EMC Spoken Language Resources with DVD
Acknowledgements
Written and edited by the English and Media Centre
Consultant: Alison Ross
Cover: Rebecca Scambler, EMC
Editorial assistance: Priscilla McClay
Transcription: Priscilla McClay, Alison Ross, Kisa Charles and Ali Gregory
Published by the English and Media Centre, 18 Compton Terrace, London, N1 2UN
© 2010
ISBN: 978-1-906101-14-5
Printed by Page Bros (Norwich) Ltd
DVD printed by Brown and Michael Media Services
Thanks to the following for their participation in, and support of, this publication:
Anna Sarchet, Amy Druce, the Head, staff and students (especially Harry, Natasha and Cressida) at Highgate Wood
School, Haringey
Karen, Bianca, Vivian and Rosalind from Highbury Grove School, Islington; Waqar, Umar, Wesley, Kulraj and Hassan
from Seven Kings, Redbridge; Corey, Stephen, Ashley and Patrick from Netherall School, Liverpool
Christine, Kevin and all at Alexandra Motors
Dr Graeme Trousdale, Edinburgh University
Emma Simpson and Islington teachers, Ruth Robertson and Haringey teachers for commenting on and piloting
material
Thanks to the following for permission to reproduce copyright material
BBC for EastEnders, Criminal Justice, The One Show, Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe and Newsnight
Dirtee Stank Recordings on behalf of Dizzee Rascal
Endemol UK for Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe
Silver River and Channel 4 for I’m Running Sainsbury’s
With thanks to SpeakersBank, the Jack Petchey Foundation, SpeakersBank trainers (Caroline Clark and Simon
Bucknall) and Kalm (Waltham Forest), Benedict (Hammersmith), Inez (Hackney), all Finalists in Jack Petchey’s
‘‘Speak Out’ Challenge! (2009)
Daily Telegraph for The One Show by Matt Warman (05.12.08)
Sebastian Coe and London 2012 for ‘My Heroes Were Olympians’ (2005); Jerome Monahan and Stuart Pearce for
‘The Voice Coach’ (2008), originally published in Best of Both (EMC © 2008).
Every effort has been made to trace and acknowledge copyright, but if accidental infringement has been made,
we would welcome information to redress the situation.
2 Investigating Spoken Language
© English & Media Centre, 2010
Contents
Contents
CHAPTER
PAGE
Teachers’ Notes
06
DVD MENUS
SECTION A
Features of Spoken
Language
13
Features of Spoken Language
1. Harry walking home
2. Tony Benn against the bombing of Iraq (1998)
3. Christine and Kevin chat
4. The One Show – the Soldier
Context and Formality
15
NO DVD
Standard English, Accent,
Dialect
20
Standard English, Accent and Dialect
1. An expert view
2. Teenagers talk about accent and dialect
Power and Power
Relationships
22
Power and Power Relationships
1. I’m Running Sainsbury’s – ‘Store standards’
2. I’m Running Sainsbury’s – ‘Jason sets up a meeting’
Language and Gender
26
NO DVD
Investigating Group Talk
30
Investigating Group Talk
1. The apprentices
2. Student apprentices
Jargon
34
Jargon
I’m Running Sainsbury’s – ‘The appraisal meeting’
