This is a combination of interconnected tasks that engages students
in a complex situation. It allows them to build new vocabulary, use their existing knowledge and language competencies, and practise newly learnt words in different contexts.
The first
stage consists of five parts:
1)
Individual students write as many linking words they can recall as
possible.
2) Students
work in groups and categorise all the words they have produced into
groups according to their function or meaning.
3) The whole
class shares and discusses original categories with examples of
linking words produced by the groups.
4) Students
are provided with a material of generally accepted categories of
linking words with lists of their examples, such as:
5)
Both student-generated and teacher-provided tables are compared and
discussed. Usually, both overlap to a certain extent, so it is useful
to emphasise the student-generated contribution.
The second
stage also consists of five parts:
1)
Students are presented with a topic relevant to their field(s) of
study or interest.
(A slightly controversial topic usually helps to
make some opinions more quickly.)
2)
Each student forms an opinion on that issue and writes that opinion
in one sentence on a sheet of paper.
3)
Students send the papers with their opinions to the person sitting on
their left or right (if we are in a computer lab or if we want
students to move a little, it can
be students who change places moving from paper to paper or from computer to computer). Each student reads their colleague´s
statement and writes some reaction that starts with a linking word.
Then, they send the texts in the same direction as before and perform
the same task. This procedure is repeated several times. The only
requirements are:
(a)
each new sentence has to begin with a linking word;
(b) no
linking word can be repeated in one text.
Note:
The task is getting slower and slower with each change because
students need more time to read the whole text written by their
peers. Four to five changes are usually enough for the purpose of the
task.
4)
All texts return to the authors of the original statements for
analysis. The original authors underline all linking words (all
sentences with the exception of the first one should start with a
linking word) in the texts and identify a flow of argumentation. In
other words, they should be able to say which sentence supports their
original statement, which refutes it and which develops the
argumentation in a different way. (The categories from the stage
number one coul help.)
5)
Students write a synonym for each underlined linking word in their
texts that is suitable in the given context.
In this way, students meet
linking words in different situations:
1) retrieve from
their memory what they already know individually;
2) categorise linking words – it may be useful especially with students with
no formal linguistic terminology background, they usually give "original labels” to the categories;
3) the discussion
and comparison with the “generally accepted” categories and
examples are important because they make students think about the idea that
those words not only exist but they have also some function;
4)
students can be engaged in an active use of the newly learnt words in
different contexts;
5) and
they can also think about the use of synonyms in the given contexts.
At the
end, it can be useful to stress the importance of linking words for a
smooth flow of argumentation and ideas in academic texts. On the
other hand, it is important to emphasise that not every sentence in a
real text starts with a linking word - that linking words should not be
overused.
