Conversation: From Description to Pedagogy

This book provides a comprehensive account of conversation in English and its implications for the ELT classroom. After a general overview and definition of conversation (Chapter 1) it provides the reader with a systematic description of conversational English, from the vocabulary of conversation (Chapter 2), to grammar (Chapter 3), discourse (Chapter 4) and genre (Chapter 5). This is followed by an informed account of the development of conversation in both first and second language acquisition (Chapters 6 and 7). It then describes a range of methodological approaches, procedures and techniques for teaching conversation in English (Chapter 8). On this basis, an integrated approach to the teaching of conversation is provided, along with practical classroom applications (Chapter 9).