Scripted v Unscripted Talk
38
NO DVD
41
The Garage – Language of a Workplace
1. Introducing the staff
SECTION B
The Garage – the Language
of a Workplace
2. Kevin greets a customer
3. Kevin and Christine in the office
4. Christine on phone/Kevin doing MOT
5. Woody explains the problem
6. Kevin talks to a customer about football
7. Christine orders a part
8. Paul re-upholstering, with Kevin and Chris
9. The sandwich van arrives
10. Kevin on the phone about the failed MOT
11. Christine on the phone to Catherine, a customer
12. Kevin on the phone to Catherine, a customer
13. Christine and Kevin chat
14. Play all
Investigating Spoken Language
© English & Media Centre, 2010
3
Contents
CHAPTER
PAGE
DVD MENUS
Highgate Wood School – Six
Investigations on School
Language
49
Highgate Wood School
1. Highgate Wood – a 3 min trailer
2. Assembly
3. English – teacher starts
4. English – questioning
5. English – group work
6. English – answering questions
7. English – teacher & group
8. Physics – start of the lesson
9. Physics – uniform issues
10. Physics – explaining
11. Physics – group work
12. Lunchtime talk
13. Teacher talks to Harry
14. Teacher and Natasha talk
15. P.E. – start of the lesson
16. P.E. – group work
17. P.E. – teacher questioning
18. P.E. – end of the lesson
19. Harry walking home
20. Play all
Teen Talk
57
NO DVD
Idiolect
61
NO DVD
Multimodal Language
63
Multimodal Language
1. Texting – speech or writing
2. Texting – different audiences & purposes
3. What would you use texting for?
4. Attitudes to text messaging
5. Facebook – the rules
6. Cressida’s investigation into texting
Speeches
75
Speeches
1. Tony Benn’s speech (1998)
2. Tony Benn on his speech
3. Highgate Wood School assembly
4. Kalm on ‘Orange Fury’
5. Benedict on ‘Have a Heart’
6. Inez on ‘You are a Winner’
7. Caroline Clark, SpeakersBank Trainer
8. Simon Bucknall, SpeakersBank Trainer
The One Show – a
Broadcasting Case Study
83
The One Show
4 Investigating Spoken Language
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Contents
CHAPTER
PAGE
DVD MENUS
Interviews – The One Show
and Jeremy Paxman
93
Interviews
Case study 1: The One Show:
1. The soldier
2. The Major
3. Chris Evans on the war
4. Chris Evans’ autobiography
5. Case Study 2: Jeremy Paxman interviews Dizzee Rascal
Sports Commentaries
105
Sports Commentaries
England v. Chile (1998)
1. On radio
2. On TV
3. The penalty on TV
Scripted Drama –
EastEnders and Criminal
Justice
112
Scripted Drama – EastEnders and Criminal Justice
1. EastEnders
2. Criminal Justice – the police station
3. Scriptwriters on dialogue
Section C: How to ...
Section D: Resources
118
Find an angle for your controlled assessment
119
Your investigation – an early planning tool
121
What kind of evidence can I use?
122
Collecting your own data
124
Recording spoken language
125
Doing an interview
126
Conducting a questionnaire
127
Spoken language investigation consent form
128
Making your own transcript
On DVD only Print materials in the resources folder on DVD:
Transcripts, language analysis cards and grids in Word format
for adaptation and differentiation.
Transcription symbols used in this publication
Pauses
(.)
(.3)
short pause
indicates length of pause in seconds
Overlapping speech
word [word
[word
Cut off speech
wor-
A dash shows that a word has been cut off
Investigating Spoken Language
Unclear speech
(words) A guess at what might have been said
( )
Unclear talk, impossible to work out what was
said.
Loud or quiet voice
word
Underlined to show loud
word
Bold and underlined – shout or exclamation
© English & Media Centre, 2010
5
For Teachers
Introduction
This publication aims to provide you and your students with a varied
collection of data and teaching material to support the spoken language
study for GCSE 2010. The material offers scope for meeting a wide range
of different topics across all of the specifications, to reflect the annual
changes of topic now required for GCSE. We have tried to show ways in
which the material can be used flexibly and adapted, as topics change.
The spirit of the spoken language study for all the specifications is
exploratory, investigative and introductory. While there are some
variations from specification to specification, the approach to conceptual
knowledge and the use of terminology is low key and unthreatening.
In this publication, we have offered a glossary for teachers, to help you
clarify your own thinking and to allow you to make judicious decisions
about what is most appropriate for your own students. Our belief is that
terminology can be useful but the golden rule is: use it if it’s helpful and if
it allows you to express an idea simply and succinctly, not for its own sake.
The publication is divided into 4 sections, A-D:
Section A: Introducing features and concepts
For Teachers
Introductory material around key aspects of spoken language. It is likely
that you would select from this, rather than work through it, section by
section. What you use will depend on the topic area you have chosen.
Guidance on what might be most useful for each of our units is given in a
box at the top of each of the Section B units.
Section B: Case studies, data banks and investigations
Teaching materials around topics for the different awarding bodies.
Some units are ‘Case Studies’, which provide alternative routes through
a large piece of video data (such as ‘The Garage’, ‘Highgate Wood’ or
‘The One Show’), where you might want to focus on different aspects
according to your topic, selecting a few clips that relate to the topic
you have chosen. Others, such as ‘Speeches’ provide you with the kinds
of activities that you might do to introduce any speech that you have
chosen to work on with your students. Ideas for possible investigation
tasks are offered at the end of each cluster of material. The transcripts in
this publication are also included in Word on the DVD so that you can
adapt or select from them. In addition there are transcripts of the three
‘SpeakOut Challenge’ speeches and the transcripts of the three football
commentaries from 1998.
Section C: How to…
Practical help for students. This section will be particularly helpful for
those students who are either planning an individual investigation,
choosing their own angle on data you’ve provided, or finding a little bit
of data of their own to add to what you’ve provided for them. It may also
provide you with a bit of structure for thinking about how to support
students, for instance in choosing what’s useful data for a particular topic,
or in transcribing.
Section D: Additional resources
DVD only. This section includes grids, blank formats and key ideas for
looking at any stretch of talk. There are transcripts of the clips in Word, to
allow you to edit them down, or pair or cluster them in whatever ways will
work for your particular topics and student tasks.
6 Investigating Spoken Language
© English & Media Centre, 2010
For Teachers
Framing spoken language tasks
The way you choose to frame your tasks may vary
according to which specification you are teaching and
the nature of the topic. However these are some of
the ways in which you, or your students, might frame
successful controlled assessment tasks:
A hypothesis to test out, for example:
–
teenagers use texting in different ways to adults
–
teenagers’ language changes when they’re
speaking to adults
–
workplace language is more functional than
social
–
good scripted dialogue is very like spontaneous
speech.
Then narrow it down, to apply to a small bit of data, for
example: teenagers use more textisms in texting than
adults – an analysis of 5 adult text messages and 5
teenage text messages.
