The Analyses of oral discourse and its teaching

Speaking a language does not only mean mastering the rules that govern its grammar, but also requires knowing how to communicate, as well as being able to interact efficiently in this language, exchanging and interpreting information in different registers and language varieties. It is necessary, therefore, to teach Pragmatics, understood as the analysis and reflection on the usage and on the strategic mechanisms displayed when speaking (acting), especially when the interaction takes place in specific communicative circumstances. Learning the oral component of a language must prepare students for the analysis of speech samples. By learning the oral aspects, students acquire some skills and abilities such as recognising the different varieties and registers, especially the informal ones; getting acquainted with the most distinctive features of oral language (lexical, syntactic and prosodic); being able to recognize, describe and explain these features in oral texts; and, finally, identifying the pragmatic strategies (i.e. the intentions and the functions of speech acts) that are associated with certain tactics or with verbal and nonverbal mechanisms