Density and complexity of content
Brown et al (1984) derived the following principles of conceptual difficulty in listening on the basis of empirical investigation of interactive listening tasks:
Principle 1: Texts with fewer rather than more individuals and objects are likely to be easier.
Principle 2: Texts which involve individuals and objects which are clearly distinct from one another are likely to be easier.
Principle 3: Texts (particularly instructions and descriptions) which involve simple spatial relationships are likely to be easier.
Principle 4: Texts where the order of telling matches the order of events are likely to be easier.
Principle 5: Texts where each utterance requires relatively few inferences to relate back to the preceding text are likely to be easier.
Principle 6: Texts where the information is unambiguous, consistent and fits readily with information you already have are likely to be easier.
Reflection task 10
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In Section 5.1.6.2 we looked at how first-year French students coped with an interview with Catherine Clément, the Director of an association promoting cultural exchanges. Read through the extract of the interview below and using Brown's six principles , decide in what ways this interview might be considered 'complex' Interviewer: What are the aims of the Association Française pour l'Action Artistique? Catherine Clément: The initial aims of this association, which was set up in 1922 ... were quite specifically the expansion of French culture abroad. I'm deliberately emphasizing the word expansion because in 1922, that was how people thought, it was the big time of colonialism, it was the high point of the colonial empires of the Western countries, and not just France ... and that word expansion now is no longer relevant, because what happens now between countries at an international level goes by the grand term of 'reciprocity' ... which is completely different.. That was the time when we used to send our two or three theatre tours which those countries were supposed to accept as representing the very essence of France and things French ... of course, it's quite clear we're no longer there. We consider that all cultures are equal, each as rich as each other ... Click on Commentary for feedback |