Here are some of the significant opportunities for
speaking and listening activities in this publication:
P23
A speaking and listening role-play on power
and power relationships
P31 A simulation on Dragons’ Den – investigating
group work
P35 A role-play on jargon and specialist language
P51 Trying out being a teacher – planning and
delivering the opening of a lesson
P77 Writing and performing a speech of your own
P97 Role-playing interviews for a series of school
podcasts
P107 Sports commentaries – a commentary game
Many of the group discussions on ‘attitudes’ to spoken
language and individual experience (e.g. attitudes to
accents, use of mobile phones, gender, talking about
teenage language and so on) could also be assessed
for speaking and listening.
Mix & match – using the DVD flexibly
An open-ended exploration of an aspect of spoken
language, for example:
–
an exploration of my own idiolect
–
an exploration of the way I change my uses of
language in a single day
–
speaking two languages: exploring when and
how I use both languages.
It’s worth bearing in mind the option of using clips
from different sections to create your own case study,
for instance if you want to look at football language
you might look at Clip 6 from ‘The Garage’ and Clip
19 from ‘Highgate Wood School’, as well as the sports
commentaries.
An investigative angle on data, for example:
–
an investigation into the differences between
speech in a scene from a soap opera and
spontaneous talk.
Answers for activities
Introducing Multimodal Talk (page 64)
A: Text message from a 21-year-old to his parent
B: Open internet chatroom
C: Text message from a 21-year-old during a
football game
D: Text message from a 60-year-old to a colleague
E: Facebook conversation between adult sisters.
Comparing 2 bits of data, for example:
–
a comparison of two conversations that one
person participated in, in two different contexts
–
a comparison between two football managers
being interviewed after a match.
The spoken language study and
speaking and listening
Chatrooms and Social Networking (page 71)
1. Online conversation between Anna, on her gap
year in Cambodia, and her best friend Mel, back
home in England. Both girls are 19.
2. A Facebook ‘wall’ exchange between 20 and
30-something friends and neighbours
3. Discussion thread on ‘Comment is Free’, Guardian
Online
There are obvious connections between studying
spoken language and participating in speaking and
listening. Many of the activities in this publication
involve an element of students talking, role-playing
or trying out an aspect of what they’re studying. This
could be a brief activity ‘along the way’ but equally, in
some instances, it could lead to a more fully developed
activity that can be assessed for speaking and listening.
Combining spoken language study with other aspects
of the course will obviously justify more time being
spent on it.
Sports Commentaries (page 105)
1. Formula One 2010 Spanish Grand Prix, Barcelona
– Radio commentary
2. Celtic v Rangers Scottish Premier League Tuesday
4th May 2010 – Radio commentary
3. European Gymnastics Championships May
4th 2010 Beth Tweddle on the uneven bars
Commentator A: Christine Still, Commentator B:
Mitch Fenner – TV commentary
4. World Twenty20 Cricket May 10th 2010 – Radio
commentary
Investigating attitudes, for example:
–
what five people think about their own accent in
relation to accents from other places
–
contexts in which teenagers would or wouldn’t
use texting.
Investigating Spoken Language
© English & Media Centre, 2010
7
Section A: Features of Spoken Language
A: Features of Spoken Language
Useful introduction for
On DVD
Any spoken language study unit.
Features of spoken language; video clips; cards to cut up for activity on page 14.
Why have a special study of spoken language?
Writing or speaking, isn’t it all the same English language?
Well, yes and no.
1.
Read the opinions, below, which give some different responses to the question ‘What’s
special about spoken language?’. Think about your views on each opinion.
2.
With a partner, discuss what you think about each opinion. Record your decision by
ticking the ‘agree’, ‘disagree’ or ‘don’t know’ column in the table below.
3.
In class discussion, feed back your views on the opinions. Leave the discussion open at
this point and come back to the opinions once you have done some more work on the
study of spoken language to see whether any of your views have changed.
Opinions
Agree
Disagree
It depends/
Not sure
A. Spoken language is more
informal than written
language.
B. You can’t judge spoken
language in the same way as
written language.
C. Written language is better
than spoken language.
D. People use language more
correctly when they write
than when they speak.
E. Spoken language is easier
to understand than written
language.
F. Spoken language is livelier
and more spontaneous than
written language.
Investigating Spoken Language
© English & Media Centre, 2010
13
Section A: Features of Spoken Language
Identifying features of spoken language
1.
With a partner, look at these statements describing language features.
A.
Hesitations, false starts and pauses.
B.
Permanent record that can be read later.
C.
Expected greetings and sign offs, such as ‘hello’, ‘see you later’.
D.
Punctuation marks, bold or underlining to suggest tone of voice etc.
E.
A recognisable structure with unwritten rules.
F.
Gestures, facial expression, body language.
G.
Accent/dialect.
H.
People take turns.
I.
Speed, tone, emphasis and stress play an important part in the meaning.
J.
Addressed to someone who is there, face-to-face.
K.
Carefully planned.
L.
Mainly uses full sentences.
M.
Sophisticated vocabulary.
N.
Immediate feedback, for example laughter, shaking head, replying.
O.
Interruptions and overlaps.
P.
Can be re-drafted.
Q.
Use of slang.
2.
Cut up the statements and sort them under the headings:
–
more likely to be found in writing
–
more likely to be found in speech
–
just as likely to be found in speech or writing.
3.
Watch DVD Clips 1-4 and read the transcript of an online conversation, below.
4.
After viewing each one, discuss with your partner whether you want to move any of
your statements.
5.
