Coping with limited language

Introduction
Do you wear spectacles or contact lenses for reading? How does the text appear if you are not
wearing your spectacles or lenses? Its foggy, cloudy, and unclear because your eyes cannot
focus on the text. Its very difficult to extract meaning from the blur which you can see. Its the
same if you are losing your hearing. You cannot hear details of sounds because your ears are out
of focus.
You have good eyes and good ears? Congratulations! You are very lucky! But can you see in the
dark? Can you hear clearly in a noisy environment? If our perception is poor; if the text or the
sounds are out of focus, it is difficult to understand what is written or what people are saying.
But isnt this the same for our students? With their imperfect knowledge of English, dont reading
texts become a blur? Dont recordings of speech become an indistinct stream of meaningless
mumbles?

Coping
If we cannot see or hear clearly, do we give up in our attempt to comprehend? No! We use
strategies to make intelligent guesses. We fill the gaps in our comprehension by making intelligent
guesses to bridge the gaps in what we can actually perceive.
But what are these coping strategies? How do we understand the parts which we cant see or cant
hear? How do we bridge the gaps in our understanding? How do we make intelligent guesses?
1

Use what you CAN understand.

Think about the topic of the text. What would be a logical filler for the gap?

Look at the pictures around the text.

Think about the context of the text. Is it a novel, a magazine, a poster, an encyclopaedia or a
set of cooking instructions on a can of vegetables? Are you listening to a child, a pensioner, a
radio phone-in or an airport announcement?

Think about the writer or speaker. What might you expect them to say?

Look at the grammar of the sentence. What shape is the gap? Is it a noun, a verb, an
adjective or something else?

Can you understand any part of the gap? Does it look like, or sound like any other word you
know in English or another language?

Author: Nick Dawson

Pearson

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Coping with limited language

These strategies may or may not generate the perfect filler for the gap in your understanding. The
strategies may generate a number of different ideas. You will attempt to fill the gap with each idea
until you find one which fits the shape of the space.
Im sure you know of a famous posting toy for young children. The child has a post box with
square, circular, triangular or flat holes. The child also has a collection of play bricks which are
square, circular, triangular or flat. The game is to post the bricks into the correct holes in the post
box. The process of understanding unknown words is an extended version of this posting game.
We all use these strategies when trying to read in dim light or trying to listen in a noisy factory or
discothque. But we use these strategies unconsciously. We dont know that we are using them so
we cant expect our students to be able to transfer these skills to foreign language comprehension.

Understanding at different language levels

If you know nothing of the foreign language, it is equivalent to being totally blind or totally deaf.

But if you know some high frequency grammatical words and can recognise punctuation marks,
youll be able to understand the structure of the sentence.
Ifyouknow

ofthe

is

tobeing

it

or

If you know some high frequency nouns, verbs and adjectives, youll be able to understand more.
Ifyouknow

nothing

ofthe foreign language,

being

itis

to

or

If you can recognise some prefixes and suffixes, youll be able to make better guesses of the
unknown words.
Ifyouknow
being

nothing

ofthe foreign language,

ly

Author: Nick Dawson

Pearson

or

ly

itis

equi

to

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Coping with limited language

If the teacher has pre-taught some key content words connected with the topic, more is revealed in
your reading.
Ifyouknow

nothing

being

ly

ofthe foreign
blind

language,

or

ly

itis

equi

to

deaf.

With a little more knowledge, we may be left with just one empty space.
Ifyouknow
being

nothing

totally

blind

ofthe foreign language,

or

totally

itis

equi

to

deaf.

Lets look at that unclear space with more care. The equi part suggests a meaning such as the
same as or equal to. If we look at the grammar, is the missing word a noun, verb or adjective? The
beginning of the phrase, it is equi

would allow us to think the missing word could be a

noun, an -ing verb, or an adjective. But if we look at the complete phrase, it is equi

to

being, we can see it can only be an adjective. So now we have an idea of the meaning and we
know the word class.
Lets go back to the whole sentence. If you know nothing of the foreign language, it is equi
to being totally blind or totally deaf. Which meaning is required for the whole sentence to be logical?
Clearly, it must be equal to.
Teaching implications
If we look at the steps we have taken towards unlocking the meaning of this sentence, we can see
what teachers need to do to help their students understand.
1

Teach high frequency grammatical words and punctuation.

