Discovering English tense-backshift parameters through discourse

Abstract

English grammars and teaching materials often fail to include references to specific discoursal and communicative functions. This facilitates the foreign language acquisition process during which learners acquire basic linguistic skills. The teaching of indirect discourse or so-called reported speech is no exception in this respect: easy-to-learn grammatical rules governing tense-backshift are combined with rather open-ended communicative functions. The CEFR 2011, however, aims at developing the user’s communicative competence, which at its most naturally-occurring level includes the pragmatic-discursive components. The article presents a discourse-oriented approach to indirect discourse teaching and learning, in which the role of the communication mediator, i.e. the indirect discourse producer, is presented as one of the most significant parameters that have been analytically disregarded, yet it provides an identification model for the learner as an active language user. Our approach focuses on further important parameters of indirect discourse, i.e. the discoursal macrotextual type, the focus on the original communicator or the message, the communication mediator’s attitude or involvement, semantic, stylistic and syntactic restrictions. The suggested discourse-oriented approach encourages students to discover “grammatical rules” on their own, which should enable them to develop more internalized and confident language production skills.

Keywords

• indirect discourse
• English
• tense-backshift
• discourse types
• communication mediator