As far as you can, agree on the placing of the statements as a class and make a note of
them for future reference as you continue with your language study.
Transcript of an online conversation
1:11pm Mel
oiiii maaaannnnn i cant believe your really there
its crazy
like i know your not here, but i dont actually believe your there
also iv been looking after rob for you
1:12pm Anna
i know
1:12pm Mel
i read both his uni assignments
are you happy
1:12pm Anna
soooo far
i miss u so much
thanku, is he OK
sometimes i speak to him and he seems so sad
1:13pm Mel
yeah he got a bit upset, and i think hes had a couple of days where hes felt baaare
cack but like nobodys lettin him wallow
14 Investigating Spoken Language
© English & Media Centre, 2010
Section A: Scripted versus Unscripted Talk
A: Scripted versus Unscripted Talk
Useful introduction for
On DVD
Interviews (page 93); The One Show (page 83); Sports Commentaries (page 105);
Scripted Drama (page 112) from Section B.
NO DVD
Introducing scripted talk
1.
Brainstorm all the situations you can think of in which people might script speech or
plan for something they are going to say, for example, a script for a play in the theatre,
writing a few notes before a tricky telephone conversation, rehearsing a conversation in
your head.
2.
Before you start exploring the differences between scripted and unscripted talk in
more detail, come up with a few first ideas about what might make them different. An
example to get you started: ‘In unscripted talk a speaker is more likely to hesitate while
they think what to say next.’
Included below are some of the different types of talk you might hear on television and radio.
3.
In pairs, talk about whether you think each of these types of talk is scripted or
unscripted?
4.
Are there any types of talk which cause you uncertainty or about which there is
disagreement?
5.
–
Commentary on live events
–
Set greetings and sign-offs
–
Comments to studio audience
–
Catchphrases and set phrases
–
Voiceover
–
Comments to camera
–
Debate
–
Anecdotes
–
Conversation
–
Questions and answers
–
Chat and banter
–
Jokes
–
Vox pops (off-the-cuff, short comments from members of the public)
–
Reports
–
Interviews
–
News headlines
–
Links between programmes
–
Phone-in
For each of the types of talk that you’ve decided are unscripted, discuss how far you
think it might be spontaneous and how far it might be planned in advance.
38 Investigating Spoken Language
© English & Media Centre, 2010
Section A: Scripted versus Unscripted Talk
Scripted or unscripted?
Different types of television and radio programmes use spoken language in different ways.
Some of these are described below. There are eight snippets from television and radio
transcripts on page 40.
1.
In pairs, read the explanations below of television and radio talk, then look at the
snippets. Talk about whether you would identify each one as scripted or unscripted.
2.
Make a brief note of the reasons for your decisions, including any difficulties you had in
deciding which category to place them in.
3.
Feed back your decisions in class discussion, unpicking in detail the language features
which for you identified the extract as being scripted or unscripted talk.
Types of talk on TV and Radio
1. Unscripted talk on TV and radio
Some programmes such as reality TV shows like Big Brother rely on talk which has not
been scripted or even planned in advance.
(Of course, as soon as something is on television it changes the way people use language,
even when it is a live broadcast. It’s not likely to be exactly the same as a spontaneous,
private conversation between friends. When a programme is not live, everything you see
and hear has been selected and edited.)
2. Scripted talk
In some programmes the language has been entirely scripted in advance, for example a
voiceover for a documentary or a drama.
Dramas such as soap operas carefully script the language to try to make it sound as much
like spontaneous language as possible, with typical spoken language features such as:
Hesitations
Repetition
Fillers
Incomplete utterances (an utterance is what one person says in a single go)
Interruptions
Misunderstandings
Going back over things already said, or going back to a topic (back-tracking)
3. Semi-scripted talk
In some programmes the basic structure of who will say what is worked out, and the
participants might have planned what they want to say, but there isn’t actually a fully
worked-up script. An example of this would be Graham Norton interviewing a film star
about a new film. In this case the questions will have been planned in advance, the
celebrity will have thought about what he or she wants to say (perhaps even preparing
an amusing anecdote) but what is actually said will not have been scripted. It might be
that the interview takes off in a different direction and the language moves more towards
spontaneous speech.
4. A mixture
Some programmes move between scripted, semi-scripted and unscripted talk. It’s worth
watching for these shifts, where they occur, how you can recognise them and possible
reasons for them.
Investigating Spoken Language
© English & Media Centre, 2010
39
Section B: Highgate Wood School
B: Six Investigations on School Language
In this unit investigate
before this unit
From Section A, depending on the focus of your investigation: Context and
Formality (page 15); Jargon (page 34); Investigating Group Talk (page 30) and,
from Section B Teen Talk (page 57).
Highgate Wood School; transcripts
Highgate Wood
School
On DVD
A wide range of language use in the context of a school; a choice of six
investigations – teacher talk; group talk; talk in different subjects; the language of
a student. Speaking and listening task – role-play being a teacher.
Introducing the sequence
1.
Watch DVD Clip 1 ‘The 3-minute trailer of Highgate Wood School’.
This will give you an idea of all the spoken language that was
recorded in one day at Highgate Wood School.
2.
When you’ve watched the compilation, try brainstorming all the
different example of spoken language you notice. Then try to
categorise your list into different types, contexts, or kinds of speakers,
to begin to think about what aspects of a school’s language might
be interesting to investigate. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
–
Teacher talk
3.
