Session 4D
Title: People Describing People

Abstract:
As teachers, we may be inclined to accept that the language presented in published teaching materials is likely to be the most frequently used, the most appropriate and the most authentic for the purpose for which it has been selected. However, this may not always be the case.

Using a combination of concordancing software and a "tick and score" approach, I closely examined 20 recorded interviews of people describing other people. My main objective was to discover which lexico-grammatical patterns and which strategies occurred most frequently.

In my presentation, I will outline my findings and draw conclusions about the implications of those findings in terms of the selection and exploitation of materials in the English language classroom.

Biodata:
Deborah Ferris is a teacher trainer at the University of New South Wales, Institute of Languages. She has also worked as a teacher and teacher trainer in Sweden, Turkey and the UK. She was formerly program coordinator for Freshman English at Sabanci University in Istanbul. Her interests include phonology, lexis and teacher training.