Teach high frequency nouns, verbs and adjectives.

Teach students to recognise word classes (the grammatical function of each word).

Teach students to notice and understand prefixes and suffixes.

Pre-teach key content words before students attempt to read a text.

Teach the strategies for unlocking meaning from unknown words.

Author: Nick Dawson

Pearson

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Coping with limited language

Getting help
1) Translation. If we know nothing of the foreign language, our instinctive reaction is to ask for a
translation. An accurate translation will overcome our immediate difficulty in understanding the
text, but we will learn nothing from the translation. Before the translation, we were totally
dependent on the translator. After the translation, we remain totally dependent on the translator.
The translation does not teach us to be self-sufficient and independent.
2) Use a bilingual dictionary to find a translation. This is sensible when we have understood
most of the text and we just need some key content words. We should not use a bilingual
dictionary to find the meaning of the. Once again, the bilingual dictionary will provide a quick fix. It
provides a translation, but it does not teach the meaning of the word. The next time you see this
word, you will probably need to use your dictionary again unless you have made a special effort to
memorise the word.
3) Use a monolingual dictionary to find an easy definition. Again this is sensible when we
can understand most of the text. The monolingual dictionary does not give a translation equivalent
but it gives an explanation in easy words. This easy word explanation is very useful because we
can use this explanation (as a substitute for the real word) when we need to use the word. The
monolingual dictionary also contains an example. From a good example, we can see how a word
behaves grammatically; we can also see a typical topic context in which the word is often used. If
we use monolingual dictionaries correctly, we can not only find out the meaning; we can start to
become owners and users of the word.
Repair strategies in conversation
When we dont understand in conversation, it is important to indicate to the speaker that we dont
understand. If we dont do this, the speaker will continue, assuming we have understood and it will
become more difficult to repair the communication breakdown. One of the first phrases which
students should learn in English is:
Im sorry, I dont understand.
The communication breakdown may have occurred because the speaker is speaking too fast or
too indistinctly, so another key phrase is:
Can you say that again?
Each time we demonstrate a communication breakdown, the speaker is likely to repeat the original
sentence louder and slower. Intelligent speakers may rephrase their message in different words.
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Asking for clarification
Communication breakdowns are often caused by unfamiliar idiomatic phrases. Whats got your
goat? Repeating the phrase louder and slower will not repair the breakdown, so its useful for the
listener to say:
I dont understand. Can you say that in easy words?
OR
What do you mean?
You may want to ask about one specific word. Youd ask a question like:
When we arrived home I made an omelette.
You made a what?
Sometimes, you think you understand but you want confirmation. We frequently do this by
repeating what the speaker has said using a question intonation.
When we arrived home I made an omelette.
You made an omelette?
Sometimes, you think you understand but you want clarification, so we use phrases like:
Do you mean deaf like in cant hear?
We can see that the simple definitions in monolingual dictionaries are a good preparation for this
type of question for clarification.
Coping with limited language in speech
Teachers can never hope to teach all the vocabulary which students will need, so its important to
teach the strategies for coping with limited vocabulary. In many situations, we can overcome our
limited vocabulary by simply pointing at things. You can refine your request by adding a rider; I
want something like this but black.
If you cannot see what you want, its useful to know how to describe it. Its like a horse, but its got
black and white stripes. If you cant describe what it looks like, you might be able to describe
what it is used for; Its a machine for making a white line on a football field.
There are lots of classroom games we can use to train these skills in explaining a meaning without
using the key word. We can also see the way in which monolingual dictionaries, with their easy
definitions, can help students in developing this strategy.

Author: Nick Dawson

Pearson

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Conclusions
The spectacle-wearer needs spectacles to cope with impaired vision. When we attempt to use a
foreign language, we all suffer from impaired communication. We need coping strategies to help
us to cope with our impaired communication in a foreign language.
As teachers, we have become accustomed to teaching study skills. We teach the skills and praise
the students when they use them. We also need to teach these coping strategies and praise
students when they use them.

Author: Nick Dawson

Pearson

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