How Discussions Foster Language Acquisition

Interpersonal communication is defined as “the process that we use to communicate our ideas, thoughts, and feelings to another person”. It happens when you talk to a classmate, meet someone at a party, or discuss your worries with your best friend. The word interpersonal means “between people” and our interpersonal communication skills can be improved through knowledge, practice, feedback, and reflection.

When it comes to second language learning, we must develop our ability to express opinions within a proper semantic frame. In discussions, much of the information we treat is related to our particular perception. What we believe about an issue, other persons or events. In fact, even when we speak in our native language, we show a special linguistic behavior that affects our tone, words and expressions.

Discussions in a second or foreign language make no difference since we use specific words to express our convictions. In this lesson, we will explore new resources which can help us produce more effective pieces of speech.

One way to acquire expressiveness is by incorporating transitional words and phrases into our active vocabulary. These language features allow speakers to keep fluency by the practice of several functions.

For instance, phrases like “What I’m trying to say is…” or “Let me think for a moment here” give a small space to think before communicating ideas and help to connect thoughts with words.

We can use terms to add, generalize, exemplify, restate, contrast or summarize our exposition. These expressions signal stages of the conversation: a conclusion, an example, a comparison or a contrast.

Oral speech without transition words could seem limited or disorganized because there are not connecting structures to clarify meaning. We frequently apply these constructions as delaying strategies to insert answers or considerations that require more time to elaborate. Transition words are accommodated in any part of the conversation to indicate the speaker’s intentions.


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