–
Student talk
–
Questions and answers
Follow your teacher’s advice about what the class is going to focus
on, or choose one of the investigations below.
Investigation 1: teacher talk
1.
Look at:
DVD Clip 2: School assembly (introduction; Ms Sarchet’s speech)
DVD Clip 3: Ms Druce starting an English lesson
DVD Clip 7: English – Ms Druce talks to Harry’s group
DVD Clip 13: Ms Druce talking to Harry about his work
DVD Clip 8: Physics – start of the lesson
DVD Clip 9: Physics – uniform issues
DVD Clip 10: Explaining the experiment
DVD Clip 15: P.E. – starting the lesson
DVD Clip 17: P.E. – questioning Harry’s group
DVD Clip 18: P.E. – end of the lesson
2.
Choose a few clips or extracts of clips to focus on for a language
investigation. You could choose to concentrate on any of the
following.
Investigating Spoken Language
–
How teachers start lessons.
–
How teachers ask questions and encourage student
responses.
–
How teacher talk is different in different subjects.
–
How teachers do presentations to students (in class and
assembly).
–
What makes teacher talk more or less effective in different
contexts (presentations, feedback, one-to-one etc.).
© English & Media Centre, 2010
49
Section B: Multimodal Language
Detecting the rules of conversation
4.
Try to uncover the hidden language rules of their conversation that are similar or
different from face-to-face talk. Use the questions below to focus your analysis.
–
How do the speakers take turns?
–
Are there adjacency pairs, as in spoken conversation? Try annotating the
transcript using arrows to follow the thread of questions and answers to see how
this works.
–
Is the talk linear, or does it track backwards and forwards?
–
Are there any substitutes for body language and tone of voice. If so, what are
they?
–
Is there anything else that differs from the rules of face-to-face talk?
–
Why does it look the way it does on the page?
The detectives report
5.
Present your findings to another pair of detectives to pool your knowledge, then present
your evidence to the ‘Talk Magistrate’ – your teacher. (Details of who’s speaking and the
context are included in the Teachers’ Notes on page 7 so you can see how right you
were!)
6.
Watch DVD Clip 5 ‘Facebook – the rules’ in which Highgate Wood School students talk
about their views on the hidden rules of online conversation.
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© English & Media Centre, 2010
71
Section B: Broadcast Interviews
B: The One Show and Paxman
In this unit investigate
Before this unit
On DVD
What makes a good interview; case study of different types of interview in The
One Show; case study of Jeremy Paxman.
From Section A, depending on the focus of your investigation: Features of
Spoken Language (page 13); Context and Formality (page 15); Power and Power
Relationships (page 22); Scripted versus Unscripted Talk (page 38).
Jeremy Paxman; The One Show; transcripts; grid
Interviews
NB: If you want to view Paxman’s interview with George Galloway, you
will need internet access. Students will need extra blank copies of the
grid on page 96 for the speaking and listening activity.
Introducing interviews
Why do interviews take place?
1.
As a class, brainstorm all the different reasons you might have for
interviewing someone, for instance:
–to get information out of someone
–to challenge someone to explain his/her position on something
2.
Next, create a series of linked spider diagrams to show all the
situations in which you might interview someone for each of your
reasons. The example below shows you the sort of thing you might
do.
Why
do interviews
take place?
challenge
someone to
explain his/
her position on
something
job interview
get
information
out of someone
interviewing
an expert on a
factual topic
market
research
interview on
the telephone
police
interviewing a
suspect
Broadcast interviews
3.
Tick or circle any of the interviews on your spidergram that you often
see on television or hear on radio.
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© English & Media Centre, 2010
93
Section C: How to ...
Collecting your own data
Collecting spoken data can be difficult because you need to find a way of ‘capturing’ it, ideally
by recording and transcribing. The DVD in this publication gives you lots of video and audio
clips, with ready-made transcripts, so you could choose to use these as all or part of your data.
Collecting your own data can be fun though, and it can make your investigation unique to
you. You might want to add a little bit of your own data to material that’s already available. If
you decide to do this, make sure you read the dos and don’ts on recording spoken language
on page 124.
If you are going to add data of your own, this might include:
–
video recordings or audio recordings, plus transcripts of very short extracts
–
notes of discussions held about spoken language
–
notes of interviews with individuals for example, with a parent or teacher
–
written data, such as a questionnaire about spoken language
–
observations of spoken language in use, with notes taken to record what you’ve
noticed
–
anecdotal evidence, for example, your experiences of using spoken language, or
those of others around you.
Deciding on what data to collect – an activity
There are no rights and wrongs about what makes interesting data but some things might be
better for different kinds of investigations. Try out this matching activity in groups and use it to
debate the pros and cons of different data for different investigations and what each type of
data would allow you to explore.
Match these topics to the choices of data using the chart on page 123.
1.
Do males and females take up different ‘roles’ in group discussion?
2.
To what extent is the language of texting more like speech or more like writing?
3.
What’s special about the speech-making techniques of two different politicians?
4.
How do I speak differently to different people, across the course of one day?
5.
What’s the role of questioning in school talk and what makes some kinds of
questions work better than others?
6.
