Daily Excerpt: Communicative Focus (Shekhtman) - Communication between Native Speakers and Non-native Speakers and the Essence of Speech
Today's excerpt comes from Communicative Focus by Boris Shekhtman and Dina Kupchanka - Communication between Native Speakers and Non-native Speakers and the Essence of Speech We are interested in communication between native and non-native speakers for one very important reason: this is the kind of communication for which all teachers are essentially preparing students. Regardless of the level of our students, whether they are beginners or already near-native speakers, if they want to use their second language, they nolens-volens enter this type of communication. We need to help them to participate in this communication with dignity and power and to close the gap between their language skills and those of native speakers. In order for us to prepare our students in this way, we must be knowledgeable about the specific nuances of verbal communication between native and non-native speakers. The most obvious difference between the language performance of native and non-native