Varieties of Spoken English - Workbook [antikvár]

INTRODUCTIONVarieties of Spoken English is intended for advanced students who need to be able to understand the language as it is actually spoken in a variety of circumstances by a variety of people.The subject matter ranges from a light-hearted conversation about conjurors, to serious discussions, such as an extract from a seminar on Robert Owen. There are a few 'scripted' texts, including a short story, but the great majority are 'unscripted', that is the unrehearsed, spontaneous use of language by one, two or more people in different situations. No attempt has been made to restrict the language used, so the student may be confident that what he is hstening to is 'the real thing'. Two of the recordings were made 'on location', one being an interview between an optician and a patient having her eyes tested, the other being the commentary of a guide on board a launch saihng on the Thames. In some of the recordings there is a central speaker who is able to speak with authority on the subject under discussion: this is the case with the tapes deaUng with Robert Owen, Sheep-farmmg, Ants and Volcanoes. In others there is a kind of 'free-for-all' situation, where a group is simply using language as a form of social, one might say 'sociable', behaviour, and where one person's views or experiences are as good as another's: this is the case in the conversations about camels and a day in the country, for instance.The participants are as varied as the contents. First they vary as to number: in the short story and the guide's commentary, only one voice is heard; in the conversations there may be as few as two or as many as six. There are young and old, male and female, English, Scottish, American and Australian native speakers, and one or two who have learned English as a second language to near-perfection. There are teachers and students, close friends, and people who had not met prior to the recording session. There are fluent speakers and hesitant speakers, all with their own clearly identifiable speech habits. In the transcriptions, the identity of the speakers in each unit is given, together with a brief indication of the kind of English they use.The tapes and this workbook can be used either as an independent course, or in association with A Higher Course of English Study 1 by Ronald Mackin and David Carver, where similar topics are dealt with in a variety of written styles. The study of the two related courses presents to the student, in the most striking way, the main features of, and differences between, the spoken and the written forms of the language. A Higher Course of English Study 1 is described on the back cover of this book, and readings of the texts are available on 4 tapes. These are referred to as Tape A, in order to estabhsh the relationship between A Higher Course of English Study 1 and Varieties of Spoken English when the two courses are being used concurrently.The fourteen topics dealt with in Varieties of Spoken English correspond, unit by unit, with the fourteen chapters of A Higher Course of English Study. Each Unit of Varieties of Spoken English is divided into two parts: Part B, which is a recording of a discussion, a story, a seminar, etc., and Fart C, which consists of exercises which are mainly related to Part B, though in some cases to Part A also.Varieties of Spoken English proper consists of fourteen tapes, each containing Parts B and C of one unit, and running for approximately 35 minutes.This workbook is related to Parts B and C of the units, and contains exercises whichvii