What do older people think about younger people’s use of slang?
7.
In what ways, and how well do two different writers write speech for TV drama?
8.
In what ways is body language important in group talk situations?
9.
What’s different about the language of football commentaries on TV and radio
and why?
One example is given on page 123, to show the kind of discussion you might have.
Data choices
–
Questionnaire
–
Survey
–
Interview
–
Spoken data (video, audio, transcript, notes of conversation)
–
Other kinds (for example, own experience)
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Section B: Speeches
Tony Benn
In 1998, Tony Benn spoke in the House of Commons in the debate about whether to bomb
Iraq for failing to co-operate with the UN weapons inspection team. Tony Benn’s speech
argued against the bombing. His speech was passionate and convincing and visibly moved
many MPs.
Printed below are Tony Benn’s notes for his anti-war speech in the Iraq debate. On it are his
handwritten amendments made while he listened to the debate and before he got up to
speak. The end of Tony Benn’s anti-war speech in the Iraq debate as it appears in Hansard is
reprinted below. It relates to the final section of his notes.
Tony Benn’s notes
1.
Look through Tony Benn’s notes and the Hansard text of the end of his speech and talk
about anything you notice about them. For example:
–
the general layout of the notes
–
the use of capitals, font size, tabbing, line spacing etc. and reasons for them
–
facts and figures in his argument
–
the purpose of his handwritten changes to his notes
–
words and phrases used in the final speech which also appear in the notes.
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Speeches
The end of Tony Benn’s speech (Hansard)
War is easy to talk about; there are not many people left of the generation which
remembers it. The right hon. Member for Old Bexley and Sidcup served with
distinction in the last war. I never killed anyone but I wore a uniform. I was in London
during the blitz in 1940, living where the Millbank tower now stands, where I was
born.
Some different ideas have come in there since. Every night, I went to the shelter in
Thames house. Every morning, I saw docklands burning. Five hundred people were
killed in Westminster one night by a land mine. It was terrifying. Are not Arabs and
Iraqis terrified? Do not Arab and Iraqi women weep when their children die? Does
not bombing strengthen their determination? What fools we are to live as if war is a
computer game for our children or just an interesting little Channel 4 news item.
Every Member of Parliament who votes for the Government motion will be
consciously and deliberately accepting responsibility for the deaths of innocent people
if the war begins, as I fear it will. That decision is for every hon. Member to take. In
my parliamentary experience, this is an unique debate. We are being asked to share
responsibility for a decision that we will not really be taking but which will have
consequences for people who have no part to play in the brutality of the regime with
which we are dealing.
On 24 October 1945 – the right non. Member for Old Bexley and Sidcup will
remember – the United Nations charter was passed. The words of that charter are
etched on my mind and move me even as I think of them. It says:
‘We the peoples of the United Nations determined to save succeeding generations
from the scourge of war, which twice in our life-time has brought untold sorrow to
mankind.’
That was that generation’s pledge to this generation, and it would be the greatest
betrayal of all if we voted to abandon the charter, take unilateral action and pretend
that we were doing so in the name of the international community. I shall vote against
the motion for the reasons I have given.
1.
Share your first response to this speech.
2.
Watch DVD Clip 1 in the Speeches unit: ‘Tony Benn’s speech (1998)’ and share your first
responses again. What is added to the speech by seeing and hearing it delivered in this
way?
3.
In DVD Clip 2, Tony Benn talks about this speech. watch the clip and make notes about
what he says under the following headings:
–
clarity
–
relationship with the audience – did it make you think?
–
sincerity and passion
–
rhetorical devices
–
speaking from experience
–
the ending.
2 Investigating Spoken Language
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Speeches
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5 Speaking up for your beliefs
Speeches
– Which section of the speech were you particularly pleased with?
– What features of other speechmakers (King, Cicero, Thatcher, Kinnock, Benn) you tried
to imitate?
– Write about one thing that you were trying to do but didn’t feel that you really achieved.
Add to your commentary an evaluation of how you delivered your speech and how it went down
with your audience. Comment on where there was laughter, applause, lack of attention, silence
or cheering and how this related to the effect you were aiming for.
Tony Benn’s complete speech (Hansard)
Mr. Tony Benn (Chesterfield): If this debate is to
Annan. The fleet has been sent there to be used, and the
make sense, we should understand the area of total
House would be deceiving itself if it thought that any
agreement and where differences of opinion exist. First,
so-called ”diplomatic initiatives” would avert its use.
no one in the House supports the regime of Saddam
This is a unique debate as far as I am concerned. I
Hussein, who is a brutal dictator. I shall come to the
have sat here with the right hon. Member for Old Bexley
support he has had from the west, but he is a brutal
and Sidcup (Sir E. Heath) through four wars—the
dictator and nobody in the House defends him.
Korean war, the Suez war, the Falklands war and the
Secondly, no one in the House can defend for one
first Gulf war. I cannot remember an occasion when any
moment the denial by the Iraqi Government of the
Government asked the House to authorise, in a
implementation of the Security Council resolution
resolution, action which could lead to force.
which said that there should be inspections. The third
Mr. Donald Anderson (Swansea, East): Will my
issue on which there is major agreement, but little
right hon. Friend give way?
understanding yet, is the sudden realisation of the horror
Mr. Benn: No. If my hon. Friend will forgive me, I
of modern chemical and biological weapons, which do
want to develop a case briefly.
not depend on enormous amounts of hardware—
The reason is that the right to go to war is a prerogative
previously only available to a superpower—but which
power. The Government are inviting the House—I
almost anybody, perhaps even a terrorist group, could
understand why—to share their responsibility for the use
deliver.
of force, knowing that force will be used within a week
The disagreement is on how we deal with the matter.
or two.
