makes me memorise my little spiel. Anyway, the dialogue my tutor had prepared went exactly like this (in English):
(The situation assumes I'm walking into the office for research students in the linguistics department for the first time and meet someone sitting at her desk, who incidentally is my tutor.)
Me: Hello.
Tutor: I'm [tutor's name]. What is your name?
Me: My name is Amos [my tutor actually wrote my full name, but I argued that people there wouldn't be able to tell which was my first and last name]. Do you work here?
Tutor: No, I don't work in this department. I work in the ELT department.
Me: Ok.
Tutor: I teach in the ELT department and at present am doing my PhD. What do you do?
Me: I'm a research scholar. [...]
What followed was then a long description (not all of it correct) of what she thought I did, like saying 'I'm doing a PhD.' I had to stop the dialogue at that point and tell her that this wasn't what I wanted out of my language class.
For one thing, the scenario was just not something I was ever going to encounter. I'd already met the people in the office and our meeting was nothing like what she had written for me. Then there was the issue of having her write out what she assumed was my introduction, without getting the facts right first. I told her that I would actually like to compose my own introduction, and she could judge it to see if it was culturally and linguistically appropriate. Finally, the dialogue just didn't sound natural to me. I know there are are cross-cultural differences, but I've tried writing dialogue for plays in English, and it never sounds natural to me when I go back over what I've written.
Anyway, whatever it was, I explained to my tutor that I already had a long list of things I wanted to be able to express in Assamese, and a number of scenarios like catching an autorickshaw and paying for stuff at a shop that I really wanted to cover. It wasn't as if I was sitting in a class with 10 other people and had to follow a set syllabus - the advantage of having a private tutor is being able to dictate, within reasonable boundaries, what you want to learn and when you want to learn it. IF you know what it is you want to know. For me, having been in Nepal and having learnt a little bit of Nepali, I already had a good idea of the situations I wanted to be comfortable in in Assamese.
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