Analysis of errors and oral interaction as the basis for a proposal didactic in the conversation classroom. First results

Abstract

The aims of this paper are two-fold. Firstly, to describe the preliminary results of linguistic errors and sociolinguistic specificity found in an oral corpus composed by 20 dyadic face-to-face Spanish conversations. Forty fourth-year undergraduate Spanish Foreign Language (SFL) students from four Taiwanese universities participated in 5-minuts of conversation. The conversations were audio taped and transcribed. The preliminary results show that the communicative competence of fourth year students is influenced by significant linguistic errors and relevant difficulties in the oral interaction due to their lack of knowledge in the areas of turn talking, interruptions and listener responses. The second objective of this research is to suggest the basis for a methodological approach to the development of conversation skills. In sum, the acquisition of communicative competence in the target language should result from a dual methodological approach that combines explicit teaching of linguistics competence in context with an emphasis in oral interaction through direct approach.