Total audio time: 30 minutes
Being Relevant or Irrelevant to a Specified (or Implied) Interest
Basically, your job is the same as what you did in the classroom: measuring
degrees of relevance. Your job with each dialog is basically the same, but your job
isn’t exactly the same with each dialog. These instructions specify the job for each
dialog or group of dialogs, under the dialogs’ separate headings.
To identify the dialog that you are referring to (in your written answer), don’t use
only the reference number that is in the mp3 file’s name— because I can’t remember
which dialog each of those reference numbers refers to; write either a description of
Spkr B’s comment(s), a summary of Spkr B’s comment(s), a quotation, a keyword or a
key-phrase. Your written identification must distinguish that dialog from all the other
dialogs of the same group. If you write only the reference number that is in an mp3
file’s name, you will lose half of the credit for that HW answer.
Part 1 (of 2 parts of this HW)
Match each of the following degrees of relevance with one audio dialog. (This
means: Classify each dialog’s response by Spkr B as one of the listed types.)
Under each of my headings, every listed type is the correct classification for one
dialog in that group of dialogs. (This means that the number of types that are listed
under a heading is the same as the number of audio files in that group.)
Do four of these five groups of dialogs. Extra credit for a fifth group.
What kind of music do you like?
--Relevant
--Relevant & Extra (giving extra information that wasn’t requested by Spkr A but that
Spkr B guesses is wanted by Spkr A)
--Vague (i.e., not clear enough; not specific enough)
--Tangential
--A Non-sequitur
When is your birthday?
--Relevant & Extra (giving extra information that wasn’t requested by Spkr A but that
Spkr B guesses is wanted by Spkr A)
--Relevant
--Vague (i.e., not specific enough)
--Tangential
--A Non-sequitur
Do you have a watch on?
(By the way, the word “on” in that question means “on your body.”)
--Attentive (i.e., giving careful attention to the other speaker’s interest or to the other
speaker’s wish, then noticing that the other speaker’s meaning is different from the
English meaning of the other speaker’s sentence, then responding relevantly to the
other speaker’s meaning instead of responding to his/her sentence’s meaning)
--Attentive but a Bit Vague
--Literal (relevant to the English meaning of the other speaker’s sentence’s words but
not relevant to the other speaker’s meaning and interest; the word “LiTeRal” means
“according to the LeTeRs of the words”)
--Literal and Wanting to Be Literal (because the other speaker’s sentence’s English
meaning feels more interesting and important to this speaker than the other speaker’s
meaning does)
--Tangential
--A Non-sequitur
How long does it take to get there?
--Relevant & Thoroughly Informative
--Relevant
--Relevant but Not Informative
--Tangential
--A Non-sequitur
Do you have time to talk?
--Attentive Immediately (reacting to the other speaker’s signal as soon as possible)
--Attentive but Not Immediately (reacting to the other speaker’s signal soon enough
but not as soon as possible)
--Inattentive (i.e., the opposite of attentive; i.e., insensitive; i.e., inconsiderate) Until
the Other Speaker’s Attitude Became Too Obvious to Ignore
--Inattentive Even After the Other Speaker’s Attitude Became Obvious
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Part 2 (of 2 parts of this HW)
Do four of the following five jobs. Extra credit for a fifth job.
What is that book about?
1. What is Spkr B’s level of relevance? For your answer, choose one of these five:
Attentive (i.e., sensitively relevant), Relevant, Incidental, Literal, Tangential.
2. Compose another exchange by the two speakers that can be added to this dialog: a
line by Spkr A and a response by Spkr B that are consistent with their audio roles.
directions to a store
Write two or three sentences describing how relevant Spkr B was.
“cold” as “code” because of a cold
Write one, two or three sentences that can be said to the pharmacist (Spkr B) by a
customer (Spkr C, a new character who isn’t in the audio) who witnesses this dialog
and wants to comment on Spkr B’s talk.
hearing how Spkr A feels about an upcoming visit
Write two or three sentences describing the main difference between the two dialogs:
how in one dialog the female speaker reacts differently from how she reacts in the
other dialog.
Is this English hotel good?
1. Almost all of Spkr B’s comments are the same level of relevance to Spkr A’s
questions. Which level are they? For your answer, choose one of these five:
Attentive, Relevant, Incidental, Literal, Tangential.
2. Spkr B answers only one of Spkr A’s questions about the hotel that he is considering staying at. What is her answer? (Quote Spkr B’s sentence. It has ten words.)
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Two scenarios aren't HW:
"Studying for a math test" (5:41) & "Her rent will soon be due" (2:08 & 7:13).
If HW for "Studying for a math test" is assigned in the future, the task will be to compare each
speaker's ability to influence the other (to show how his influence and hers aren't equally strong).
If "Her rent will soon be due" is assigned in the future, the task will be to write one or two sentences
describing the main difference between its two dialogs: how in one dialog the male speaker reacts
differently from how he reacts in the other dialog.