The former Prime Minister, the right hon. Member for
We are not starting afresh. I opposed the Gulf war.
Huntingdon (Mr. Major)—whose speech was listened
We should have asked why Saddam got into Kuwait and
to with great attention—was talking about a preventive
why he was not stopped. We had the war. The equivalent
war. I shall read Hansard carefully, but he talked about
of seven and a half Hiroshima bombs was dropped on
a preventive war. There is no provision in the UN charter
the people of Iraq—the biggest bombardment since the
for a preventive war. If we are realistic—we must not
second world war. Some 200,000 Iraqis died. Depleted
fool ourselves—that huge American fleet of 30 ships
uranium bullets were used. I have had two or three letters
and 1,000 aircraft is not in the Gulf waiting to be
from Gulf war veterans in a mass of correspondence in
withdrawn when Saddam makes a friendly noise to Kofi
the past week, one of whom has offered to be a human
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5 Speaking up for your beliefs
shield in Iraq because he feels that he was betrayed by
my argument. There are many others who want to speak.
the British Government and does not want the Iraqi
I hope that the House will listen to me. I know that
my view is not the majority view in the House, although
people to suffer again.
it may be outside this place.
All the evidence confirms my view that sanctions are
another instrument of mass destruction. They destroy
I regret that I shall vote against the Government
people’s lives, denying them the food and medicines that
motion. The first victims of the bombing that I believe
they need. It is no good saying that Saddam took the
will be launched within a fortnight will be innocent
money for his palaces. If that is the case, why does the
people, many, if not most, of whom would like Saddam
United Nations Children’s Fund now say that there are
to be removed. The former Prime Minister, the right hon.
1 million children in Iraq starving, along with 500,000
Member for Huntingdon, talked about collateral damage.
who have died.
The military men are clever. They talk not
Bombing the water supply and the sewerage plants is
about hydrogen bombs but about deterrence. They talk
like using chemical weapons, because the disease that
not about people but about collateral damage. They talk
spreads from that bombing contributes to disease in the
not about power stations and sewerage plants but about
country. And, at the end of all that, Saddam is stronger
assets. The reality is that innocent people will be killed
than he was at the beginning. Nobody denies that. People
if the House votes tonight—as it manifestly will—to give
ask why we have to go back seven years later. It is
the Government the authority for military action.
because the previous policy inevitably made him
The bombing would also breach the United Nations
stronger. We know that when a country is attacked,
charter. I do not want to argue on legal terms. If the hon.
leaders wave their fists and say, “We will never give
and learned Member for North-East Fife (Mr. Campbell)
way.” It happened in Britain, it happens when we are
has read articles 41 and 42, he will know that the
dealing with bombings from Ireland—it happens all the
charter says that military action can only be decided on
time. Are we such fools that we think that if we bomb
by the Security Council and conducted under the military
other people they will crumble, whereas when they bomb
staffs committee. That procedure has not been followed
us it will stiffen our resolve? The House ought to study
and cannot be followed because the five permanent
its own history.
members have to agree. Even for the Korean war, the
The Government’s motion would not be carried at
United States had to go to the general assembly to get
the Security Council. I asked the Foreign Secretary about
authority because Russia was absent. That was held to
that. Why is he asking us to pass a resolution that he
be a breach, but at least an overwhelming majority was
could not get through the Security Council? On the
obtained.
basis of his speech, the Russians and the Chinese would
Has there been any negotiation or diplomatic effort?
not vote for the use of force. Why involve the House of
Why has the Foreign Secretary not been in Baghdad,
Commons in an act that runs counter to what the Security
like the French Foreign Minister, the Turkish Foreign
Council would accept?
Minister and the Russian Foreign Minister? The time
Several hon. Members rose—
that the Government said that they wanted for negotiation
Mr. Benn: I have very little time. I want to develop
has been used to prepare public opinion for war and to
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Speeches
with Saddam in 1990. I got the hostages out, which made
build up their military position in the Gulf.
Saddam will be strengthened again. Or he may be
it worth going. He felt betrayed by the United States,
killed. I read today that the security forces—who are
because the American ambassador in Baghdad had said
described as terrorists in other countries—have tried to
to him, “If you go into Kuwait, we will treat it as an
kill Saddam. I should not be surprised if they succeeded.
Arab matter.” That is part of the history that they know,
even if we do not know it here.
This second action does not enjoy support from
elsewhere. There is no support from Iraq’s neighbours.
