Artificial didactics and natural environment
Any learning process will be effective if a learner aspires not towards quantitative accumulation of words but to the quality in mastering a language which is speech dynamics. This is not a slip of my tongue influenced by such science as aerodynamics.
Speech dynamics or fluency does not depend only on the volume of your vocabulary, it depends on your ability to use a limited number of words adequately and promptly in many situations and your ability to describe your intention.
The greater part of your words which are really worth memorizing should be verbs in several structures rather than names of different objects.
Only verbs can help a learner to acquire this ability in speech dynamics because verbs imply actions and activities which are inherently dynamic.
All speech patterns and interactive models are based on a limited number of verbs which should be learned to perfection in order to be able to use them automatically. As for objects – you can find them in any dictionary in case you really need them. If you have no time to look up the dictionary for the name of an object you can describe it with a limited number of verbs if you learned them perfectly.
During my classes for cabin attendants they often asked me how this or that meal should be named in English but I always tried to explain to them that it is better to describe this meal with the help of verbs like fry – fried, boil – boiled, stew-stewed etc rather than try to find an exact term.
Well, if you do not know how to translate the Russian meal name “teftely” you can explain to passengers that these are “Meat balls stuffed with rice and stewed”, that will be quite understandable for anyone.
If you always have a limited number of verbs at your disposal you will be able to describe any situation. It is always possible to specify an object either by description, or by gestures, or by a drawing or as the last resort by pressing the button in your electronic dictionary (if you have one).
Many electronic dictionaries now even offer you ready phrases from many languages but I do not think that this is a very reliable way for speech exchange because one can never foresee a ready answer and adequate reaction you really need or understand.
Speech exchange depends on verbs because they create and change any situation.
Therefore all my didactic materials are based on a limited number of verbs used in different structures and situational response – question – response exchanges which I call speech patterns and interactive models.
Actually all these are based on a traditional method of SUBSTITUTION lexical drills but the only difference is that they should be tailored to individual groups or individual persons so that they could accept them as real life situation and not only dull drills for didactic purposes.
There’s the rub for any instructor and trainer, it’s a real headache because without didactic methods you will never be able to instruct properly and train efficiently.
On the one hand an instructor should avoid dull and insipid dialogues which are really galore in many modern English file textbooks but on the other hand make all these speech exchanges as instructive and useful as possible in order to develop speech dynamics in your students.
Sometimes you cannot use only one verb in all possible patterns because a language is not mathematics and, for example, if I ask a question like “Have you found your wallet yet?” but my interlocutor is still in search of his wallet he cannot use “find” with ING but should use “look for” in an answer: “I am still looking for it”.
These cases require an additional interpretation from an instructor but any problem can be solved if you foresee it.
Well, anyway, any teaching or instructing process requires some didactics and if it is artificial we should try to make it artful by combining with real life situations and adequate structures with very thoroughly chosen recurrent verbs which are conducive to acquisition of speech dynamics.
I will summarize all this in my article “Speech patterns and interactive models”. I have already published it in Russian.
Instructor/trainer Alexander Khodovets