This May event highlights the benefits of analysing conversations in the target language. Discourse analysis not only requires a deeper look at what is said but also what isn't said. This practice requires breaking apart natural conversations in segments and understanding why a person might take a pause, stutter in their responses, begin telling a story, or simply nod. This is helpful for language learning students who want to sound or behave like a native speaker would in conversation. The speaker will discuss important terminology used in the field and how this might translate into classroom activities. The presentation is based on a paper published in the Hawaii Pacific University`s TESOL working paper series.

Brittany Roa is an English and Spanish teacher at the local YMCA here in Kitakyushu. She is a graduate of Hawaii Pacific University (BA), George Washington University (MA), and plans to continue on to pursue a PhD in Linguistics. Her interests include discourse analysis, CALL, and language documentation.

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