In 1958, 40 years ago, Selwyn Lloyd, the Foreign
If what the Foreign Secretary says about the threat to
Secretary and later the Speaker, told Foster Dulles that
the neighbours is true, why is Iran against, why is
Britain would make Kuwait a Crown colony. Foster
Jordan against, why is Saudi Arabia against, why is
Dulles said, “What a very good idea.” We may not know
Turkey against? Where is that great support? There is
that history, but in the middle east it is known.
no support from the opposition groups inside Iraq. The
The Conservatives have tabled an amendment asking
Kurds, the Shi’ites and the communists hate Saddam,
about the objectives. That is an important issue. There
but they do not want the bombing. The Pope is against
is no UN resolution saying that Saddam must
it, along with 10 bishops, two cardinals, Boutros
be toppled.It is not clear that the Government know what
Boutros-Ghali and Perez de Cuellar. The Foreign
their objectives are. They will probably be told from
Secretary clothes himself with the garment of the world
Washington. Do they imagine that if we bomb Saddam
community, but he does not have that support. We are
for two weeks, he will say, “Oh, by the way, do come in
talking about an Anglo-American preventive war. It has
and inspect.”? The plan is misconceived.
been planned and we are asked to authorise it in advance.
Some hon. Members—even Opposition Members—
The House is clear about its view of history, but it
have pointed out the double standard. I am not trying to
does not say much about the history of the areas with
equate Israel with Iraq, but on 8 June 1981, Israel
which we are dealing. The borders of Kuwait and Iraq,
bombed a nuclear reactor near Baghdad. What action
which then became sacrosanct, were drawn by the British
did either party take on that? Israel is in breach of UN
after the end of the Ottoman empire. We used chemical
resolutions and has instruments of mass destruction.
weapons against the Iraqis in the 1930s. Air Chief
Mordechai Vanunu would not boast about Israeli
Marshal Harris, who later flattened Dresden,
freedom. Turkey breached UN resolutions by going into
was instructed to drop chemical weapons.
northern Cyprus. It has also recently invaded northern
When Saddam came to power, he was a hero of the
Iraq and has instruments of mass destruction. Lawyers
west. The Americans used him against Iran because they
should know better than anyone else that it does not
hated Khomeini, who was then the figure to be removed.
matter whether we are dealing with a criminal thug or
They armed Saddam, used him and sent him anthrax.
an ordinary lawbreaker—if the law is to apply, it must
I am not anxious to make a party political point, because
apply to all. Governments of both major parties
there is not much difference between the two sides on
have failed in that.
this, but, as the Scott report revealed, the previous
Prediction is difficult and dangerous, but I fear that
Government allowed him to be armed. I had three hours
the situation could end in a tragedy for the American
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5 Speaking up for your beliefs
and British Governments. Suez and Vietnam are not far
living where the Millbank tower now stands, where I
from the minds of anyone with a sense of history. I recall
was born. Some different ideas have come in there
what happened to Sir Anthony Eden. I heard him
since. Every night, I went to the shelter in Thames house.
announce the ceasefire and saw him go on holiday to
Every morning, I saw docklands burning. Five hundred
Goldeneye in Jamaica. He came back to be replaced. I
people were killed in Westminster one night by a land
am not saying that that will happen in this case, but does
mine. It was terrifying. Are not Arabs and Iraqis terrified?
anyone think that the House is in a position to piggy-
Do not Arab and Iraqi women weep when their children
back on American power in the middle east? What
die? Does not bombing strengthen their determination?
happens if Iraq breaks up? If the Kurds are free, they
What fools we are to live as if war is a computer game
will demand Kurdistan and destabilise Turkey. Anything
for our children or just an interesting little Channel 4
could happen. We are sitting here as if we still had an
news item.
Every Member of Parliament who votes for the
empire—only, fortunately, we have a bigger brother with
Government motion will be consciously and deliberately
more weapons than us.
The British Government have everything at their
accepting responsibility for the deaths of innocent people
disposal. They are permanent members of the Security
if the war begins, as I fear it will. That decision
Council and have the European Union presidency for six
isfor every hon. Member to take. In my parliamentary
months. Where is that leadership in Europe which we
experience, this an unique debate. We are being asked
were promised? It just disappeared. We are also, of
to share responsibility for a decision that we will not
course, members of the Commonwealth, in which there
really be taking but which will have consequences for
are great anxieties. We have thrown away our influence,
people who have no part to play in the brutality of the
which could have been used for moderation.
regime with which we are dealing.
The amendment that I and others have tabled argues
On 24 October 1945—the right hon. Member for Old
that the United Nations Security Council should decide
Bexley and Sidcup will remember—the United Nations
the nature of what Kofi Annan brings back from Baghdad
charter was passed. The words of that charter are etched
and whether force is to be used. Inspections and sanctions
on my mind and move me even as I think of them. It
go side by side. As I said, sanctions are brutal for innocent
says:
people. Then there is the real question: when will the
“We the peoples of the United Nations determined
world come to terms with the fact that chemical weapons
to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war,
are available to anybody? If there is an answer to that, it
which twice in our life-time has brought untold sorrow
must involve the most meticulous observation
to mankind”.
That was that generation’s pledge to this generation,
of international law, which I feel we are abandoning.
War is easy to talk about; there are not many people
and it would be the greatest betrayal of all if we voted to
left of the generation which remembers it. The right hon.
abandon the charter, take unilateral action and pretend
Member for Old Bexley and Sidcup served with
that we were doing so in the name of the
distinction in the last war. I never killed anyone but I
international community. I shall vote against the motion
wore uniform. I was in London during the blitz in 1940,
for the reasons that I have given.
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